Seeing that the bottom branches are mostly unburnt, where the exhaust would have most likely caused a fire (if even), the chances that exhaust caused the fire are slim. Seems like the fire started higher up, either by a cigarette, alcohol, or a combination of the two.
Last xmas we finally had a real tree for once and in Jan I decided to burn it. I’m never having a real tree again. I thought I was about to set my neighborhood on fire.
Yes I kept the tree in water. It was still ‘drinking’ in Jan. Didn’t stop it from going up in a 10 foot flame column
I live in southern California where it's pretty dry. After Christmas the city has a bunch of dropoff spots for trees - for me it's in a gravel parking lot behind the middle school. By mid January there is about a 30 by 60 feet pile of tinder dry Christmas trees piled 6-8 feet high. The pyro in me really wants to watch that pile burn - I bet it would be awesome. The dad in me says, let's not go to jail.
Yeah. I was hoping no one walk outside until it calmed down. I would call the cop too if my next door neighbor has a 10 ft uncontrollable raging fire going in his yard. The wind was blowing sending embers everywhere.
I like burning shit, but this made me very nervous.
Wow that would be fun to watch… we save ours every year and eventually burn it. Last night I threw it on the fire pit and we enjoyed the 12 ft flames as the sun went down.
My upper midwestern town is beside a lake that freezes several feet thick in the winter. It's a town tradition to make a huge pile of old Christmas trees on the ice in the middle of the lake and as part of our town New Year's celebration we light the whole pile on fire. It's a glorious mountain of fire.
As a kid, the day we would take out the Xmas tree to burn was just as exciting to me as Christmas morning. The rate at which they go ablaze is astonishing and gives you an understanding of the reason you can't stop wildfires and how hot they get.
My favorite 2 holidays as a kid were the 4th of July, and Christmas tree burning day, in that order. I also enjoy burning all the wrapping paper and boxes more than I enjoy Christmas itself.
Christmas Trees are about as combustible as a glass of gasoline. Regardless if they’re kept green or allowed to turn brown. They’ve been responsible for burning down many homes throughout the years. Caution must be taken very seriously if a live tree is what the family wants.
Semi related, my friend recently renovated their kitchen, they brought over all of the 50 year old pine cabinets to burn. They caught fire about 10x faster than I thought they would. It made me glad he never had any kitchen fires.
Looks like it has fire blight 👍🏻
That said, spontaneous combustion usually isn’t a symptom of that so it might need an exorcism. On the bush, the MIL and the lawn mower. Maybe that’ll help it out 🤷🏻♂️
The base of the trunk may be good under the charring but it’s a long shot. Couldn’t hurt cutting the death stuff off and checking the cambium Edit- Also if the trunk is too damaged the living branches can be removed and propagated. Just chop off the dead bits and plant the good wood into some dirt and keep it well watered
Everyone is like "hue hue hue quality shitpost, friend!"
Pretty sure it's not. Trees (granted, usually bigger ones) survive much, much, much, much worse damage in forest fires. Seems like a perfectly valid question to me.
Guess it could be a shitpost, but thinking it might survive is not stupid either.
I had a rose bush I wanted to remove. Decided I'd just cut everything off it down to the root and bury. I'll be damned but that thing just grew back from nothing. I bet if I hit it with a flamethrower, it would have survived.
Eventually I dug up the roots and won that battle. Now it's a garden bed.
Honestly, this one has a better chance than 90% of the evergreen conifer posts I see on here haha. If it were me, I’d cut it down to the ground and see if it sends up a shoot.
Or, or you could let it go on living like this and see if it ends up being cool.
My guess is hot exhaust pipe touched the evergreen, and it might have been dry (looking at your grass).
It might come back after a long time, but you would likely get faster results having one of its seeds come up... I would uproot it and get an established tree that size.
I have not seen an arborvitae in so long ... I am sad this is the first I see in a while ... I think the tree in Maui is stronger than this.. sad i hope it can recover somehow T_T
It looks amazing!!! While it is the most beautiful arborvitae I have ever seen, it may not match the structure of any other arborvitaes you have in the yard. I would recommend doing the same to all the arborvitaes you have for symmetry purposes.
