Yeah, it doesn't feel good. . . but I have my reasons -
- it is so large and so close to the house that it could cause major major major damage in a hurricane (it is south Florida, after all)
- it produces giant 2 - 3 pound mangoes which fall from up to 40 feet high making it dangerous to be near in the summer (there are craters in the yard from where they land)
- 1000s of mangoes = 1000s of rotting mangoes
I'm really torn about what to do, what do you all think?
1 comment:
Cutting down your tree does feel wrong but speaking as as a homeowner who has and loves trees base your decision on how the tree affects the use of your property and your lifestyle. If you keep it, it should be properly maintained and not dangerous. Can you afford the care? You bought your property for a reason. Was that reason Mango Farming?
It does sound lovely, but romance aside,...1000s of mangos! I mean how many neighbors can you have? How many can you personally eat annually?
You are also right about the damage it could cause during or after a storm if is in a weakened state. If your tree is young, strong and well rooted, that may not be much of an issue. But, your tree looks older than 40 years. I'd think double that with limbs that thick and at that height. Mango trees live for about 100 yrs and 40 ft is about the full height of a mature mango tree on a plantation or urban environment...
I live up north (Chicago) and have 3 Incense Pines, 4 Blue Spruce, 5 Elm trees and a Mulberry tree. Tree care takes MAJOR amounts of time seasonally it always corresponds with other important events... and that's just dealing with limb trimming and knee-deep fall leaves. The damage to other landscaping is also an issue if the trees aren't properly maintained... and we don't have mango missiles.
Our Mulberry tree is our "trouble tree". It is our oldest and prettiest tree, at least 80 yrs. We know from a tree section given to us by our tree guy when he removed a limb. The Mulberry tree is around 3.5 ft in diameter at its base. We can look at the tree, but we can't sit under it. We have had one of several huge limbs fall. It blocked our street and had to be cut into pieces to remove. The limb was as big and as heavy as any of our other trees.
We've also removed other limbs that were cracking and about to fall... save up, trimming will cost at least $200 on the cheap. Our last "trimming" estimate was around $500.
I can't see sacrificing the use of your property for only one tree. It not a Sequoia. You can replace it.
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