An old tree...

KFC911 · 12-25-2007, 05:16 PM

Spent the day with the extended family at my parents' house today, and a bunch of us were looking at an old red oak tree that was dying that we recently has some pros "drop" as it was too large for our saws and expertise (dad is 71 now, and he's the real tree guy). Dad and I have slowly been working it up, but still have a ways to go and it's still a bit "tricky" in spots. Someone asked how old it was, and I casually stated "oh, probably 'bout 75-80 years" based upon its size, and was comparing it with similar trees I've had experience with. So then I got down and started counting rings, and of course, as I got to the middle, they were getting difficult to discern with the naked eye, but I got to 140 and still had quite a ways to go. I'm going to recount with a magnifying glass when I get a chance, but I'm betting that sucker is close to 200 years old! The tree was huge when I was a small kid, but I had no idea...I just had to share, I still can't believe it was that old.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

We had a revolutionary war tree in my yard in Masschusetts. Huge trunk. I would hate to see it go down.

pwd72s · 12-25-2007, 05:49 PM

take a slim slice, as close to the ground as possibe...think about it...this tree was begining life around the time this country was being born. Save a few acorns...try to make them sprout. Try to pass these plant genetics on...

KFC911 · 12-25-2007, 05:59 PM

You know, I don't recall any acorns for a long time, but I wasn't necessarily looking for them. The tree had in recent years had a "trencher" go by approx. 25 feet from it, but appeared healthy until the drought we had this summer. It appeared to be approx. 60% dead (up in it) and I kept trying to convince my dad to give it a chance (knowing I was probably wrong), but indeed, it couldn't be saved (obvious after it was felled). The tree was approx. 25 feet from the corner of my parents' house, and I could see where the growth was stunted for a decade or so back when the house was built. I'm still kind of sad about it...

pwd72s · 12-25-2007, 06:03 PM

Keith? Talk to people at the nearest University. Through the science of plant cloning, the tree could still "live"...

KFC911 · 12-25-2007, 06:09 PM

Hmm...might just have to do that. NC State is very good in that arena (I've kidded people about majoring in "dirt" for ages)!

VaSteve · 12-25-2007, 06:16 PM

Anything that old is fascinating. I drove by my parents old house this weekend. The new owners had cut down the maple tree closest to the street. That thing was there in 1983 when we moved in and it was decent sized then. (Hood was only built in the 1950's). The power company chopped it up a bunch since the cables ran through it. Place looked naked without it. Funny thing about trees, you don't often think about then until they are gone. You can't get them back then.

The giant oak and the other big tree were still there. Giant f'ers too....

I had nine trees planted on my property this past summer. They were planted on Monday and my daughter (2nd kid) showed up on Wednesday (by surprise!). I can track them all together now. I hope one day they get taller than me.

KFC911 · 12-25-2007, 06:24 PM

My dad planted some Pin Oaks in the mid-60s that are now humongous (similar in size to the red oak above), so that's what really threw me off about the red oak's age...it was obviously a much slower growing tree. I can't imagine someone cutting down a tree that they don't "have" to. Planting is a great thing...what kind?

VaSteve · 12-25-2007, 06:29 PM

Three maples....I have to look up the type and 6 Nelly Stevens Holly to cover up the neighbor's pool and deck. It's new construction so there really wasn't anything to start with. I had been at a friend's house earlier in the month and he had old trees. The yard was much cooler and shadier. I said "I must have trees...." I wish they were taller. I'll never buy new construction again.

Porschephile944 · 12-25-2007, 08:35 PM

My parents just had a beautiful and good sized maple tree in front of the house cut down. They claimed it was "leaning" toward the house. Truly a shame that it had to be cut down, provided lots of shade to the house and privacy to the upper floor. No idea how old it was but it was pretty good sized when we moved in (1994) and it seemed to have gotten a lot bigger since then, but so have I. Even with the leaves off for the winter the house looks naked without it there and it will probably take me a long time to get used to having it gone.

