Should I remove or save my siberian elm?
Siberian Elm is on the hazard list here, which shifts the odds toward removal. Planted across the Midwest in the early 20th century as a fast, drought-proof shelterbelt tree, and it has been paying that back ever since — brittle wood, short life, and seed into every fencerow and pavement crack. In central Indiana it is the species most often removed on a general "just get rid of it" basis rather than for one identifiable defect, and it is no longer recommended for planting anywhere in the region.
How to tell which one you've got
Siberian elm is far more resistant to Dutch elm disease than American elm, so it rarely dies dramatically — it degrades. Look for bacterial wetwood weeping slime flux down the trunk, cankers, dead tops, and elm leaf beetle skeletonizing the foliage brown by midsummer; by the time a Siberian elm looks bad, the wood is generally already compromised where it matters structurally.
The structural question
This is the tree that fills the phone after an Indiana ice storm. Weak brittle wood plus included bark at nearly every branch union means whole leaders tear out under ice or a straight-line wind gust, frequently ripping a long strip of trunk with them and leaving what remains badly unbalanced.
Related
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