Pro tip: I was hiking in the Red River Gorge and saw a huge oak with a cable brace from the 80s.

The tree had grown completely around the old steel cable, and the bark was bulging over it in a way I've never seen. It made me wonder if we should be using a different material for long-term bracing that trees can absorb better. Has anyone else run into a fully swallowed cable like that, and what did you do?

2 comments

2 Comments

craig.parker1mo ago

Totally, saw one wrapped around a chain link fence.

sagey691mo ago

That cable is probably fine for another fifty years. Steel lasts forever and the tree clearly adapted to it. I've seen way worse things kill trees than a little metal inside the bark.