A family is heartbroken after losing a 30-year-old tree in a crash with a delivery truck. However, Reddit users were quick to point out that the tree might’ve had serious problems before the truck hit it.
Photo Credit: Reddit
A Redditor posted to r/arborists expressing extreme frustration that a truck delivering furniture to a neighboring house ran into a tree on their parents’ property.
“We are so sad — my parents have been taking care of both of those trees (including the one to the left that they didn’t hit) for 25 years,” the poster wrote. “Even worked with the city’s arborist to figure the best way to trim them so they’d continue growing healthy and strong.”
Commenters made it clear that the tree was not just a decades-old relic but a hazard waiting to happen.
“That tree had root issues long before the van clipped it,” one user replied. “A [30-year-old] tree in good health would’ve totaled the van and still be standing.”
Other users pointed to the physical appearance of the tree as an indicator of its condition.
“Yeah I noticed there’s visible dead branches on the fallen tree. Also the truck is looking pretty good aside from a small dent so it couldn’t have been that much force,” another user commented. “Not many roots got torn up either so they were probably rotting.”
Root rot is a common problem with trees, even large ones. It’s caused by soil holding too much moisture, usually from poor drainage. The problem can display itself in leaf discoloration, stunted growth, and cankers or lesions near the tree’s base.
Commenters mentioned the problem might lie in the placement of the tree in the hellstrip between the sidewalk and road.
“It would have no incentive to grow roots under concrete unless it’s the porous type — which is unlikely,” one user wrote. “The sidewalk is not wide enough to affect the tree too much. The road however, is a different story. It likely had a rather stunted root system because it had so much paved ground surrounding it.”
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