Experts say a University oak has a 50 percent chance of survival after it was struck by lightning earlier this semester.
After the winds and rains of Hurricane Isaac subsided, campus seemed to have prevailed without serious damage.
But after official inspection, one tree was left scarred from the storm. Lightning gashed the tree’s trunk that measures about 10 feet in height and one foot in width.
The live oak stretches over sidewalks in the Quad in front of Coates Hall. It used to shade students, but now, its limbs are bare and frail.
“As soon as we noticed, within a day or two, we took the appropriate actions to help the tree,” said Fred Fellner, assistant director for landscape services.
The University’s arbor crew treated the tree for fungal and insect infections, injected the soil with minerals, regulated its watering and swept the base of the tree of all competing vegetation.
The crew also installed copper wire in other oak trees to protect them from future storms and lightning.
Arborists took samples of the tree Friday to look for viable tissue, or green in the center of branches.
“We’re looking for life,” Fellner said. “We know we’ve got some growth in the center of the tree, but all the rest of the tree is defoliating.”
Fellner said after an analysis, the crew may prune its branches to where the viable tissue ends in January or February.
“It would be a misnomer to say it would ever get back to its full health. Our hope is to save the tree, to have it, but smaller,” Fellner said. “It won’t be as spreading and as vigorous as it was, not for … five to 10 years down the road.”
But there is a chance of death.
“Right now I think it’s a 50/50 proposition. Any time a tree defoliates after a lightning strike, it’s not a good sign,” he said. “Nourishment is not coming up to the leaves. Water is not coming up. … The products of photosynthesis are not coming out.”
Fellner said the oak is 80 to 90 percent defoliated.
He said the tree’s property value is between $60,000 and $70,000, and it is endowed in honor of Charles E. Severance Sr. and Winifred Loudon Severance.
The University has not charged the endowment for the treatments because it does not want to deplete it. These treatments are considered routine maintenance.
“Should this tree be lost, we will take it down, grind the stump, and as quickly as possible, we will plant the largest tree [we can find],” Fellner said. “If [the oak] were gone, it would leave a big impression. … They are a considerable asset to the University.”