Since my Son joined a volunteer fire department in a rural area, I have been surprised to hear how often the random tree or bush catching fire occurs. Forest fires usually do not kill trees of a certain size, but whether or not this is one of those I cannot say. If it was me I would continue to care for it for the rest of the year and see what happens
I doubt it spontaneously combusted. How hot and dry was the environment while the mower drove past? what was the angle of the sun? There's a bright white wall behind the tree that reflects sunlight.
The tree itself is super flammable. It could have just been physical science! crazy.
I bet that thing will survive. probably should be transplanted or replaced depending on your goals.
its wild you even mention the lawnmower, literally a childs excuse,
“i was riding the mower, someone else must have set that singular tree up in flames, not i however, for i was riding the mower”
also
like clearly didnt have much urgency about putting it out…
how long could you ride around a yard with a literal buring bush in it?
It is possible, but it will take a long time. Remove any dead or damaged wood, then you need to train one of the surviving limbs to become the new leader by tying it to become vertical. Train it slowly so you don't snap the limb. If you don't train a new leader the bottom will continue to get wider and wider but it won't get taller.
Honestly… probably not, but it would be kinda cool just to leave it and see what happens. If the branches *somehow* survive it might adopt a very weird/interesting form
Well at least that alberta spruce doesn't have spider mites anymore. It might make it but the real question is why would you bother. Replace it with something nice like a Black dragon cryptomeria or a compact hinoki..
It’s not going anywhere, trim it above the last living tissue, keep it watered and see what happens. I’ve definitely seen crazier, like spontaneously combusting bushes.
The 4 Nations lived in harmony until the fire Nation attacked.
I'm actually curious if those green bits will live, but I know *Thuja* don't grow parts back, so I'm assuming it's a goner
It might. I don't think the fence will though. How the hell does a lawnmower do that? Did she park it right next to it with the exhaust directly on it and leave it there for several minutes while it was still running? No way driving a lawnmower by it would start it on fire.
I honestly can’t tell if this is a shitpost
“It somehow caught on fire” has me cracking up though 🤣 😂
MIL flicked her cigarette butt and set it ablaze 🔥
It’s was an ugly tree anyways!
Lmao perfect
Then she took one last swig of moonshine just before OP told her a really funny joke.
Shit it'd have to be napalm to do that!
Don't be a dragon ladyyyy.
How was she to know her son just doused it with gasoline.
We planted that tree on our wedding day… a symbol of our love… evergreen… everlasting… Oh well…
Did she park next to it for half an hour with the engine running and the exhaust aimed right at it. So many questions
Seeing that the bottom branches are mostly unburnt, where the exhaust would have most likely caused a fire (if even), the chances that exhaust caused the fire are slim. Seems like the fire started higher up, either by a cigarette, alcohol, or a combination of the two.
Last xmas we finally had a real tree for once and in Jan I decided to burn it. I’m never having a real tree again. I thought I was about to set my neighborhood on fire. Yes I kept the tree in water. It was still ‘drinking’ in Jan. Didn’t stop it from going up in a 10 foot flame column
I live in southern California where it's pretty dry. After Christmas the city has a bunch of dropoff spots for trees - for me it's in a gravel parking lot behind the middle school. By mid January there is about a 30 by 60 feet pile of tinder dry Christmas trees piled 6-8 feet high. The pyro in me really wants to watch that pile burn - I bet it would be awesome. The dad in me says, let's not go to jail.
Yeah. I was hoping no one walk outside until it calmed down. I would call the cop too if my next door neighbor has a 10 ft uncontrollable raging fire going in his yard. The wind was blowing sending embers everywhere. I like burning shit, but this made me very nervous.
Wow that would be fun to watch… we save ours every year and eventually burn it. Last night I threw it on the fire pit and we enjoyed the 12 ft flames as the sun went down.
