Gardening with Ciscoe ( www.ciscoe.com ) Gardening - Q & A

Old Trees, holes in

Q: I have a beautiful old (80+) apple tree in my backyard. it has moss growing on it, and some ferns here and there, and produces beautiful Fuji-like apples. the trunk is BIG (can't fit my arms around) and the lateral arms coming off the tree are BIG! In the crook of the tree, and on the tops of the big arms, there are holes, and inside the holes collects rain water, muck, bugs, seeds, etc... (I actually pulled a black walnut seedling out of one last spring (wonder where that came from!!!) and one sprouts yellow poppies! Will these holes continue to rot all the way through and "de-limb" my tree? OH NO! how can I solve this problem? (if it is a problem...) the tree is very sturdy. I walk among the limbs when I prune it, some 12 ft. above the ground. I love this tree, and want to help it. HELP!

A: The best policy in this case is to leave the tree alone. Old trees often get holes and cavities, but they are genetically programed to wall off decay around the cavities. The worst thing you can do is to fill the void with concrete, clean a cavity out, or worse yet, put a drain pipe in. Eventually rot will cause trouble, but it's an old tree and that's just the way nature works. The good news is that old trees can survive a long time, even when the trunk becomes a hollow shell. Just watch out when you're walking around on the limbs. If the decay is in the branch, it could come crashing down. Better that happens when you're not on (or under) it. The one advice I will give is to prune carefully. Avoid cutting off any big branches and avoid leaving stubs. The bigger the branch you remove, the higher the chance of decay.