One tough old tree!

[bird dogger]

Been living here 30 yrs and only a few years ago the wife was trudging through the thick part of the woods and found this giant cottonwood tree that had suffered a calamity of some sort during its youth, apparently. I thought lightning at first, but there's no hint of charring whatsoever. Maybe the fire scarring had long healed over? At any rate it was never able to close the wound and struggled for survival. Guessing it's a good 90 ft in height at least and a good 40" diameter at the base. The injury spans a good 6 ft or more in total height.

Since it's in the original row of cottonwood trees transplanted by the homesteaders it dates back to the late 1890's or very early 1900's. If only it could talk. Expand the pics for a closer look. Any ideas?



Another giant cottonwood nearby had the same growth/injury? but had fallen over with the injury facing down. It fell apart with rot when I tried to cut it free and roll the injured portion over. A professional photographer heard about the trees and took a great black and white photo of it for his portfolio and gave us a nice copy recently.

 

[NCL4701]

Been living here 30 yrs and only a few years ago the wife was trudging through the thick part of the woods and found this giant cottonwood tree that had suffered a calamity of some sort during its youth, apparently. I thought lightning at first, but there's no hint of charring whatsoever. Maybe the fire scarring had long healed over? At any rate it was never able to close the wound and struggled for survival. Guessing it's a good 90 ft in height at least and a good 40" diameter at the base. The injury spans a good 6 ft or more in total height.

Since it's in the original row of cottonwood trees transplanted by the homesteaders it dates back to the late 1890's or very early 1900's. If only it could talk. Expand the pics for a closer look. Any ideas?

View attachment 56365 View attachment 56366 View attachment 56367

Another giant cottonwood nearby had the same growth/injury? but had fallen over with the injury facing down. It fell apart with rot when I tried to cut it free and roll the injured portion over. A professional photographer heard about the trees and took a great black and white photo of it for his portfolio and gave us a nice copy recently.

Very cool! It looks kind of like a main stem about same size as the current one broke off when it was young and it never healed over. Don’t really know for sure, though.

Could be the cardinal did it so he’d have a nice place to sit. Regardless, the imperfection of nature is as beautiful, if not more so, as its perfection.

Sometimes wish we saw the imperfections of people in the same light. The world would be a nicer place and I would have had an easier time getting a date in high school.

 

[bird dogger]

Very cool! It looks kind of like a main stem about same size as the current one broke off when it was young and it never healed over. Don’t really know for sure, though.

Could be the cardinal did it so he’d have a nice place to sit. Regardless, the imperfection of nature is as beautiful, if not more so, as its perfection.

Sometimes wish we saw the imperfections of people in the same light. The world would be a nicer place and I would have had an easier time getting a date in high school.

NCL, you might be onto something there with your idea of a young limb being broke off the main stem. I hadn't thought of that possibility. But it also had two very close "neighbors" that suffered the same type of injury. Hmmmn? Maybe young kids looking for Bow & Aarow material hit the jackpot? A very possible explanation. Or the cardinal's crap is very caustic! (Blame the wife for that decoration!)

Completely agree with your last statement!

We were in a large garden center a while back and in their outside yard they had a few 8' to 10' tall disfigured tree sections standing upright and for sale. The oddest one which just had a small irregular burl on it was priced just under $1K. Granted they had to go cut and haul it (most likely) and would maybe (?) deliver it......but that seems like a lot of money for a tree stump decoration. I might have to sharpen the chainsaw after placing an ad with pictures and finding a buyer.

Thanks for your response!

 

[i7win7]

Have a tree like that damage happened after a thunder storm. The moisture content of tree and intense heat of strike blows out the side. Had a shag bark hickory near house, intense boom from strike, went outside after storm and tree was steaming. Tree died.

 

[NCL4701]

NCL, you might be onto something there with your idea of a young limb being broke off the main stem. I hadn't thought of that possibility. But it also had two very close "neighbors" that suffered the same type of injury. Hmmmn? Maybe young kids looking for Bow & Aarow material hit the jackpot? A very possible explanation. Or the cardinal's crap is very caustic! (Blame the wife for that decoration!)

Completely agree with your last statement!

We were in a large garden center a while back and in their outside yard they had a few 8' to 10' tall disfigured tree sections standing upright and for sale. The oddest one which just had a small irregular burl on it was priced just under $1K. Granted they had to go cut and haul it (most likely) and would maybe (?) deliver it......but that seems like a lot of money for a tree stump decoration. I might have to sharpen the chainsaw after placing an ad with pictures and finding a buyer.

Thanks for your response!

$1K for a small irregular burl? Wonder what I could get for a burl the size of a bean bag chair? (Assuming I could find it again.)

 

[RCW]

Rattlin' around my noggin, seems like there's Canker diseases with poplars and cottonwoods that do something like that.

I remember hypoxylon (sp?) canker with aspens, makes them break off...

This was different and caused the distinctive shape. Started at an injury point on the tree.

Many species can get them, but more common in poplars and cottonwoods.

