Most trees never fail. The ones that do usually show it first. None of these signs on its own means a tree has to come down, but each is a reason to have it looked at.
At the base
1. The ground is lifting. Soil heaving, cracking or mounding on one side of the trunk, especially after heavy rain, can mean the root plate is starting to move. This is the most urgent sign on the list.
2. A new or worsening lean. Plenty of trees grow on a lean and are fine. A lean that wasn’t there last year, or has got worse after a storm, is different.
3. Fungi at the base or on the roots. Mushrooms, brackets or conks on the trunk or root flare usually mean decay inside.
4. Soft or hollow wood. Tap the trunk: a dull, hollow sound, or wood you can push a screwdriver into, is worth checking.
5. Cut roots. Trenching for a pool, driveway, sewer or retaining wall close to the trunk can cut the roots that hold the tree up. The tree can look healthy for years and then fail.
In the trunk and branches
6. Cracks and splits, especially running up or down from a union.
7. V-shaped unions with bark caught inside. Two stems growing tight together with bark trapped between them (“included bark”) are weakly joined and can split apart.
8. Large dead branches. Deadwood is normal in eucalypts, but big dead limbs over a roof, driveway or play area should come out.
9. Sudden limb drop. Some species, angophoras and some gums in particular, drop large healthy-looking limbs on still, hot days. If a tree has done it before, it can do it again.
The whole tree
10. Thinning canopy or dieback from the tips inward, or termite mud leads on the trunk.
What to do
- If the ground is lifting or the tree is moving: keep people away and call someone today.
- Otherwise: photograph it and get an inspection. A consulting arborist can assess the risk (what might fail, what it would hit, how likely) and tell you whether pruning, cabling or removal is right.
- Before any work, check your council’s rules. A “dangerous” tree is only exempt from approval when the council is satisfied it’s a risk. See dead or dangerous trees.
Our consulting arborists are AQF Level 5 qualified. We’ll tell you honestly when a tree is fine.