How to Protect Your Trees from Lightning Strikes
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Learn about lightning protection for your home landscaping, and how a tree service can help.
Every year thousands of unprotected trees fall victim to lightning strikes throughout the United States. Many of those trees are in urban landscapes or front yards, and the strike can be a life-ending event for the centerpiece of your home landscaping.
Can anything be done to protect your trees? The answer is, “Yes!” Lightning protection systems aren’t just for homes and large buildings. A tree service can apply the same principals, and many of the same materials, to provide trees with a measure of protection against this powerful force of nature.
Which trees are good candidates for lightning protection systems?
Arborists generally recommend protecting:
• Trees of historical significance and unusual value
• Shade trees within 10 feet of a structure
• Trees with branches overhanging buildings
• Tall trees in recreational or park areas
• Those trees that are more likely to be struck due to location, such as an isolated tree on a hill or pasture.
Are certain species of trees more likely to be affected by lightning strikes?
Yes. Taller trees are more likely to be struck by lightning. Due not only to size, but also to some differences in biology, physiology and other factors, certain trees are more susceptible to strikes. Below is a list of some common species in the eastern portion of the U.S. and their susceptibility to lightning strikes.
Not all areas of the country are equally affected by lightning strikes. Make sure lightning is common enough in your area to warrant the cost of lighning protection installation and maintenance.
SPECIES SUCEPTIBILITY
Maple Moderate
Beech Low
Ash High
Tulip Poplar Very high
Oak High
Elm Moderate
Directing a force of nature
Lightning protection systems are designed to provide a less-resistant path to ground than the trunk of the tree. The system consists of a long section of copper extending from the top of the tree down to the ground and out to a metal plate or series of rods placed in the ground a distance from the tree, which dissipates the charge into the surrounding soil.
A terminal is attached to the top of the system to better attract lightning, and is fastened to the tree using fasteners that are driven into the trunk of the tree every few feet down to the ground.
Are lightning protection systems expensive?
A good portion of the cost of a lightning protection system for your home landscaping trees comes from the needed materials. The cost of installing a system will always be less than the cost to remove a tree that's been struck.
Lightning protection systems are an investment in your tree that can help protect it for years or decades to come. If some other pruning work is already being done to the tree, it makes sense to explore the option of installing a system at the same time.
How can I tell if my tree has already been struck by lightning?
Sometimes, people actually see their tree struck during a storm, but that’s not very common. Most only discover something is wrong the next morning.
Lightning generally leaves some very clear signs that it stopped by for a visit. A long vertical scar running down the trunk of the tree and pieces of bark scattered around your home landscaping are both very common.
As the charge from the lightning travels down the tree toward the ground, the water in the tree’s cells heats rapidly, causing an explosion, blowing the bark off the tree and leaving the scar.
What should I do if my tree has already been struck?
Call an ISA-certified arborist! Not every lightning-struck tree needs to be removed. Lightning is one of those somewhat mystical forces of nature that’s hard to predict.
Some struck trees are instantly killed, while others linger on for years with suboptimal health. Others recover just fine and carry on. It’s always a good idea to have a qualified arborist inspect a struck tree to help determine the best course of action.
Lightning can be such a powerful force that the structure of the tree is compromised, requiring its removal. Other times, some pruning and therapeutic/preventative treatments can be done to give the tree the best chance of recovery.
Lightning-struck trees should be re-inspected yearly to make sure things are going in the right direction.
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