Tree help!

[mouse]

treedimensional (or anyone)

We have a tree (I think fruitless mulberry) that dropped a large branch yesterday. I don't see any insect damage or signs of disease. Looking closer at the branch, it looks like it was damage in the past (storm? Bad pruning?) and the wind we had yesterday was enough to break it through.

We're asking around to find somebody come look at it. I'm guessing its not an immediate danger and it's thankfully not close to any houses.

What worries me is looking at the crotch, it's fairly deep and half the tree is one side, half on the other. So I'm wondering if it should come out all together even if it's otherwise okay. Any help so I'm not flying blind would be most appreciated.

I'll try to attach pictures.

[mouse]

The app doesn't let me see the pictures, but that's the crotch from both sides and the branch where it broke off. It looks to me like the break isn't entirely new.

[treedimensional]

Are you sure that's not a Bradford pear?
At first glance, I'd rate this tree as hazardous and probably recommend removal.
The split trunk is a major structural defect, and there is a very large decay column in the split. The split is low and wide, and there are not buttress roots. Structurally, it is not stable, and more likely to fail.

[mouse]

Thank you! Our neighbor has a tree removal guy and I wasn't sure if he did dx with that. The tree was here when we bought the place and I never looked at it that closely until now, and then I remembered what you said last year. Too bad. I assume it could have been saved at some point in its development?

Not 100% sure on species, but it looks like what my mom called a fruitless mulberry in our yard growing up. It never fruits and has white pollen-menace flowers in spring. I think I'll replace it with a kousa dogwood.

[treedimensional]

Doesn't look like a mulberry to me, but I can't really see the foliage. The broken branch attachment looks like a typical pear tree.
Some trees have good structure without any help (oaks), some trees need early and frequent intervention (maples, dogwoods), and some trees just don't ever have great structure (crabapple, cherry), some are weak-wooded and genetically predisposed to breakage (pears).