George, If you get a chance to do so that would be good. Why do you think the dead ones died? It would be much easier to carry a small, real, saw along in a backpack to collect a few ring counts, than to try to use some of those other pruning contraptions that never work very well. Scott measured a walkingstick with a girth of 19 inches, a height of 26.9 feet, and a spread of 18 feet at Our Lady of Angels Convent Aston, PA.
Much the same should be considered if you encounter any large sumacs. I posted an age of just 21 years for an 8 inch diameter dead sumac I pushed over along the highway. Nobody else has posted anything greater. We don't have any really big Sumacs reported from PA either (pr anywhere else for that matter). Scott lists a Staghorn Sumac at 43 feet tall, and 34 inches in girth from Luzern County, but it was measured by some else in 1988. I am not even confident of the identification (maybe it is alianthus) if it is even still alive. If you find a big specimen get a crown spread for the biggest of the individual trunks as well as any multitrunk measurements you chose to take. Ed --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
