Q: A 70 foot pine tree right next to my house was hit by lightning. It blew the bark off in a line 1-2 inches wide from the top of the tree all the way down, including disrupting the dirt for a couple of feet along one of the roots. Do I need to go ahead and have the tree taken down or is there some hope it will live?

A: It all depends on how much damage the exploding sap did under the bark. The damaged strip may not be all of the harm done.

Water deeply once per week during the summer. Trees respond to burns like humans do – they ooze constantly. You don’t want your tree to dry up. In my experience, pines have a 50:50 chance of dying from a lightning stroke.