Eric wrote:
>Are you saying that the name "Douglas Fir" refers to many different species
>of trees living at different elevations, or that the Douglas Fir is
>significantly different at different elevation and that it is useful to
>keep that in mind?
My seedling catalog lists Douglas fir by seed zones. If you
collect seed from 1000 feet elevations then that is where it
wants to grow. Plant it at another elevation and it doesn't
do very well. If you live at 500 feet then that is a
different seed zone and you need seed from that elevation.
Also, on the old growth question i was trying to suggest that
the adaptability of Douglas fir might go beyond genetic
diversity. I believe something else is going on but have
little proof. This is just opinion so probably i should say
no more. This leads to the question: How did the diversity
get into corn? How is genetic diversity built?
>I have been using Douglas Fir to build our home. It is very obvious that
>when cut many of the trees were very young and grew VERY quickly by the
>spacing of the growth rings. The strength of a tree that grew in diameter
>quickly is very poor.
Yes, i see this often. With some second growth we can find trees that
grew slowly and have closely spaced rings. The wood is a different color
from old growth and seems slightly different in other ways. I've had
carpenters tell me they can tell the difference just by working with
it.
What does all this mean? To me it says keep an open mind in observing
nature and in design of a forest gardens. We still have much to learn.
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Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 6-7
Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
