Palomar Mountain News

    These cabin owners were so fortunate when this branch of a tired black oak came down a couple of days ago.  Didn’t damage their cabins but did pull off their power meter.  This was a branch that snapped off, and in the process took out four other trees.  I initially thought I could get one of you that like to glean firewood, to clean it up for them.  However, the wood is completely rotted.  Not burnable.

Every year when it gets hot, or especially during ice storms, I get calls about trees that have flattened cars, sheds, a patio deck, or one completely “remodeled” a kitchen a while back.  The black oaks are the worst offenders.  Black oaks are the trees that lose their leaves in the winter.

One day I was at a cabin for inspections and parked next to their shed.  The next day, I drove over again and that shed was a pancake.  At first glance I thought “Well, someone is going to have a lot of firewood”.  But then I realized that most of the huge branches piled on the ground were hollow with only about two inches of wood left around the edge.    I thought a huge tree had come down.  I looked all over for the stump.  Finally I looked way up in an old black oak and saw where it broke off.

You might want to look around your property.

If you have trees with the bark coming off the limbs, and the wood is light grey, we call that a clue.

If an oak tree has a big ‘cavity’ or bulges out in some areas, maybe leaning in a direction that could not be too exciting if it came down on its own, you might want to call one of our local tree service people.  They can evaluate and you can go from there.

Firs die from the top down and cedars from the ground up.  There are quite a few new dead tops in fir trees I see out and about these days.  I ‘ve noticed more lower branches dying in some of the cedars too.  If you have a cedar tree with a lot of dead lower branches and looks like a palm tree on top, it is a pretty thirsty tree, according to what I have been told. So, just thought I would pass this on and hope it is helpful to some of you out there.

Locals that can help with tree guidance can be found at http://www.palomarproperties.com/yellowpages/page6.html

Bonnie-out-and-about-on-the-Mountain