Probably will go count the rings on the stump tommarow to get an idea of how old it was.

livi · 12-26-2007, 12:40 AM

Keith,

That is why I am a tree nut (no joke). Because of their age (and size). There are still living trees that was fully grown when Jesus was born. I am particularly fond of your Mammuth and red Seqoia trees as well as some of it´s kin on the Asian continent.

tabs · 12-26-2007, 01:31 AM

Trees are the most majestic of all Gods living creations. They put ther roots down into the soil and reach for the heavens. There is an old supersitition about knocking on wood to ward off negative energy. Simply your grounding out negative energy, because the trees roots are in the soil.

At my last house in CA I had 23 trees, here in LV I have 9.

on2wheels52 · on2wheels52's Garage

I've got a few around my house.

Jim

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

The sequoias in particular are simply awesome. If you ever have the chance to go to Sequoia N.P. and just hike off into the woods to stand among some of those giants, do it. It helps put you in your place.

Some of those trees were centuries old when Jesus walked the earth. Put it that way. They're simply amazing.

KFC911 · 12-26-2007, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

The sequoias in particular are simply awesome. If you ever have the chance to go to Sequoia N.P. and just hike off into the woods to stand among some of those giants, do it. It helps put you in your place.

Some of those trees were centuries old when Jesus walked the earth. Put it that way. They're simply amazing.

I've never had the pleasure first-hand, but have seen shows on TV about them. I just didn't realize a tree "I grew up with" was that old (even though it pales in comparison to the Sequoias). One show I recently saw was about taking samples from the very tops of them...simply amazing!

flashgordon13 · 12-26-2007, 04:07 AM

When I was a kid, we had to take down a large oak in the back of the house and counted the rings- all 245 of them. There are 2 others that are larger and still going strong. That was 30 some years ago. Those trees are truely huge. I wish I had kept a section of that old tree. It was big enough to have made a really nice table top.

KFC911 · 04:40 AM

The very base of this tree is 5-6 ft at least in a couple of spots where the root structures are extending out and its several feet up before the trunk is "round". I was telling one of my uncles yesterday about how a friend of mine years ago in Fl used to make table tops out of the cypress trees...they were beautiful. When I moved into my house (my subdivision is located in the middle of what "was" my rural boy scout camp when I was a boy - hardwoods galore), I had an oak right behind my deck that was huge (4 1/2'), but was evidently "damaged" as they raped the land for the subdivision. I had to take it down a couple of years after I moved in (it was approx. 65 yrs old). The good thing is, I've still got a 22 acre "hardwood oasis" and a 1 acre spring fed pond (50 yards or so away) that border the back of my property line that aren't going anywhere. And to think, some folks prefer living in the irrigated desert

ps: On2wheels, I can relate...

VaSteve · 12-26-2007, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC911

I've never had the pleasure first-hand, but have seen shows on TV about them. I just didn't realize a tree "I grew up with" was that old (even though it pales in comparison to the Sequoias). One show I recently saw was about taking samples from the very tops of them...simply amazing!

Here's possibly the equivilalent on the eat coast (and near you Keith!)

http://www.championtrees.org/oldgrowth/surveys/JoyceKilmer.htm

sammyg2 · 08:15 AM

Hard to believe that there are bristle cone pine trees alive today that were alive near the birth of civilized man.
The oldest is over 4600 years old. Depending on your beliefs, that would put it around the time of the great flood.
Sure is an ugly tree tho.

http://home.austarnet.com.au/davekimble/bristlecone.htm

p911dad · p911dad's Garage

Up in the Town of Geneseo, south of Rochester, NY there are the "Wadsworth Oaks" or "Genesee Oaks" that are many hundreds of years old. It seems the Wadsworth family, receiving the original land patent from King George just around the time of the Revolution, were the original settlers here. As the land was cleared by the tenant farmers, Mr Wadsworth placed a stipulation in the leases that the big oak trees were not to be cut or a penalty of $20.(a huge sum back then) would be assessed. His reason was the countryside reminded him of his English home and all its ancient oak trees. So the result today are these monster oak trees that dot the landscape, and it is indeed quite a pretty area. Some of the trees are older than 500 years. The present farmers till widely around the trees to preserve them.