Windstorms and Tree Damage

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Windstorms and Tree Damage

• Florida Building Commission
• Department of Community Affairs
• 2555 Shumard Oak Boulevard
• Tallahassee, FL 32399-2100
• [phone]
• http//www.floridabuilding.org

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Ivan (2004) 130 mph
Opal (1995) 125 mph
Florida
Erin (1995) 85 mph
Frances (2004) 105 mph Jeanne ( 2004) 120 mph
Charley (2004) 145 mph
Andrew (1992) 145 mph
Puerto Rico
Georges (1998)110 mph
Source Duryea, Kampf and Littell
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Percentage of the urban forest lost
Ivan (130 mph) 25
Opal (125 mph) 13
Florida
Erin (85 mph) 11
Jeanne (120 mph) 16
Charley (145 mph) 18
Andrew (145 mph) 38
Puerto Rico
Georges 110 mph 13
Source Duryea, Kampf and Littell
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After the storms what we learned
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Trees are 4 times larger on the ground than they
appear standing
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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The good news is

• most trees remained standing

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Just after Frances
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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The bad news is

• ...some fell down

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Image courtesy of Norm Easey
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• High winds resulted in tree death and damage.
• Varying degrees and types of damage were noted.

Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Some sheared off
Image courtesy of Norm Easey
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Some twisted off
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Some had broken trunks
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Some had broken tops
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Some were blown over with roots partially exposed
Images courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Some were blown over and completely uprooted
Images courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Some had evident damage, but we're not sure what
the tree's reaction will be
Bark blown from a tree
Images courtesy of Dan Mullins
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We don't know the outcome for some kinds of
damage, such as rubbing...
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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and damage from scraping and bruising.
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Other trees have very evident damage and took
everything with them.
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Factors contributing to tree loss or damage

• High wind speeds
• Tree characteristics
• Cultural practices
• Soil and rooting space characteristics
• Construction practices

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• Wind speeds are clocked above most buildings
• Whats felt on the ground usually is not as
  strong as the maximum sustained winds measured by
  the National Hurricane Center.
• Here are projected sustained wind speeds at
  various heights in a suburban area during a
  Category 2 hurricane.

Image from Why Roofs Failed a Palm Beach Post
Special Report. December 19, 2004.
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Hip and ridge loss on home protected by wooded
areas.
Image courtesy of RICOWI Joe Wilson
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Trees with one leader (main trunk) did best
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Whereas trees with codominant leaders and
inclusions often failed
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Included bark
Image courtesy of Norm Easey
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Inclusion failed
1996
Inclusion
2002
Codominant without inclusion remained intact
2004
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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V-shaped crotch
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Strong branch growth

• Spring growth
• Branch grows over trunk
• Fall growth
• Trunk grows over branch

Side view Front view
Image courtesy of Al Shigo
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Wide branch angles generally mean better
connections to trunk
Images courtesy of Dan Mullins
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U-shaped crotch
Imaginary line
Outer edge of branch collar
Branch bark ridge
Pruning cut
Branch collar
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Saturday morning, September 4, 2004
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Lack of care leads to repair
Sunday morning, September 5th
Saturday night
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Codominant stem with inclusion
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Codominant stems with inclusions well up in the
canopy
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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One attempt to save a tree
Images courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Is there a target?
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Bracing
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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A Game
Good Crotch
Bad Crotch
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Good crotch, bad crotch?
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Good crotch, bad crotch?
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Good crotch, bad crotch?
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Preventive and structural pruning works
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman and Chuck Lippi
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Topped trees broke
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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One example of toppingCrape myrtle
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Crape myrtle flowering
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Large pruning cuts lead to decay
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Bartlett Tree
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Images courtesy of Bartlett Tree
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Hollows can lurk inside intact trunks
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Where to prune
Imaginary line
Outer edge of branch collar
Branch bark ridge
Pruning cut
Branch collar
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Circular callus growth
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Never cut a branch flush with the trunk
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Trees that fail once often fail again
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Tree failed twice
Perhaps genetic, perhaps circumstantial
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Apparently healthy trees can be hollow
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Ganoderma
Armillaria
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Trees in large groups are more wind
resistantedge trees take the fall
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Live oak145 mph
Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Large trees are more prone to fail than smaller
trees
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Some species are more wind resistant
Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Coastal Plain trees preliminary list
Source Duryea, Kampf and Littell
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Tropical / Subtropical trees preliminary list
Source Duryea, Kampf and Littell
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Queen palms
Image courtesy of Norm Easey
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Which oak is this? Live, water and laurel oaks
A. B. C.
Images courtesy of Florida Division of Forestry
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Live oakQuercus virginiana
Images courtesy of Florida Division of Forestry
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Water oakQuercus nigra
Images courtesy of Florida Division of Forestry
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Laurel oakQuercus laurifolia
Images courtesy of Florida Division of Forestry
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Native trees may resist winds better
Percentage of trees left standing
Source Duryea, Kampf and Littell
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Planting issuestoo deep
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Soil over root ball is not good
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Deep planting settles the root ball leading to
eventual death
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Deeply planted trees settle
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Planted too deeply
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Covering the root ball even many years later is
not a good idea.
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Seven years after 12 inches of soil was added
over the root system
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Note the dead root system
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Look for straps or bags left around root collar.
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Girdling and circling roots
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Circling roots with few straight roots
Image courtesy of Norm Easey
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Trees growing in confined soil spaces are prone
to blowing or falling over.
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Roots confined to island
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Now you see 'em
Image courtesy of Brent Marable
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Now you dont
Image courtesy of Brent Marable
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Islands
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Drip line
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Root flare or collar
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Air spade helps examine root collar
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Images courtesy of Bartlett Tree and IMS the
US distributor of the Resistograph
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Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Do you really think they want this tree to live?
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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A word about taproots
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Root forms
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Roots divide (branch) close to trunk

• You can see that cutting one inch roots can
  severely stress a tree.

Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Uprooted trees can break aboveground and
underground utilities
Image courtesy of Dan Mullins
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Location of trees that cause outages

• 15 are within utility easements

Images courtesy of Virginia Tech
112
Location of trees that cause outages

• 85 are outside utility easements

Images courtesy of Virginia Tech
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Nearby constructioneven years agocan cause
problems.
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Deflected roots
Image courtesy of Brent Marable
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Deflected roots can cause blow downsnote roots
on one side.
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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More roots on one side
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Construction near existing trees can cause the
tree to blow over more than a decade later
Images courtesy of Norm Easey
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September, 2000
March, 2001
July, 2001
November, 2001
Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Recently planted trees can fall down or lean, and
some trees just lean
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Many trees fell over due to soggy soil
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Shallow roots in many coastal landscapes
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Analyze the planting site

• USDA hardiness zone?
• Light exposure?
• Soil pH?
• How fast does water drain through the soil?
• Will the site be irrigated?
• Will the tree be planted in a lawn?
• How close are any buildings?
• Are there overhead wires within 30 feet?
• Where are the underground utilities located?

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Sustainable parking lot design
design
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Pavers over uncompacted soil
design
Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Re-routing walk around tree
Solutions
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Amereq, Inc.
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Image courtesy of Bill Butler
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Image courtesy of Bill Butler
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Place trees on other side of walk
Solutions
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Select quality trees using Grades and Standards
as a guide

• Florida Fancy
• Florida 1
• Florida 2
• Cull
• Applies to trees, palms, shrubs, groundcovers,
  vines, and wetland plants

Image courtesy of FL Division of Plant Industry
and Pamela Mattis
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General Requirements

• Any landscape contract that specifies a grade
• To be graded a plant must
• Meet tolerances for plant pests
• Meet the grade standards
• Be correctly labeled as to name, grade and date
  of delivery
• Living stock

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Trees

• Quality of trunk structure
• Quality of branch arrangement
• Crown structure

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Trunk structure

• One trunk
• Straight
• Can have lt 5" bow
• No branch greater than 2/3 the trunk diameter

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Trunk structure
Florida 1 Florida 2 Cull

• Trunk branches into 3 or more

• Trunk branches in lower half
• Trunk can have a bow greater than 15"

• Trunk branches in upper half
• Trunk can have a bow between 5" and 15"

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Branch arrangement

• Florida Fancy
• Branches spaced 6" apart
• No branch greater than 2/3 of trunk diameter

• Florida 1
• Branches spaced at least 4 apart
• One branch greater than 2/3 of trunk diameter

• Florida 2
• Most majors vertical
• 1 or 2 branches in lower half greater than 2/3 of
  trunk diameter

• Cull
• All majors vertical

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Crown

• Florida Fancy
• Branches evenly distributed

• Florida 1
• Crown not completely full, some small voids

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Crown

• Florida 2
• Branches not evenly distributed, crown has a
  large void

• Cull
• Tree is one-sided or lopsided

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Live oak
Image courtesy of FL Division of Plant Industry
and Pamela Mattis
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Live oak
Image courtesy of FL Division of Plant Industry
and Pamela Mattis
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Matrix A, single trunkPinnate, slender
trunkPygmy date palm
Image courtesy of FL Division of Plant Industry
and Pamela Mattis
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Avoid

• Circling roots
• Pot bound roots
• Dark or decaying roots

Images courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Plant correctly
Top of root ball 10 above landscape soil
Mulch covering edge of root ball, not piled on top
Irrigation device
Root ball
Mulch
Backfill soil
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Image courtesy of Mary Duryea
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Learn how to prune correctly orhire someone who
knows how

• Bushes are bushy. Trees are not!

Images courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Shearing is not for trees
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Structural pruning
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Lion-tailing
Image courtesy of Chuck Lippi
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Lion-tailing
Image courtesy of Klaus Mattheck
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Unbalanced canopy
Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Thinning
Before After

• Reduces limb weight
• Minimizes wind damage

Image courtesy of Ed Gilman
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Previous cultural practicespruning
100
80
60
Unpruned
Percentage of Trees Standing After Hurricane
Pruned
40
20
0
Live Oak
Black Olive
Gumbo Limbo
Source Duryea et al. 1996. "Wind and trees A
survey of homeowners after hurricane Andrew."J.
Arboriculture. 22(1)44-50
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Factors contributing to tree loss or damage

• High wind speeds
• Tree characteristics
• Cultural practices
• Soil and rooting space characteristics
• Construction practices

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A healthy urban forest needs

• Wind resistant species
• More native tree species?
• Wide range of species age and diversity
• Good cultural practices
• Good rooting space and soil properties
• Informed planning, design and construction
  professionals
• An informed public

Source Duryea, Kampf and Littell