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City park maples all have the same crack pattern, worrying
I was doing a routine check at Riverside Park in Portland last week and noticed at least 6 of the big maples have vertical cracks on the same side, mostly southwest facing. The city arborist said they get these after hot summers but never this many at once. Has anyone else seen this pattern in their local parks, and did it lead to any failures down the road?
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laura18923d ago
Man, that southwest side thing is the real clue here. If it was just heat stress you'd expect cracks all over, not lined up on one face, so I'd bet the sun is hitting that side after it's been cool and damp all morning, and the bark is splitting from the fast temp swing. There's also the soil angle, those trees sit in turf with the root flare buried and irrigation hitting one side, so the whole trunk swells unevenly. Six big maples cracking the same way in one park tells me it's about the site, not the trees.
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