100-Year-Old Oak Tree On Armour Street To Be Cut Down Thursday

DAVIDSON, NC — The Town of Davidson is cutting down a 100-year-old oak tree Thursday along Armour Street, prompting a warning of caution from public works officials. The massive tree is diseased with hypoxylon canker and poses “an extreme danger” to homes around it, according to a statement made by the town.

Hypoxylon is readily identified by patches of sloughed bark and is caused by fungi, which is able to rapidly grow in weakened bark or wood of trees, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. There’s no effective method of treatment and tree removal is recommended in cases where more than 15 percent of the tree crown is infected.

Learn more about Hypoxylon dieback of oak trees here.

Here’s what the Town of Davidson Public Works Department says about the tree removal:

“The tree is a massive 100 year old oak that has hypoxylon canker, a fungus that attacks old weak and stressed trees and kills them fairly quickly causing large limbs to snap off of the trunk at random. It’s a very dangerous situation, and it was the only tree in our tree inventory that Bartlett declared an extreme danger and suggested immediate removal. They identified several others that need to be removed but this one was pointed out to us as the highest threat to property and life out of all of them. The tree is located inside town ROW and hangs above two houses and a couple power lines. If it falls, there won’t be much left of the houses.”

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