Help... I have a 25 -30 yo Laceleaf next to my house. It is about 8' tall and about the same across. 9 days ago there was an electrical storm that took out the cable box and plasma tv, both of which are located inside about 12' away from the tree. The strike appears to have come in via something very local to the house because the advanced surge systems (2 of them) didn't show the hit and we are fiber optic to the far side of the house. All of this seems to point to a possible ground strike in close proximity to the house itself. In the past week we have noticed the JM looking poorly and this has rapidly accelerated in the last 72 hours. The top branches (crown) are wilting and changing color, there is similar action on the right side and to a lesser extent on the left. There is no physical damage to the bark such as splintering. As I said, this is a rapidly evolving event. Any ideas? Any thoughts or suggestions? All comments are appreciated.
Area you able to post any pictures of the tree? That might provide a little more insight as to what's going on. I'm not sure of all the physics/chemistry involved, but if the lightning did hit the ground that close to the tree, I would be surprised if it didn't affect the tree in some way, whether due to the intense electrical surge, high heat (of the strike itself), or due to some other factor. Have you found any burnt area on the ground indicating where it did strike, if it did indeed actually strike the ground?
Hi Andrea, Thanks for replying. I will post images tonight when I get home. No evidence of a burn or strike but the damage to the electronics and the tree seems indicates a ground strike somewhere relatively close. My understanding of lightning is that it can strike and travel underground completely undetected. It goes for the lowest resistance and we have been watering the bed in the background. The single image here is the affected tree about 7 years ago in the fall. There has been substantial growth since then. The double tree image are companion trees about 20 - 30 feet away from the house. They too have grown substantially. We are heartbroken as this unfolds... :-(( Lyle
The price to replace a tree of that size and quality would be great. I wonder if home owners insurance would be a option?
