A Blue Palo Verde that looks like it jumped out of the ground!
I got a call last night from a client in Sun City Grand that said a strong thunderstorm with high winds and rain had just passed through. A tree that we were scheduled to trim next week was blown over and other trees on the property were damaged. We re-shuffled things and headed down this morning.
The air was hot and humid like it has been all week. As we entered the community, we could see tree branches broken off what seemed like every other tree! Some trees were left with nothing but the trunk, others were broken off at the ground. Many trees had a branch or two broken off in the canopy. I didn’t see any signs of twisting, so I think very strong straight-line winds were the culprit. Our client said he heard a loud roar just before looking out and seeing the damage.
There were landscapers, tree services, and lots of other people out trying to cash in on the huge amount of work to be done with the cleanup. Fortunately (I say this because of the horrible working conditions) we only had one customer with damage in the area. So, we just had one lot to clean up!
This appx 15″ diameter Blue Palo Verde tree had a lot of problems including probably girdling roots, prior improper pruning cuts and the real killer – planting too deep (probably 15″ or so…). Improper planting depth is my diagnosis for the cause of the death of this tree. If this windstorm would not have come along, it would have no doubt tipped over at some point in the future, maybe even on a calm day!
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