Oak Trees - will they die

[jennipurrr]

I recently had some storm damage...an oak tree fell on our carport (pic on the blog if you want to see) and also the tops of two oaks (prob around 50 yrs old) fell in our yard. I have a question for you folks bc I am getting various opinions that conflict.

The oaks with the tops missing are positioned on the top of a small hill so that they would hit into the middle of our house should they fall. So, the tree service guy says that the oaks in the back will die because the tops are gone. The insurance adjuster said they would be fine. Each one obviously has a reason for their opinion, mainly money I believe. I was trying to find info online about this situation but couldn't find anything substantial.

Can anyone help point me to websites or other info I can use if I need to try to get insurance to pay for their removal. Thanks so much!!!

[DarkStar]

You might want to spend the money and hire an arborist to look at the trees. Whether they'll die or not depends on too many factors for anyone to be able to give you good advice here, I believe. Did a storm take out the tree that fell, and the tops of the other two trees? Or did the tops of the two trees still standing just suddenly die?

[jennipurrr]

Thanks darkstar, I had not even considered consulting an expert (Duhhh!). We had a lot of storms over the past couple weeks and it was either a small tornado or straight line winds that knocked the one tree over and took the tops off the other two. Before that they were healthy (and I loved my trees, sniff sniff).

Also, I wanted to add...when I say tops I mean like the size of a huge tree...now it is mostly just a tall trunk with a few branches left.

[CathyA]

Yeah, I would talk to an arborist. I think the ones with their tops gone will survive, but might not be the strongest or most attractive. But if it isn't a safety factor, I'd keep them and maybe have them trimmed up to grow the best.
So sorry for your loss! Was there a car in the carport? We had a huge beautiful burr oak hit by lightening last year and it killed it. :(
If it weren't so difficult and expensive, I would love to have a piece of furniture made out of the tree. Might you consider doing that with your downed oak?

[Mrs-M]

Hi Jennipurrr. First off, I'm sorry to hear of all the damage. (I visited your blog and seen the carnage). As for the trees, there are many variables involved. i.e. The weather, the natural ability of the trees to recover (heal) on their own, how healthy the trees were prior to the storm, etc. With severe breakage, I highly doubt the trees have a future.