How To Cut Down Small Hollow Tree? [Tree Management]

Do you know many trees have survived the decades and centuries with hollows in the earth? But over time, they can be hazardous for living around. 

You can hire some professional arborists to make this task safe and easy. Also, this article can be your guide in need. 

What Can You Do About A Hollow Tree?

You can do many things with hollow trees depending on the tree size, species, extent of hollowness, and locations.

First, you can leave the tree as it is as the tree provides birds, bats, and other wildlife with a house or habitat, helping enrich the ecosystem’s biodiversity.

• Besides, you can perform the following things to the hollow trees.
• Installing the braces or supports helps prevent the tree from collapsing or falling.
• You can remove the branches and reduce the crown size so the tree won’t bother carrying the stress on its weak trunk.
• Also, if the hollow poses safety concerns, you can fill or cover the hollow with natural materials such as wood and bark. This help tree have natural ventilation preventing nesting by other pets and children.
• Next, you can plant new trees around the hollow trees.

How Do You Cut Down A Hollow Tree?

When young, the hollow trees can trap wild and domestic animals and sometimes kids. 

But if the hollow tree is old enough with the bark shedding, and broken or dried branches, it may collapse anytime, posing a threat to living around. 

So it is better to cut down the hollow tree with the assistance of a professional arborist.

Step 1: Close the area of the tree, set up the exclusion zones, and collect the specialized equipment for cutting.
Step 2: You need to make the tree fall in a controlled way in a safe direction and place. So, you may need to use the specialized wedges.
Step 3: Once the tree falls successfully, cut the branches and trunks into manageable pieces and store the pieces as firewood.
Step 4: Finally, you can plant the new trees to fill the removal of hollow trees.

Can You Save A Hollow Tree?

If the hollow tree has the following symptoms, you need to make sure that the trees need help:

• The tree is highly leaning and tilting.
• There are large cracks in the bark or trunk.
• The tree hits visible rot and decay.
• It encounters the loss of branches and foliage.

However, you can save the tree no matter how big it is hollow. 

• First, you need to diagnose the causes of the hollowness. Remove the infected tissue and apply fungicides if the tree suffers from the disease.
• Also, treat the injury if needed with some preventive care.
• Do not forget to apply the detering methods for animals such as woodpeckers and squirrels as they nip and scrab the trees contributing to extending the hollow.
• Provide the structural supports if the hollowing is further extending, using the braces and cables.
• Besides, you can seal the openings of the hollow with wood and bark if small, and fill it with metal mesh or concrete.