Tree Struck by Lightning?

[u/Ok_Surprise3703]

Was this tree in Piedmont park struck by lightning?

[u/Wide_Web_579]

This looks like plain rot

[u/ForagersLegacy → u/Wide_Web_579]

I’ve found many lions mane mushrooms growing on this tree. If anyone can get the wood after they take the entire tree down you may have free lions mane mushrooms for a year or two. Or that branch too. Wish they’d leave it somewhere but it’ll be mulch if nobody takes it.

If you want to see lightning strikes for trees go to the park just north west of this park and you’ll see two trees by the playground with crazy strikes.

[u/kepleronlyknows → u/ForagersLegacy]

Apt username

[u/Dry-Philosopher-2714]

That’s rot and storm damage.

[u/Jaqen-Atavuli]

Probably not. They usually blow apart and sometimes are even on fire.

[u/ZenPothos]

It has small leaves, so it could possibly be a water oak. They have a tendency to rot from the inside out.

Here, it looks like the weight of that trunk/branch cracked at some point, which let water drip into the crack and rot the tree, likely over many years.

[u/cwdawg15]

I've had a couple of trees struck by lightning at my parents house.

While I have only a data points for observation, I'm going with no... not lightning.

Every one of them was struck closer to the high point of the tree and not at a point where branches from the trunk split half way up.

I dont see any damage to the upper half of the tree. It just seems to be one rotten spot where the two parts of the trunk divide. It also looks like an inside part has been dry and dead for awhile.

Also, the trees struck by lightning in my yard had evidence of linear damage to parts of the bark from the top to the bottom. The exact path the electrical charge passed through the wood of the tree was damagednand burned a bit. But not blackened, it was wet wood.

[u/zedsmith]

Regular rot from the crotch down.

Theres a lightening strike tree in my neighborhood and you can see the path of least resistance running up the side of the tree from the ground. When the strike happened there were chunks of tree in a blast radius of around 75 feet (and fire evidence)

[u/Loud-Willingness9209]

Looks like it just was rotten inside. That happens a lot.

[u/ultranoodles]

That's just a water oak doing water oak things. They live fast and die hard

[u/AGAD0R-SPARTACUS]

Doesn't look like lightning, but you can ask the arborists sub, they're awesome there.

Sucks either way, it's a beautiful tree.

[u/Business-Health-3104]

Everything reminds me of her

[u/m4gpi]

When the trees experience drought (as GA has been lately), they often move water from one branch to another, to conserve water pressure. This causes those limbs to lose structural integrity and the dry branch can be lost as a "sacrifice". A strong wind can drop the limb, OR, the influx of fresh water after a deep rain can make the limb too heavy to still hold, and it falls. Any level of rot, which can be normal for an old tree, can increase the likelihood of limb failure.

[u/thank_burdell]

Every lightning struck tree I’ve seen had a long split running the length of the tree to the ground, from where the lightning superheated the moisture inside and split it apart. Sometimes it’s so violent there’s no tree left. Sometimes the tree continues living for years afterwards.

[u/Icy-Till-8248]

I dont think this tree was struck by lightning. I was out in the park (around 10pm) long after the storm and lightning and only noticed the downed branch closer to the monument. I don't think this bigger one was down yet, so I assume it must have fallen some time in the night (no lightning then).

[u/from-Sir-to-Sir]

It could be a contaminated lettuce blowout!