Old Bald Cypress tree in NC swamp

Wow. My last trip was to the Okefenokee swamp in GA. Wetland cypress forests are incredible, stunning naturescapes. I just loved the way they look coming out of the water with all the Spanish moss. Feels totally wild, ancient and untouchable. I will need to check out this Black River Preserve some day.
 
We went as a family a few years ago to the SC Edisto State Park, and rented their canoes to canoe a short run on the blackwater Edisto river. I would highly recommend that trip also.
 
I'm a little surprised by all the coring the video references.
These holes will certainly by filled by swamp water, bugs, etc.
The tree is obviously resistant to the swamp conditions.
What else am I missing: seal the holes, etc.
 
Old growth bald cypress is extremely rot resistant. Even with that, I'm surprised they aren't finding hollow trees. That one with the top blew out...almost any other species would have a rot column to the bottom within a few hundred years.
 
I have a business sign I made from cedar, with cypress wood surround which has been outside in the weather for 32 years now, and still going strong. Maybe I'll get another 2 millennia !
 
Read another article here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...ypresses-among-worlds-oldest-trees-180972134/

Interesting note included there about the dendrochronology studies from the trees:

...Stahle has used bald cypress growth rings to pinpoint a drought beginning in 1587 and lasting two years—the worst in more than 1,000 years—that coincided with the Lost Colony of Roanoke disappearing from an island off the North Carolina coast. Another seven-year drought occurred during the early years of the also-doomed settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. Could these droughts have played a part in the communities’ fall?...
 

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