Don't take that as gospel at all, as I might be way off...

 

[Magicman]

I just called this one a "urinal" tree.

 

[skeets]

I bet it would have some really interesting grain to it

 

[bucktail]

View attachment 56388
I just called this one a "urinal" tree.

Every tree is a urinal tree.

 

[Magicman]

But they may not all look like this:

 

[bird dogger]

Have a tree like that damage happened after a thunder storm. The moisture content of tree and intense heat of strike blows out the side. Had a shag bark hickory near house, intense boom from strike, went outside after storm and tree was steaming. Tree died.

That could even more likely be the cause of these tree's damage. A good strike on the tree that eventually toppled and was rotting on the ground was real near the other two. Their damage was severe but obviously not enough to kill them. Your explanation seems the most logical. The injuries look "strikingly" similar to the pic Magicman posted.

But they may not all look like this:
View attachment 56457

Magicman, your "urinal tree" is just the right height for a human. Maybe the trees in our woods are proof positive that Sasquatch does exist and was a regular visitor in the area. Time to set up the game cam! Had to laugh when I saw your pic!! Too funny!

 

[Magicman]

That one is safe because it has it's own protector lurking nearby:

 

[RCW]

birddogger - -

Two other things that can happen to bust a tree apart are frost cracks and lightning that others mentioned.

Frost cracks are usually on the south side of the tree. They happen this time of year toward the sun when temps vary greatly when a warm sun and very cold nights break the tree apart due to moisture in the trunk.

They are often very long/linear (20 feet, depending on the tree) and narrow along the bole/trunk of the tree. Given your in North Dakota, plausible option.

I note there's another Cottonwood with a similar damage in the same direction as the one you pictured. But both very low and quite short - - 6 or 8 feet, and not the long split I'd expect with a frost crack, even if 40 years ago.

My experience with lightning strikes is that they will hit the tree up high, and show a nasty split down toward the base. Can look similar to the frost crack, but starts higher, and goes down to the ground (no pun intended).

As someone said, limbs breaking off will do the same, but Cottonwoods are not shade tolerant. Limbs very low are not often seen as they self-prune as they grow.

Magicman's "Urinal Tree" picture looks like a "poplar" species of some sort, many miles south of you and me..same kind of damage...

I wouldn't rule out lighting or frost damage, but I think there's a fungal etiology working there.....

 

[bucktail]

But they may not all look like this:
View attachment 56457

Paint that little puck in the bottom pink to make it look like a urinal mint.

 

[bird dogger]

birddogger - -

Two other things that can happen to bust a tree apart are frost cracks and lightning that others mentioned.

Frost cracks are usually on the south side of the tree. They happen this time of year toward the sun when temps vary greatly when a warm sun and very cold nights break the tree apart due to moisture in the trunk.

They are often very long/linear (20 feet, depending on the tree) and narrow along the bole/trunk of the tree. Given your in North Dakota, plausible option.

I note there's another Cottonwood with a similar damage in the same direction as the one you pictured. But both very low and quite short - - 6 or 8 feet, and not the long split I'd expect with a frost crack, even if 40 years ago.

My experience with lightning strikes is that they will hit the tree up high, and show a nasty split down toward the base. Can look similar to the frost crack, but starts higher, and goes down to the ground (no pun intended).

As someone said, limbs breaking off will do the same, but Cottonwoods are not shade tolerant. Limbs very low are not often seen as they self-prune as they grow.

Magicman's "Urinal Tree" picture looks like a "poplar" species of some sort, many miles south of you and me..same kind of damage...

I wouldn't rule out lighting or frost damage, but I think there's a fungal etiology working there.....

Just when you think you're closing in on the cause, there seems to be a "catch" in all the plausible theories. LOL! But, I am now agreeing more with your idea after looking at all the lightning strike pics of trees on the internet. I didn't find anything that closely resembled what these two trees looked like.

Lightning most always strikes high up on the tree, however, when this farmstead was settled the nearest tree was 5 miles away along the banks of the Red River. The homesteaders dug the very small cottonwoods and hauled them back in their wagon and transplanted them in the rows surrounding their new claim. So it still could be possible that the lightning struck the ground or the tallest 5 foot tree in the small area. It would just depend on how old/young the tree was if that was what happened. But since no picture on the internet jumped out as a similar injury from lightning, the quest for the real reason continues. Will now have to start searching all the different fungal diseases relevant to the cottonwood family of trees. At a leisurely pace....that is. Thanks for your insight, RCW!!
David

 

[RCW]

David- - just wish I had a good and definitive answer!

When/if someone says, oh “this” did that, betting I’ll say ...sure that’s it.

It’s familiar, but the cause is clogged up in the cobwebs of my pea-brain.....

I was just looking at a Staghorn Sumac behind the house with a big buck rub, thinking...hmm, could a rub 100 years ago do that, or be the injury to allow an infection??

Obviously my Forest Pathology professor didn’t give me an A....

Who knows, I may have an epiphany sometime and I’ll send it along.....

Best wishes!