Had a close call with a Bradford pear in Memphis last month

We were doing a standard removal on a 30-footer, but the trunk split about 15 feet up when we made the notch. The whole thing hinged sideways into the client's fence instead of falling clean. It happened because the core was totally rotted, which we didn't catch from the ground. Anyone else run into these trees failing way earlier than expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabethblack3mo ago

Oh man, those things are the worst. We had one come down in a mild storm last spring, looked perfectly fine from the outside. Cut it open and it was just hollow, like a cardboard tube. Total junk wood.

mason.julia3mo ago

Ugh, that's so true. It feels like everything is built like that now. Looks okay on the surface but there's nothing solid holding it up inside. I see it with cheap furniture, appliances, even some new houses. Makes you wonder what else is just a hollow shell waiting to fall apart.

grant.richard3mo ago

Seriously? Might as well be made of papier-mâché. At this rate, we're gonna need a permit just to stand under a tree.