Watched a Bradford pear split in half after 7 years of bad pruning cuts

I took over a yard in Raleigh where the previous guy had been topping the Bradford pear every spring since 2016. Last month a storm split the trunk down the middle, and the homeowner asked why. Those flush cuts and stub cuts left the branch collars wide open, so rot had been eating the crotch for years. Has anyone had luck saving a tree after that much damage, or is it firewood at this point?

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the_viola8d ago

That "rot eating the crotch for years" line is the real killer here, because topping forces the tree to push weak shoots that never form a proper union with the trunk. Even if you cable and brace it, that decay pocket usually runs way deeper than what you can see from outside, so yeah, firewood.

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