[goatsNdonkey]

As far as I know. I have posted some deceased trees and didn't get my head cut off And hello neighbor, we go to St. Louis quite a bit, we have friends and family there.

Here is another with a big hole, but still alive.

Some trees can persist despite incredible damage. One has to remember that the part of the tree that is alive is composed of a few layers of cells just beneath the bark. The wood isn't alive, it's just structure. A lot of the wood can be damaged while a lot of the tree is at the same time still alive.

[KC0PET]

Some trees can persist despite incredible damage. One has to remember that the part of the tree that is alive is composed of a few layers of cells just beneath the bark. The wood isn't alive, it's just structure. A lot of the wood can be damaged while a lot of the tree is at the same time still alive.

Yes, that is why ash trees and some other varieties can rot from the middle out and show almost no sign of problem until they are just about gone. I have fortunately removed a couple like that near our house and it was disconcerting how little was left of the inner trunk.

[goatsNdonkey]

Yes, that is why ash trees and some other varieties can rot from the middle out and show almost no sign of problem until they are just about gone. I have fortunately removed a couple like that near our house and it was disconcerting how little was left of the inner trunk.

If we think about the "life" as animal den space as part of the life of a tree, then all of the trees that lose their cores have more life to them. Apple trees, if let untrimmed, develop a lot of hollow branches when in advanced age. There was a time when those branches were favorites for bluebird nesting sites. When orchards began trimming off old limbs, that nesting habitat was gone. Even when a tree falls onto the forest floor, if all of the root connections haven't broken, part of the tree might still leaf out for a few more years, and then there are species like the ashes you mentioned that often send up new sprouts from stumps, especially when they are cut down. I even like to think of the fallen dead tree as part of the tree's stages of life--when the fallen tree is hollow it increases animal den sites, squirrels will cross the forest floor more quickly (or escape predators more easily) by bounding along fallen trunks. Even when the fallen trunk is turning into something the consistency of peat moss, if you pick it up, look at it, smell it, you can tell it is full of life and full of nutrition for the next generations of trees and other forest plants.

[WPRESTO]

I'll add a little note to goastNdonkey's comment about dead trees supplying nutrition to upcoming generation of trees (not necessarily the "next " generation). In some habitats where soil nutrients are severely depleted because plants have taken up the vast majority, fallen trees become "nurse trees" that have young trees sprouted from seeds growing directly atop the prone trunk. This in time can produce tightly packed nearly straight rows of trees in a forest., but the time scale is long.

I've posted several other images of the handsome tree below all bedecked with beautiful yellow foliage. Growing in Utah.

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Last edited by WPRESTO; 02-19-2018 at 07:36 AM.

[KC0PET]

It is an incredible cycle. Healthy forests are a good thing and sustainable. There was a large land owner/forester in MO named Leo Drey who practiced truly sustainable forestry practices. He passed away in 2015, there is a foundation named after him.

L?A?D Foundation - Pioneer Forest

Then there is the idea that even (some of) the wood that is harvested turns into houses and furniture and so on making it live on. I took this photo of a sawmill the other day and have been looking for a chance to post it (at the potential risk of actually getting my head cut off this time).

[paulh]

roadside attraction on a recent dogwalk


From early January:

[goatsNdonkey]

I'll add a little note to goastNdonkey's comment about dead trees supplying nutrition to upcoming generation of trees (not necessarily the "next " generation). In some habitats were soil nutrients are severely depleted because plants have taken up the vast majority, fallen trees become "nurse trees" that have young trees sprouted from seeds growing directly atop the prone trunk. This in time can produce tightly packed nearly straight rows of trees in a forest., but the time scale is long.

I've posted several other images of the handsome tree below all bedecked with beautiful yellow foliage. Growing in Utah.

Also, in any forest with a canopy, when a mature canopy tree falls, it opens a *light gap* in the canopy that allows young saplings that had been struggling in the shade to vastly accelerate their growth. So that is yet another way that a fallen tree can contribute to the renewal of the forest.

[paulh]

A couple shots taken October 2016:

[WPRESTO]

A dead tree standing in the Mohave Desert. I wonder if the spiral twist of the trunk makes it stronger.

[savoche]

Some wintery trees along the river.

[Racer X 69]

Mistletoe-laden trees at a picnic area near the lake:

Looks like the place to be for getting an overdose of liplock.

[Racer X 69]

If we think about the "life" as animal den space as part of the life of a tree, then all of the trees that lose their cores have more life to them. Apple trees, if let untrimmed, develop a lot of hollow branches when in advanced age. There was a time when those branches were favorites for bluebird nesting sites. When orchards began trimming off old limbs, that nesting habitat was gone. Even when a tree falls onto the forest floor, if all of the root connections haven't broken, part of the tree might still leaf out for a few more years, and then there are species like the ashes you mentioned that often send up new sprouts from stumps, especially when they are cut down. I even like to think of the fallen dead tree as part of the tree's stages of life--when the fallen tree is hollow it increases animal den sites, squirrels will cross the forest floor more quickly (or escape predators more easily) by bounding along fallen trunks. Even when the fallen trunk is turning into something the consistency of peat moss, if you pick it up, look at it, smell it, you can tell it is full of life and full of nutrition for the next generations of trees and other forest plants.

Cottonwood trees are really more like a virus. Nearly impossible to kill. A torn bit of leaf will grow a new tree. When removing them, you can't chip them up like other trees and use the remains as mulch. The chipped up bits of the cambium and leaves will grow thousands of new trees. Spread the chips as mulch and have a cottonwood tree carpet rather than flowerbeds or garden.


Such a perfect survival strategy the tree has evolved.


The bane of my existence on the riverbank.


Someday I shall vanquish the evil cottonwood.

[Racer X 69]

Then there is the idea that even (some of) the wood that is harvested turns into houses and furniture and so on making it live on. I took this photo of a sawmill the other day and have been looking for a chance to post it (at the potential risk of actually getting my head cut off this time).

One needes to exercise extreme care whil operating such machines. They are very dangerous, containing sharp blades, and moving parts that create pinch and crush zones.


Be very careful while cutting wood.

[WPRESTO]

Really pretty ginkgo leaves. The tree was one of many ginkgos at a zoo. Some of them were impressively big.

[KC0PET]

One needes to exercise extreme care whil operating such machines. They are very dangerous, containing sharp blades, and moving parts that create pinch and crush zones.

Be very careful while cutting wood.

:cheesy:

Yes thanks. We do have some sawmill work to do down at our farm in the near future. I will heed your warning, I am planning to keep all of my fingers and toes and such for life