Trunk Fracture: Guy Ropes

The accompanying photograph shows a trunk fracture on a Leyland Cypress tree.  The tree which was part of a hedge line, fell in a storm narrowly missing a nursery car park. The diameter of the stem is approximately 350mm and the tree stood at around 12m in height.

Many years earlier some of the trees within the hedge had started to lean due to poor rooting conditions. The owner corrected the lean by installing guy ropes made from galvanised fencing wire. Unfortunately, they soon became hidden and forgotten as the hedge grew around them and were subsequently neither adjusted or removed when no longer needed.

As the tree stem increased in girth, it was in effect, being strangled by the wire; the tree was unable to increase its girth at this point and it subsequently created a weak point on the trunk. The original wire can still be seen imbedded within the trunk on the above photograph.

Other trees along the hedge line still had their wires attached. This photograph shows a wire guy rope on a neighbouring tree and the deformation in bark and wood growth that it has caused around the tree trunk.

This tree is considered to be unsafe and will either be removed or reduced substantially in height as part of a hedge management process.

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