Saw a 90 foot pecan at a job site in Austin with a hollow that told a story

I was out in Austin last month doing a removal quote on an old pecan and the owner said it had been there since her grandpa planted it in 1952. When I probed the base I found a hollow big enough to put my arm in, but the tree had grown a thick callus wall all around it, so the wood was still solid. I told her to keep it and just cable the two leaders, and she looked at me like I was crazy till I showed her the compartment lines. Anyone else seen a tree seal off that big a wound and stay healthy for decades?

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the_cameron18d ago

Used to figure any hollow that size meant the tree was a goner and we should just take it down. Seeing one wall itself off like that with solid wood behind the callus changed how I look at old wounds, the tree basically built its own barrier and kept going. That owner was smart to get a second opinion before letting someone cut it.

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