7 Warning Signs Your Tree Is Dangerous and May Need Removal

A healthy tree is one of the best things on your property. A failing one is a liability sitting a windstorm away from your roof. The good news: trees almost always warn you before they fail. Here’s what a certified arborist looks for.

1. A sudden or worsening lean

Trees that grew at an angle are usually fine. A tree that has recently started leaning — especially with soil cracking or heaving on one side — may be losing its root anchorage. That’s urgent.

2. Heaving or cracked soil at the base

If the ground on one side of the trunk is mounding up or pulling away, the root plate is lifting. This is one of the clearest signs a tree is about to go over.

3. Fungus, conks, or mushrooms on the trunk or roots

Shelf fungus (“conks”) and mushrooms at the base often mean internal decay — the tree can look green and full up top while it’s hollow at the core. Decay you can see usually means more you can’t.

4. Deadwood and bare branches

Large dead limbs (“widow-makers”) can drop with no warning, no storm required. A canopy that’s thinning, or bare branches while the rest leafs out, signals decline.

5. Cracks, cavities, and included bark

Vertical cracks, open cavities, and tight V-shaped forks where bark is pinched between two stems are all structural weak points that fail under wind or snow load.

6. Roots that are cut, paved over, or rotting

Construction, trenching, or new pavement within the root zone can quietly kill the anchor roots years before the tree shows it. Soft, dark, or mushroom-covered roots are a red flag.

7. It’s the wrong tree in the wrong place

A 90-foot fir three feet from the foundation, a brittle cottonwood over the driveway, a tree tangled in the power line — sometimes the tree is healthy but the situation is the hazard.