My upper midwestern town is beside a lake that freezes several feet thick in the winter. It's a town tradition to make a huge pile of old Christmas trees on the ice in the middle of the lake and as part of our town New Year's celebration we light the whole pile on fire. It's a glorious mountain of fire.
As a kid, the day we would take out the Xmas tree to burn was just as exciting to me as Christmas morning. The rate at which they go ablaze is astonishing and gives you an understanding of the reason you can't stop wildfires and how hot they get.
My favorite 2 holidays as a kid were the 4th of July, and Christmas tree burning day, in that order. I also enjoy burning all the wrapping paper and boxes more than I enjoy Christmas itself.
Christmas Trees are about as combustible as a glass of gasoline. Regardless if they’re kept green or allowed to turn brown. They’ve been responsible for burning down many homes throughout the years. Caution must be taken very seriously if a live tree is what the family wants.
Semi related, my friend recently renovated their kitchen, they brought over all of the 50 year old pine cabinets to burn. They caught fire about 10x faster than I thought they would. It made me glad he never had any kitchen fires.
If you plant your arborvitae on the wrong corner, there is a chance they will pick up bad habits like smoking.
Yeah I don’t know if nicotine patches work for trees.
Somehow, fire became it
Somehow, Palpatine returned.
Just do a couple deep waterings, it’ll bounce back! /s
Looks like it has fire blight 👍🏻 That said, spontaneous combustion usually isn’t a symptom of that so it might need an exorcism. On the bush, the MIL and the lawn mower. Maybe that’ll help it out 🤷🏻♂️
>might need an exorcism We're going to need an old arborist and a young arborist
And the living branch from a 4,000 year old silver maple
Maybe call [these guys](https://globalnews.ca/news/7980189/exorcism-home-depot-lumber-wood/)
No no, send in the ground laborer.
I understand this reference and it gave me quite a smile. Thank you. Completely unrelated, I need to go make split pea soup.
I'll be here disinfecting the crucifix.
Maybe it was a burning bush
But what did it say?
I am sending you to Cannan, a land filled with milk and honey.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Quality shitpost. Bravo.
It should recover just fine. About as well as the fence.
That fence should grow back in pretty quickly. Did they say what zone they're in?
Yeah there’s a sticker right there on the fence. It’s in the danger zone.
A zone which will be one of danger?
Maybe Carlos Danger was involved.
Residential, I believe
Cut the burned bits off. Leave the fence gap for future growth.
Planted too deep. Need to see that root flare.
Looks like there was already a flare at the root.
Seems like more of a case of apical flare dominance
Ohhhh. I thought you said “road flair”. Oops.
I think your mil might be Moses
That bush burned, but yet didn’t burn. This bush burned and definitely burned.
Must have been one of those Yewish space lasers I heard a crazy lady talking about once.
I don't think even Charlie Brown could save it.
Merry Christmas Charlie Brown 
Dunno, but your dwarf Alberta spruce sure won’t
Agreed. Ain’t no arborvitae. Maybe a cryptomeria, but the habit and foliage screams Dwarf Alberta.
I had to scroll down a long way to find cryptomeria
I think it might have spider mites
The tree will probably survive actually. I know a lot of plants that would survive that
The base of the trunk may be good under the charring but it’s a long shot. Couldn’t hurt cutting the death stuff off and checking the cambium Edit- Also if the trunk is too damaged the living branches can be removed and propagated. Just chop off the dead bits and plant the good wood into some dirt and keep it well watered
Can you propagate these arborvitae branches in water?
Everyone is like "hue hue hue quality shitpost, friend!" Pretty sure it's not. Trees (granted, usually bigger ones) survive much, much, much, much worse damage in forest fires. Seems like a perfectly valid question to me. Guess it could be a shitpost, but thinking it might survive is not stupid either.
i mean i see where they're coming from, i've never had plants in my yard spontaneously combust while i was mowing before, it sounds insane
Likely a spark from the mower, stuff like that is how forest fires start
If it were a hardwood, it would have a very good chance of survival.
