Are there any Arborists on here?

[Lazy Daze]

I'm building a small treehouse for my 9yr old daughter. In doing so, I drilled a 3/4" hole through an 18" diameter section of a White Pine for a 3/4" threaded rod as a supporting structure for the platform. After starting to assemble, I didn't like how high it was and decided to lower the platform. The question is, should I fill/plug/fix the higher hole somehow? I'm tempted to drag an epoxy soaked rag through the hole (like cleaning a gun barrel) and then filling it with some type of closed-cell, expanding foam. But I don't want to do anything that would end up doing more harm than good. My fear is trapping moisture if the epoxy cracks due to different expansion rates. At the same time, I don't want to give insects an easy way in. Another thought I had is to foam the center, then seal the last inch or two with marine sealant?

The bark is sapping-over nicely. Should I just let it be? Or is there a preferred method to remedy the hole?

 

[dwna1a]

Let it be Dennis. I will ask the guy tomorrow when he comes to feed my 400 yo white oaks.

 

[dpmulvey]

Not an arborist, but a former land owner and grandson and son of men who "knew trees". trees are living entities. . The toughest wound for any living entity to heal is a void puncture. I have seen trees heal a lot of wounds.....BUT..... they always had something to heal over. . If i were you, I'd gather some meat (Twigs) from the same tree, pound them to bark level and let it be. The only addition would be to whitewash NOT PAINT the trunk from above the hole to the ground. That will keep the insects away. Long story.


If that's too difficult, a stainless steel lag screwed to surface level will do the same thing, albeit there will be no absorption.

Whatever you do, NO SILICONE OR RTV!!!

HTH

 

[Woody]

If the tree is otherwise healthy I'd leave it alone and it'll heal itself.

 

[Steve195]

Seems like two of these would do the trick. After all, we're boaters!! :grin:

 

[northern]

When they prune our trees they leave the end cut exposed. Long ago they used to coat it but that caused problems.
No idea about hole through tree.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Thanks, guys. I won't jump into doing anything at this point. As it is, it's healthy - and it certainly won't change drastically over the short term by just letting it as is.

Those must be some impressive white oaks!

I did get a chuckle out of the rubber plugs, though! :smt001

David... can you expand on the silicone/RTV thing? I had, in my mind, Life Calk (polysulfide)... but are you saying ALL sealants can cause issues, or just the silicone/RTV formulations?

 

[dpmulvey]

If the tree is otherwise healthy I'd leave it alone and it'll heal itself.

i would agree except thet it is a rather large puncture subject to vermin destroying it from the inside out. I had "bugs" bore into a tree that shaded my pool. i ended up having redical pruning done on it. Took 3 yoars to come back but thankfully it did.

 

[dwna1a]

Dennis our property was named after them in 1780, Point Oakland. I have limbs the size of most folks oaks.

I was told to just to let the bark settle back over the hole. If it's a large hole you could put a pine dowel rod in the hole and then place the bark back over the hole.

 

[thegotoguyr]

I would recommend filling the hole with a dowel, leaving room for bark to regrow over the hole. dpmulvey is correct, you need to keep the critters out of the interior. That was the idea behind painting over cuts on trees but it was found to prevent the tree from growing over the wound naturally.
I spent years when being an arborist was a large part of my job it was incredibly difficult work.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Thank you guys (sorry, missed your response on 10/31 dwna1a). Sounds like a plan!