Michigan State University Extension
Ornamental Plants plus Version 3.0 - 00001635
11/12/99
Lightning
Lightning strikes can cause various symptoms. They
usually loosen some bark, which hangs on the tree in
strips. The amount of bark loosened will depend on the
severity of the strike. Sometimes only a narrow strip is
loosened; other times a large portion of the circumference
of the trunk is affected. A tree struck by lightning may
show no symptoms until it dies mysteriously days or years
later. The lightning bolt may pass through the trunk and
seriously damage the roots.
Remove loose bark and broken branches as soon as possible
after the strike. The tree may show no other effects or
it may die suddenly within a short time. All you can do
is to reduce other stresses, such as dryness and pests.
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to commercial products or trade names does not imply
endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not
mentioned. This information becomes public property upon
publication and may be printed verbatim with credit to MSU
Extension. Reprinting cannot be used to endorse or advertise
a commercial product or company.
This file was generated from data base ZZ on 01/19/00.
Data base ZZ was last revised on 11/12/99.
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