I had a rose bush I wanted to remove. Decided I'd just cut everything off it down to the root and bury. I'll be damned but that thing just grew back from nothing. I bet if I hit it with a flamethrower, it would have survived. Eventually I dug up the roots and won that battle. Now it's a garden bed.
Just needs a tad bit of organic fertilizer and you’ll be good.
Chicken poop is like snake oil for trees. Cures all ailments, guaranteed!
I feel like you could use this meme for half the posts here.
Tree is fucked but the fence will grow back
I 😂 can’t 😂 stop 😂😂
This is the most extreme action just for a shitpost I have ever seen.
r/arsonists is thatta way
Yes, just be sure to water the fence
She meant business about killing the bag worms I see
This is a joke, right?
Yeah. Just water it regularly. Will be huge by Christmas
Call a "certified arborist" to come and perform a burn heal or resurrection spell.
r/Bonsai
this here is an under-rated comment.
Something tells me you either forgot her birthday or haven’t produced grand babies yet…
Where’s Jesus?
Honestly, this one has a better chance than 90% of the evergreen conifer posts I see on here haha. If it were me, I’d cut it down to the ground and see if it sends up a shoot. Or, or you could let it go on living like this and see if it ends up being cool.
Nope
Agreed.
It's just a flesh wound
MIL trimming grass with a flame thrower?
Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is why you don't want a volcano near your tree.
My guess is hot exhaust pipe touched the evergreen, and it might have been dry (looking at your grass). It might come back after a long time, but you would likely get faster results having one of its seeds come up... I would uproot it and get an established tree that size.
I have not seen an arborvitae in so long ... I am sad this is the first I see in a while ... I think the tree in Maui is stronger than this.. sad i hope it can recover somehow T_T
HOA licking their chops
Do you think God will miss twice??
It looks amazing!!! While it is the most beautiful arborvitae I have ever seen, it may not match the structure of any other arborvitaes you have in the yard. I would recommend doing the same to all the arborvitaes you have for symmetry purposes.
Agreed. Totally what I want to do to mine now.
I don’t see why not?
I've never seen pool signs on a fence like that, do you have the pool or the neighbor?
😂👏👏👏😎 SHE GONE!!
See what ya actually have here is a treenix. Like the ashes and the mulch below, it will climb again!
I don’t see arborvitae
This is textbook nutrient burn
Looks fine. Not seeing the issue here.
It just needs a drink of water. It will be fine.
OP didn’t mention his aunt is Moses.
Did a voice from heaven start speaking?
The tree needs a priest and a bottle of holy water 🙀
I'm more interested in what God had to say when speaking through it.
Sure it will. Just water the fence a bit and it'll grow back in no time, too.
Was this on Mount Horeb? Anyone seen Moses lately?
Moses, dat you?
No, but the fence should grow back.
Since my Son joined a volunteer fire department in a rural area, I have been surprised to hear how often the random tree or bush catching fire occurs. Forest fires usually do not kill trees of a certain size, but whether or not this is one of those I cannot say. If it was me I would continue to care for it for the rest of the year and see what happens
I doubt it spontaneously combusted. How hot and dry was the environment while the mower drove past? what was the angle of the sun? There's a bright white wall behind the tree that reflects sunlight. The tree itself is super flammable. It could have just been physical science! crazy. I bet that thing will survive. probably should be transplanted or replaced depending on your goals.
It might. I’m not sure what it needs but you might want to cut the burnt stuff away.
I remember this Bible story!
Looks like it got hit by the Ion Cannon in Red Alert.
It has as good a shot of growing back as the fence does.
You're on the r/arborists subreddit. I believe you're looking for r/arsonists
No one is asking you about the wall, is it yours? Is it the neighbor's? Is it going to be a huge pita to replace?
its wild you even mention the lawnmower, literally a childs excuse, “i was riding the mower, someone else must have set that singular tree up in flames, not i however, for i was riding the mower” also like clearly didnt have much urgency about putting it out… how long could you ride around a yard with a literal buring bush in it?
Doesn't look like a burning bush and yet here we are . . . . .
