Great letter

[skew]

I recently had the honor to prune a humongous Cottonwood. The tree is probably 12' in diameter and sits on a farm down in Aztec N.M. owned by a family that has lived there for 56 years. The Matriarch of the clan asked how old I thought the tree was and I told them I thought it could be 3 to 6 hundred years old- a pretty wild guess. After going through and removing deadwood and lightening some of the crown the tree looks great. Along with the check they sent me was a note from 86 year old Darlene that said"You did a nice job on the old tree-it looks a hundred years younger. Thank you very much." It is very humbling to me to have these people after 50 years decide to maintain this tree and use me to do it.

 

[treebing]

do cottonwoods really live to be 600 years old? Cottonwoods and siberians are fun to clean up because they can go from horrificly ugly to awesome.

 

[Colin]

[ QUOTE ]
do cottonwoods really live to be 600 years old?

[/ QUOTE ]

Negative.

 

[sean_freeman]

[ QUOTE ]
do cottonwoods really live to be 600 years old?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of all the poplars, Populus trichocarpa Black cottonwood probaly out lives the others, and for this species 90-120yrs is the norm. Some stands in BC are 120-150yrs, but 200yr old poplars are unusual.
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/populus/trichocarpa.htm

Skew, did you get any photos of the tree?

 

[stevebullman]

no pics skew?

 

[Colin]

"Great letter?"

 

[stevebullman]

[ QUOTE ]
Along with the check they sent me was a note from 86 year old Darlene that said"You did a nice job on the old tree-it looks a hundred years younger. Thank you very much."

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[stevebullman]

haha......you must have turned it into a sapling then?

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Or given it the 'wrinkle-free' look!

 

[treebing]

I didnt think so. I have cut a cottonwood 4 foot DBH that wasn't much over 60. I just can't imagine one living very long as fast as they grow.

 

[Gord]

The oldest cottonwoods are likely around 400 years old:

http://tinyurl.com/25xade


The oldest aren't the largest however. The attached pic is in a grove of the largest poplars on the planet.

 

[sean_freeman]

Nice article Gord

, can't really argue with core samples, even allowing for the internal rot.
Heck Skew, you should get that cotton wood listed, its a long way from the climate and conditions of BC down south in NM, would have to be extremely rare I'm thinking even if its half the age you've been led to believe.

Here's the link to nominate a tree; http://www.championtrees.org/champions/nominate.htm

 

[treebing]

please get some pics if you can. Any tree 12 foot across is worth looking at regardless of age

 

[Zac]

Re: Great letter *DELETED*

Post deleted by Zac

 

[Zac]

I pruned a low limb off this giant at my grandparent's cottage a few weeks ago. The CBH is 24 feet and I estimated the height at 110 feet (rough estimate). The neighbor built their "cottage" about 7 feet from the trunk severing almost half the roots...

 

[sean_freeman]

What a beauty, great pic Zac.