Are Trees Your Friends Or Foes?

Trees can be dangerous. While you probably are old enough to have stopped climbing trees, they could still pose a risk to you and your home. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether or not a tree is healthy, and if it grows near your home, it could fall over or drop a heavy limb that causes damage or, even worse, personal injury.
So, what can you do to see if a tree is healthy or not? There are a few methods that will give you an idea.
The first is to knock on the trunk of the tree. If it sounds very hollow, you should contact someone to cut the tree down. The same is true if the trunk feels very soft, maybe even to the point where you can make an indentation with a hard push of a solid object against it.
Looking at the branches of the tree as well can give you an idea. Even if most branches look healthy with lots of leaves growing on them, if you have a group that looks dead, this could be an indication of a problem that has started to kill the tree.