We were pruning a maple tree in the South Keys area of Ottawa with a very dense canopy when we noticed that the trunk was in danger of splitting apart.
This is quite common in maple trees, especially where unions are narrow and bark has been included between the two stems, leading to a weak joint.
In this tree, if the union failed a large section of the tree would come crashing down onto the house. Not a good outcome.
We installed a nylon cable in the tree. Unlike a steel cable, these are flat and wide, and run through a sleeve around the tree to prevent chafing and damage to the bark.
The goal of the cable is not to hold up the tree itself, but to take up the ice, snow, or wind load (the excess forces). Under normal conditions, the cable has a bit of slack in it. If the cable was always tight, and supporting the tree itself, the tree would grow weak.
Once the cable is installed, it is discreet and hard to spot. You don’t want an unsightly tree. Can you spot it in the picture below? And while the tree still looks very full, we removed over a thousand pounds of branches from it! It was needing a good pruning.
Of course, by keeping trees well pruned, you minimize the risk of them splitting and needing to have a cable installed in the first place.
So to answer the question, “will this maple split apart?” I want to say “no”! But by background I am a scientist, so I will say “it’s statistically improbable”.
