Meetings with remarkable trees, the Arbtalk version

[5thelement]

Arbol del Tule, Taxodium mucronatum (Oaxaca, Mexico).

The largest tree that I have had the pleasure to witness first hand.

It is estimated to weigh in excess of 630 tonnes and be at least 2000 years old.
It also has the largest circumference of any tree on the planet.

The insect noise and birdsong in this tree was deafening.

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by 5thelement

[Stubby]

5 hours ago, 5thelement said:

Arbol del Tule, Taxodium mucronatum (Oaxaca, Mexico).

The largest tree that I have had the pleasure to witness first hand.

It is estimated to weigh in excess of 630 tonnes and be at least 2000 years old.
It also has the largest circumference of any tree on the planet.

The insect noise and birdsong in this tree was deafening.

 

Superb ! That is precious .  Its like a block of flats ! 

[rarefish383]

On 31/05/2021 at 06:08, 5thelement said:

Arbol del Tule, Taxodium mucronatum (Oaxaca, Mexico).

The largest tree that I have had the pleasure to witness first hand.

It is estimated to weigh in excess of 630 tonnes and be at least 2000 years old.
It also has the largest circumference of any tree on the planet.

The insect noise and birdsong in this tree was deafening.

 

We went on holiday to Johns Island, South Carolina. They have a local landmark, called "The Angle Oak". It's a giant Southern Live Oak. It is impressive, but not near as big as that one. It makes 1579 M2 of shade. If some one could do a search, it's worth a peak.

[Doug Tait]

1 hour ago, rarefish383 said:

We went on holiday to Johns Island, South Carolina. They have a local landmark, called "The Angle Oak". It's a giant Southern Live Oak. It is impressive, but not near as big as that one. It makes 1579 M2 of shade. If some one could do a search, it's worth a peak.

Nice tree.

 

[Wonky]

On 15/07/2020 at 12:57, HuntingHicap said:

Elm, seen in Brighton yesterday. BN1 postcode, was one of many I saw, how do they know they have DED? genuine question not an eco/enviro fueled rant. Also whats the idea behind ring barking it and leaving it standing?

I'll reply to this….. a bit late, maybe someone has already replied further on in the thread ?

the reason is…. The elm beetle that carries the fungus which is responsible for the demise of the tree. Is carried down the tree in the bark area/sap cambium layer to the roots. From here it can spread to Adjacent trees through the connecting root system.

thus (bark ringing the tree) it gives a bigger time frame for the removal of the tree.

not long ago there was a tree in Preston park where they were a bit late, the sap wood gets stained a blue purple colour and could tell it was getting into the roots so  ended up digging a trench around the tree to cut the root system to the neighbouring trees

 

edit: I see now @agg221 answered the “how do they know it has elm disease.  I will add the leaves on infected part do turn a bit silvery at first. 
anyhow here’s a pic of a tree I spotted in bear road, which I reported to the TO and it took almost a yr for them to remove it. Probably because the beatle is only active in late spring early summer..

Edited June 14, 2021 by Wonky
Edit..

[rarefish383]

4 hours ago, Wonky said:

I'll reply to this….. a bit late, maybe someone has already replied further on in the thread ?

the reason is…. The elm beetle that carries the fungus which is responsible for the demise of the tree. Is carried down the tree in the bark area/sap cambium layer to the roots. From here it can spread to Adjacent trees through the connecting root system.

thus it gives a bigger time frame for the removal of the tree.

not long ago there was a tree in Preston park where they were a bit late, the sap wood gets stained a blue purple colour and could tell it was getting into the roots so  ended up digging a trench around the tree to cut the root system to the neighbouring trees

 

edit: I see now @agg221 answered the “how do they know it has elm disease.  I will add the leaves on infected part do turn a bit silvery at first. 
anyhow here’s a pic of a tree I spotted in bear road, which I reported to the TO and it took almost a yr for them to remove it. Probably because the beatle is only active in late spring early summer..

When DED went through the Washington DC area, My Dad had the contract to remove diseased trees. This was around 1966-68 and I was 10-12 years old. When the city marked a tree for removal, we had to take the diseased tree down, and the tree on either side, because of the spread through the root system. I used to go to work with my Dad over the summer. My job was to "wash" all of the equipment that had been used on diseased trees. We had cases of gallon cans of Isopropyl Alcohol. Basically I would just pour the alcohol on the bar and chains of the Chainsaws, and wipe down any hand saws. Then run an oily rag over them. Back then almost every one smoked, and as soon as a climber would come out of a tree they would find a shady spot, grab a Coke, and have a smoke. One day 4-5 tree huggers grabbed a climbers rope and wrapped 120' of rope around them and the next tree to come down. They didn't understand the disease, and they kept screaming we were cutting down healthy trees, 200 years old, planted when the city was founded. They were mature, big, beautiful trees. But, elms grow fast and they were only about 40-45 years old. My Grandfather planted many of them in the early 1900's. The tree huggers tied us up for several hours until the police got there. After that, it was also my job to coil up all of the ropes not in use and put them on the tailgate of my Dad's truck where the climbers could get them. I'm 65 now and only know of one mature American Elm. It's on a 40 acre wood that belongs to our local Boy Scouts. I have friends that fish along the Potomac River and they say there are a few nice ones left along the river, but I've never seen them.

 

When DED hit us, the Department of Natural Resources inspectors would ride through the city and look for the dying limbs in the tops of trees, they called it "Flagging". 

Edited June 14, 2021 by rarefish383

[rarefish383]

13 hours ago, Doug Tait said:

Nice tree.

 

Thanks, Doug. The care takers of this tree have done a very good job of hiding all of the support features in the tree. Many, many cables, and telephone poles, support limbs. Unfortunately, back in the day, cavities were filled with concrete. It's all been removed, but many of the biggest limbs are hollow. It's amazing with all of the hurricanes that hit that area, it's still standing. 

[Wonky]

I'll put this here, 😉 it’s a pdf about some of the elms around Brighton, as well as some other trees. 

 

http://www.friendsofprestonpark.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Special-Trees-of-Brighton-and-Hove.pdf

 

 

[rarefish383]

This is a Tulip "Yellow" Poplar in my Mother in Laws side yard. It's one of the biggest around our area. Most were logged, but this one was on a fence line, and I think they may have skipped it for fear of metal in it. 

[nepia]

@rarefish383 This plain Tulip is in the Botanic Gardens in St Helier, Jersey.  Not yet 100 years old they reckon

Edited June 20, 2021 by nepia