Big trees

Hello Ben,

Thanks for posting photos of those big trees. Those are big trees by anyone’s
standards in the eastern U.S.

I would submit that from looking at the photos that the tree your wife is standing beside is hollow or rotten on the inside. There are indicators of decline visible on the exterior that suggest this internal condition. Not that I am suggesting you cut them down, but am pointing out the indicators of decline.

Of course the entire tree should be observed to make an assessment of it’s health and trees have culture value to landowners that override any silvicultural consideration. It was just interesting that the system we use to determine which trees are ripe for harvesting as the “worst first” would include the frost cracks and indicators of decline visible on this individual.

You can read about the “nature’s tree marking paint” indicators of decline on our web site. It is a system of identifying decline in vigor, health and economic gainful conditions in individual trees that fall in three categories –
damaged – diseased – and inferior, low value species. There are about 16 visible indicators of decline that we use and this list grows based upon experiential
knowledge revealed through harvesting trees based upon observations by the harvester. This system may be customized to each region and forested condition.

I think the main point is that if a tree is rotting from the inside faster than it is growing on the outside it may be time to “cash it in” or if it is seen as a stock in a stock portfolio to sell it before it loses more value. When a tree is mature and growing slowly anyway, it doesn’t take much rot to be losing value faster than gaining volume. This approach makes the forest landowner and “inside trader” so to speak in a single tree selection scenario.

Thanks for sharing those photos, we have a few big ones on most sites too and the healthy ones stay there when we control the choice or when the landowner expresses a cultural value to them for their own reasons.