Question
We have a Bradford Pear in our front yard. Over the past month or so, we have had four limbs break out of the tree. As I've read, most of them break at the trunk, but these are breaking midway down the branch. We live in Oklahoma and it has been around 100 degrees and hasn't rained in a month or more. The foliage looks normal, so i never thought to water it, and the branches that are breaking out have very green, hearty leaves on the branches. We live in town, and have cats, but our cats aren't THAT fat. Any idea what's going on?

Answer
This could be a rare condition called "Sudden Summer Limb Drop". It is unpredictable and often unexplainable. Breaks in the middle of limbs come without warning. It almost always occurs during hot and dry spells. This might be what you have.

Here in Texas we have the tendency to strip all of the foliage from the inside of the branches, leaving a long bare limb with nothing but a pom-pom of heavy end growth at the top of the limbs. This is a dreadful practice that can sometimes lead to limb failure. Is it possible your trees are pruned this way? If so, let all the internal sucker growth fill in over the next few seasons. Unfortunately, Summer limb Drop has no defense other than well balanced trees with even foliage distribution throughout the limbs.

Matthew Clemons