
A lightning-struck live oak
- Problem
- Bark separating from the trunk in several places, with sawdust-like frass from wood-boring insects.
- Assessment
- Heat from lightning had killed sections of the cambium. The insects were secondary and arrived because the tree was stressed.
- Reasoning
- Pesticides can’t reach borers once they’re past the cambium. The answer is to rebuild the tree’s own defenses and let it compartmentalize the damage.
- Work performed
- Traced dead bark back to live tissue, injected mycorrhizae, humates and biochar with nitrogen held back, and laid 6" of arborist chips.
- Result
- Wound edges cleaned for closure, with a 30- and 60-day treatment schedule and ongoing monitoring.
- Methodology
- Plant health care · Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees (CODIT)






