Advice needed on shagbark hickory

[Clark]

Over the Christmas holiday I was at the in-laws in SE Wisconsin.  Several weeks prior to my arrival they had a nice storm drop 12" of snow which took down most of one particular shagbark hickory.  So my father-in-law wisely waited until someone younger came along to help take it down (it was a great widow maker and this old boy was sweating bullets taking that thing down).

So now they have a shagbark hickory in their yard that has had ~95% of it's leaves/limbs removed.  It's about 25' tall, 12" dbh and has some branches at the top.  In any other situation I would have recommended the ground level pruning and be done with it.  Life is not so easy though.  This particular tree was shading their pond which helped keep it algae free and they like their pond algae free.

My initial thought was to leave it be and hopefully over several years the remaining branches and new epicormic branches would form a new crown providing the desired shade for the pond.  After doing some reading it almost sounds like shagbark may not readily grow epicormic branches (?) in which case this tree is probably soon gone.  The other option was to cut it down and hope for stump or root sprouts but it sounds like trees larger than 10" dbh don't produce many (if any) stump sprouts.

I have no experience with shagbark hickory so I'm pretty clueless as to how this tree will respond over the next several years.  Any advice?

Clark

[bill m]

If it is not in a location that it is a hazard to people or property I would leave it for now. The root system is intact so it should put on a lot of new growth the next few years. Just watch it  and if it is declining take it down then.

[SwampDonkey]

Don't know much about shagbark. But, sounds like it's suckering habit is similar to our sugar maple in so far as they will hardly resprout from the stump when mature. Red maple or basswood on the other hand will sucker be darned. Basswood would also recover from a heavy pruning.

[Clark]

I get the feeling that I overestimated the number of urban foresters on this site!  Anyone else with experience with shagbark?

Clark

[beenthere]

With that feeling, what were you looking for? I have experience with shagbark hickory, but didn't read anything into what you posted that was much more than your observations. How can we help?

Near as I can tell, you arrived and didn't help take it down? Or did you just clean up the downed branches? Are you waiting for advice to go back and cut it down at the stump? Or going to try to save the tree for its shade?   

Help us out here.   

[Reddog]

So now they have a shagbark hickory in their yard that has had ~95% of it's leaves/limbs removed

Based on this and the fact that Hickory tends to rot very quickly at any damaged area my thought would be to remove it. If you want to wait a year and see what response happens, seems logical. But heart rot is hard to see most times until failure reveals it.

And to be honest you have asked an Arborist question more than a Forester question.

[WDH]

If the snow just broke a good many of the limbs off, it might put back out and recover.  Like Reddog said, give it a year and see what happens.  If it does not do well, then take it down.  I am pulling for the little shagbark  .

[OneWithWood]

My experience with the hickories is that they do not rebound well to damage, especially extensive damage.

I would guess that you have about five years before the tree fails of its own accord.  If it were my pond I would be planting a faster growing tree like a red maple to provide interim shade and a more slowly growing tree like an oak to provide shade on down the road.

[woodmills1]

I think one with wood just gave you good info

[Phorester]

Yep, plant a replacement right now.  Rule of thumb for pruning a tree is to not take off more than 25% in one year. More than that and the tree doesn't have enough leaves to manufacture enough food to keep it alive.  With 95% of the branches removed from this hickory, it won't last many more years.  Even if it does sprout from the stump, stump sprouts are subject to rot.  A newly planted tree isn't.  And of course you can place it exactly where you want a tree.

[DirtForester]

Any tree with that much crown damage will die in due course.  Time to start over.

[WDH]

Keep us posted on the status of the shagbark.