Ryan: I have had hardwood trees squirt (sometimes explosively, sometimes a trickle) liquid at me as a result of coring into pockets of anaerobic rot inside the trunk. Such pockets can be under pressure from the gasses given off by the bacteria. Often times this anaerobic rot smells like H2S (e.g. like rotten eggs) and is brown in color, and very corrosive too. Other times the liquid is almost clear. This phenomenon occurs more often on heavy soils with a lot of clay and silt, and after rainy periods of weather.
One sugar maple in the Porcupine Mountains in Upper Michigan squirted a great volume of brown H2S-laden liquid explosively before I had a chance to get out of the way. I was covered with the stuff and had to go wash everything immediately in a nearby stream. The core shot out of the corer like a bullet and I never found it. Of course, it is also possible for a tree to have a split in the trunk with a pocket open to the atmosphere filled with a mixture of liquids from rainwater, sap and bacterial growth. Lee Paul Jost wrote: > I've heard Lee tell stories about that in person and on this list. I'm > sure that he or someone else with more experience on the subject will > fill you in. It's a normal potential hazard of coring based upon my > recollection.... > > Paul > > > On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 1:49 PM, Ryan McEwan <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > Hi all: > > My technicians just called in- they are coring red oaks in a > mature forest near Dayton Ohio, and they report that three trees > in a row have, at some point in the process squirted, vinegary > liquid from the borer bit for ~ 10 minutes each. > > 3/3= 100% albeit a small sampling. > > So, what gives. My answer was that there must be some fissure in > the canopy of the tree that is letting water into a rot pocket and > they are draining the pocket with the borer. Alternative > explanations? > > thanks > ryan > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