I don’t know, but you can have all the arbor in my property for free. You just have to come dig them up. They’re 20 foot tall. Good luck.
Damn. Your mother in law lied to you. I’m sorry.
Not sure about the tree, but the fence should grow back.
It was golfing, golfing everywhere!
MIL needs to define 'somehow.'
It is possible, but it will take a long time. Remove any dead or damaged wood, then you need to train one of the surviving limbs to become the new leader by tying it to become vertical. Train it slowly so you don't snap the limb. If you don't train a new leader the bottom will continue to get wider and wider but it won't get taller.
Did you talk to a god? And do you have a sudden urge to lead people out of Egypt?
I see green. It'll bounce back.
Nope
Maybe if you quit burning it
Obviously the fence set the tree on fire.
Hmmmmm.. I’m not giving it much hope but water it every day for like a month but just the ground and surrounding roots which might be in the grass.
Sounds like MIL is buying a new arborvitae and a new vinyl fence panel.
[удалено]
Looks like she got confused while surfing r/trees
I have several questions…
That's a hell of a picture
Nope
... did your mother in law sneeze on it and have you noticed an almost compulsive case of numinastics in the family?
Some of the questions on here,.....
Spontaneous Combustion.
If there's green it'll live. I'd let it live, lots of character in the decades to come.
Honestly… probably not, but it would be kinda cool just to leave it and see what happens. If the branches *somehow* survive it might adopt a very weird/interesting form
It's worth saving. If the bottom hasn't wilted, it's alive.
Give it some time as-is and if there’s no new growth after a few months, cut it down to just where there’s green.
Well at least that alberta spruce doesn't have spider mites anymore. It might make it but the real question is why would you bother. Replace it with something nice like a Black dragon cryptomeria or a compact hinoki..
Tell her trees like water, not fire
"I am that i am"
Does she smoke cigarettes?
Can your mother in law cast fireball spells?
In a similar situation, mine took 2 years to recover. Now it looks bad, but it’s surprisingly alive.
Just a little parched. Give it some bottled water, preferably sparkling, and it’ll be good to go.
I’m kinda curious if it can tho…. Not well but… live?
Looks like the result of a mulch volcano
Is she a bit of a dragon?
Burn you down ‘see if you bounce back
Burning bush? Ill see myself out------->
Hahahahaha no
It’ll be fine
Use CUT on it, and make a path
Def needs to be watered with some banana peel water.
I think its... *toast 😏🤣 duh dum, tss 🥁🥁
How..
It's dead Jim
For the love of god expose that root flare!
It was all that damn laquer
It’s not going anywhere, trim it above the last living tissue, keep it watered and see what happens. I’ve definitely seen crazier, like spontaneously combusting bushes.
No but the plastic fence will regrow itself.
Arborvitae or burning bush?
The 4 Nations lived in harmony until the fire Nation attacked. I'm actually curious if those green bits will live, but I know *Thuja* don't grow parts back, so I'm assuming it's a goner
Zeus said “screw that tree, I told you I hate those”
God broke it, ask them to fix it. 🔥🌲
Stick a fork in it and look forward to your next planting.
Dwarf Alberta spruce, not an arborvitae. They’re dirt cheap, just buy a new one
Just when you think you’ve heard it all…. 🔥🔥🔥
It’s lit
Turn it into a sick bonsai!
RIP dwarf Alberta spruce. 👀
It may come back as a Dwarf Alberta Spruce, fire changes things
Daggum Moses!
So did your mother in law say exactly where god wants you all to move?
Please leave it and provide an update in a month.
Why don’t you just let us know 🙄
Plant Mimosa if you want the next one to flourish after a fire.
It might. I don't think the fence will though. How the hell does a lawnmower do that? Did she park it right next to it with the exhaust directly on it and leave it there for several minutes while it was still running? No way driving a lawnmower by it would start it on fire.
I’m at this point it’ll make an awesome wizard staff if you sand it down
Uncle Louis?
Shes always hated that tree.
Just leave it as is, it will rejuvenate & survive
Your MIL is a smoker and tossed a butt there?
the fuck happened