Saw a 200-year-old oak in Savannah that changed how I brace heavy limbs

I was down in Savannah last fall helping a buddy with some storm cleanup and noticed this massive live oak with a cable system that had to be from the 1980s. The thing still held rock solid, but the old bolts were starting to rust through the bark, so we swapped them for stainless ones. Anyone here ever run into old cabling jobs that somehow outlasted the tree's natural lifespan?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_davis9014d ago

Did you check the bark for any signs of girdling while you were at it? I once found an old setup in Charleston where the cable had actually fused into the branch it was that old.

price.tara14d ago

And that's exactly the kind of thing I worry about with my own trees, I found a similar mess behind my shed last spring where some old rope had basically grown into the bark. The tree was fine for years until that spot started cracking and then the whole branch just snapped off in a windstorm. It makes you wonder how many other hidden ticking time bombs are sitting there in the canopy just waiting.