Branches of Failure

Trees with a large number of branches originating from one location can be prone to failure. Such branches have weak connective tissue and branch angles that have difficulty supporting branch weight. When these branches do fail, they often lead to large wounds that the tree has difficulty closing. 

Ideally, such a problem would be fixed when the tree is very young. Most deciduous trees should be pruned so that a single leader grows from the top of the tree, at least when young. It gets difficult to prune the tree correctly when it is larger, because the pruning cuts will be larger. Such cuts can be difficult for the tree to close and can lead to decay issues. The best solution is to plant trees not prone to such branching.