Vic, This is great news! I tried really hard from afar to get somebody to go down and look at the epiphytes growing on the branch when it fell. I even offered some local types to pay for gas money. I had one taker, but they never made. I encouraged the Middleton people to have the cookie cut and I am glad they did. I am extremely interested in the ring count. I have not read anywhere about live oaks having a particular problem with false rings, or even very much about any real attempts to age date the species. Larry Tucei and others have commented on how hard the wood is and the great difficulty (to almost impossibility of coring some of them) ad the the problems cutting cookies from them even with a chainsaw. I definitely want to see the numbers you get. Do you have more references about ring counting live oaks you could send me?
Did you see the email from Pete Saussy: (July 14, 2009) dear Ents: i am a resident of the landside of Pawleys Island, SC with a very large specimen in my back yard and neighbor to two trees bearing SC live oak society signs on Rybolt Rd. i am interested in any information concerning these ancients. as you may know the huge horizontal limb at Litchfield by;theSea entrance has fallen and been cut loose, visible from Hwy 17 pete saussy 116 safe harbor ave pawleys island sc 29585 Thanks for everything. Ed Frank "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science." - Albert Einstein ----- Original Message ----- From: Victor Shelburne To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:18 AM Subject: [ENTS] Middleton Oak "cookie" status ENTS: FYI, I have FINALLY located the Middleton oak “cookie” (in South Carolina—our largest State Champion—most points) that was cut from a large limb after it (the limb—not the tree) fell last August. Bartlett Tree in Charleston, SC has it in their shop. Just need to transport the 3 foot plus diameter cookie (4-6 inches thick) up here to Clemson University so we can attempt some tree ring analysis (despite the problem of false rings in live oaks). It is a solid piece (no rot) so It should give us some idea of tree age in any case. Bartlett also has pictures of the limb relative to height so that might also help in estimating age since obviously the limb is younger than the tree. Anyone else interested in this let me know. Vic Shelburne SC Big Tree Coordinator Clemson University From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Edward Frank Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 7:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Re: Middleton Oak Tyler, I tried very hard to get someone to go and look at the epiphytes on the Middleton oak when a large limb broke off last spring. I had one person say they would do it and they never showed up. Henry Grissino-Meyer at Tennessee said he would be happy to do a formal ring count on the limb. Middleton Place cut a cookie for that purpose, but as far as I know nobody ever took it to Henry for counting. SC is a long drive from PA, so I could not do it myself. If anyone wants to volunteer. I still have the contact information for everyone here. Ed Join me at the Primal Forests - Ancient Trees Community at: http://primalforests.ning.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Tyler To: ENTSTrees Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 4:06 PM Subject: [ENTS] Middleton Oak Just wondering if anyone has heard any news on the Middleton Oak. Was a ring count done on any of the limbs?<BR --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
