tree time is counted in decades ....

i figure its dying in tree time.. and there isnt much you can do about it ... i definitely wouldnt invest money in it.. other than for removal ...

losing bark on exposed roots is not good ... probably means those giant roots are dead ...

my best guess.. its using up stored energy ...and probably not replacing it ...

fert sure isnt going to offset loss of most of the canopy ... the energy making machine of the tree ...

just get rid of it ... you are tied up in the emotions ... rather than what you probably know you have to do .... or else just watch it keep falling apart ... and thats just going to upset you for a few more years ...

ken

We discussed removing the tree with the tree service we used last summer. I was all for taking the tree out last summer but he suggested we give the tree a season to see what new growth it put out. But, I didn't then and don't know think the tree has enough ability to to do that at this point. Right now I would suggest cutting the trunk up into slabs for coffee tables. I've never worked with Hackberry wood before.

Can you save it? I doubt it. Hackberries aren't very long-lived -- I've seen old ones decline and die quite quickly after losing major branches. And from what I've seen they have no recovery abilities. The one I show below lost a big part of its crown in a remnant hurricane (Sept 2003), and the rest of it, though still alive & fully leaved, died the next year.