Will lightning kill my oak tree?

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vossner East Texas, United States(Zone 8a) Aug 14, 2009

we had a 30 min. storm yesterday and lightning hit this tree. It peeled a strip of bark from the very top of the tree, all the way to the base. Is this a death sentence? It is an old tree, over 70 ft tall.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Aug 14, 2009

Hard to say yet, but the risk of immediate death is fairly low. Trees with strips blown off like that often still go on living a long time, but sometimes they can die quickly, maybe if the heating cooked the bark all way round the trunk rather than just down the main strip.

In the longer term, the tree may get decay as a result of the damage, which could result in its becoming dangerous in the future, but that's not likely to be a worry for something like the next 20-30 years. You might want to think about planting a new tree nearby so it is a good size when the old one does have to come down for safety.

Resin

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vossner East Texas, United States(Zone 8a) Aug 14, 2009

thanks resin. I went googling and found two links that support what you said. The level of damage on my tree is not a mortal wound but being that Houston is a humid environment that encourages insects, bugs might bore into the tree and do irreparable damage, if not kill it altogether. Still, this would not be an immediate occurrence.

scroll halfway down the page for good info: http://www.forestpests.org/gfcbook/urbantree.html

This message was edited Aug 14, 2009 9:25 AM

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vossner East Texas, United States(Zone 8a) Aug 14, 2009

the 2nd link shows examples of trees struck by lightning. Mine is not nearly as severe as the ones shown here, whew, maybe my beautiful tree will survive this.

http://weatherscapes.com/album.php?cat=lightning&subcat=trees

I hope this helps other people. I was under the impression that when lightning struck, trees split and fell, end of story. Not necessarily. The peeled bark, in varying degrees, is more likely. Overall health of trees, insect activity, subsequent strikes, will make a difference.

Thanks Resin.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Aug 14, 2009

It could have been a lot worse . . . take a look at this one! http://www.pinetum.org/lightning.htm

Resin

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vossner East Texas, United States(Zone 8a) Aug 14, 2009

yep, could have been worse

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Pagancat (Sheryl) Gainesboro, TN(Zone 6b) Aug 15, 2009

Good luck, Vossner - hope it pulls through for you.

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vossner East Texas, United States(Zone 8a) Aug 15, 2009

TY

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