strong vs weak codit

F

fattyphatcakes

I'm a newbie to the field and I'm working on learning everything I can. I've been reading a lot. Many times it is stated that larger pruning cuts can be tolerated better in species that have strong compartmetalization abilities. However, I havn't been able to find good info on what species or families have strong or weak codit abilities. What books or websites can I read to find out more about this. I would also like more info on longevity, max. size and other charicteristics of species.

Any suggestions?

aaron /forum/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
on p. 49 of gilman i found a short list of strong and weak compartmentalizers, however I'm weak on the latin, or scientific names, anybody know a good quick reference to find common names?
 
Just punch it into Google. That's usually the first thing I do when I'm trying to find the latin/english/foreign name for a plant. I usually end up learning a few things I didn't know that way too.
 
But are their any general rules I can use to make an educated guess about a species that I'm unfarmiliar with? As far as the oak vs. maple, I guess I don't understand. On the list in the gilman text he as differant species of oak in both categories. I found that I can look up the latin names easliy in my audubon, browsing through the species on the list i haven't found a commonality between the strong vs. weak. My intuition would tell me that fast growing, short lived species would be weaker than slower growing ones, but like I said I'm a newbie so I could be all wrong.
 
In general the slower growing more tenaceaus species are stronger and better comparmentalizers. Especially Water Oak vs. Live Oak down here as example. It seems the slower growth is like better tempered metal; like a trade i quality of speed or power!

Even Live Oaks that grow in some sandy regions around here and really ahve to wok to chase water and nutrients, might grow much slower than others of same species in landscaped areas. But the sand grwon ones seem to have heavier wood, that has more oil used in smoking, hear is diffreent color etc. New district goes in and tree grows 2x as fast in the richer soil, fertilizer and water. There seems to be a trade off; can seem to have more problems etc. Like the DNA is programmed with such and such a power ratio and ya get it slow good or weaker/faster; even in same breed! Compartmentalizing seeming to follow suit in the more 'quality' trees that take their time.
 
Phatty,

My intuition would tell me that fast growing, short lived species would be weaker than slower growing ones, but like I said I'm a newbie so I could be all wrong.


Follow that intuition, you're heading in the best general direction.

The better compartmentalizers put a lot of their savings into sustaining themselves and less in replicating. On the other end of the spectrum you have aspens. Shigo says that aspen are just a step away from celery :) The grow fast and put very little into protecting themselves.

As you work on more trees you'll build up a reference system. I'll bet that you're already looking at all of the trees around you. Look at trees that have been damaged by storms. How do they react? Look at utility line clearance trees. See how severly pruned trees react? You'll get better at generalizing.

When you prune trees with decay and damage you'll be disecting them in the horizontal plane. When you rip them verticaly into halves and quarters you'll be entering the world that Shigo opened for us. That's when you'll really start to learn about trees. Take some of the pies home and hit them with the belt sander and some oil finish to raise the grain color. With a magnifying glass you can start to see the codit walls. Very cool stuff!

By the way, welcome to the Tree Buzz Cafe /forum/images/graemlins/applaudit.gif
 
In my experience and a distinct lack of literature has me leaning towards Spyder's observations however, the black oak members have loosely defined Xylem that are functional well into the heartwood, not a clearly defined layer that indicates not just a slower growth pattern, but a slower response rate to CODIT, although an effective one - wilt infestation never kills the live oak, the tree's response to the disease kills the tree. Oaks kill themselves when Ceratocystis travels thru the vascular system.

Microscopic examination shows perforations in every vascular cell, the physiology of the disease (which makes it a perfect killer) allows the growth of hyphea that can find these holes and make it's way beyond the tree's response to isolate the fungus. The tree in turn manufactures more phytoplasm to block these probes, in turn, closing-off it's entire system. The triggers are yet to be completely understood, but digestive enzyme production increases in the process.

Wounds themselves show us in detail the response patterns, I have been observing the reactions here in studies. It is nearly impossible to choke a live oak by shallow girdling where a red oak can be affected in a few hours. Interior vascular cells are protected from temperature extremes, wounding, and unfortunately the climatic controls that protect other species.

Chemical signals are just beginning to be studied but it's been the groundwork of our focus to stimulate a response in a tree to vascular parasites. The key is in how different species respond to threat and what those signal precursors consist of and how response follows. It could prove devastating to introduce a co-reactive compound, but receptors are being mapped from good work done overseas on and I'm reading more than I want. The basic traits in companion planting studies have shown some guidance on particular species' reaction from basics such as tannin or the ability to concentrate calcium like oaks do in spite of low levels in the soil.

Oaks are indeed tenacious and stout, but the very protective mechanisms that give them those survival attributes are proving to be their downfall in light of recent disease patterns.

Storage of water abilities is a good litmus test for discovery of wound or CODIT efficiency. Cut down a tree and watch how long it takes before the leaves curl.
 
I pruned a poplar today that had been storm damaged a few years ago. There was quite a bit of sprouting that had occoured and many of those were growing agressively and competing with the main lead. My question about this is that many of those leads were 6 to 8 feet long now, many had a wrinkley, unhealthy appearence to the bark and no foliage or live buds until the top three feet or so. What's up with this? I removed several of the competeing leads, will the remaining have latient buds that may sprout, or will they always remain the way they are?

weak codit?
 
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