A question for the "Guys"

curious kat · Oct 15, 2014

...OK, there's this large cottonwood that has some older "stuff" at it's base....one is a tire that the tree is growing around. And the other is maybe an older fridge or something. I know cottonwoods grow pretty fast...well question is can you guys tell the age of the tree and the things that were discarded around it? Here's some pictures....

...this is the tree & thanks guys. :thumbsup:

tamrock · Oct 16, 2014

Some time in the 1950's maybe is when that junk was new I'm thinking :dontknow:

As for the cottonwood tree I'm not so sure. I've seen those spring up around my home and they don't seem to grow all that big from the 20 plus years I've lived here. The trunks on those are maybe 10/12 inches ?? in diameter now in the last 20 yrs. There is one cottonwood out in the field that has a trunk I'm guessing would be maybe bigger then 15 feet in diameter at the base next to an irrigation ditch that was dug around the last of the 19th century I think I researched. I believe from what I see of cottonwoods is the growth rate would depend on the abundance of water is has access to. Far from a source it wouldn't grow as much as one close to a water source, such as a river, creek system or old irrigation ditch. A great example of a healthy cotton wood groves are found along the Rio Grande in your home state and many other river systems of the west from Missouri River to the Sierra Nevada mountains and as far north to Canada and south in to Mexico. If only Custer would have sent scouts in to spy in and have a closer look in on the large thick grove of cottonwoods along the Little Bighorn river he may of had a better understanding what was all in that two mile long thicket of cottonwoods, instead of counting his chickens before hatched and lead a charge towards it. What a shock he must a got when the warriors came out of it in what must have seemed like a never ending flow. The Spanish called these cottonwood groves a Bosque. Bosque - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

curious kat · Oct 16, 2014

tamrock...thank you so much for the great information on everything. :icon_thumleft:

Do have water here, so maybe that's why the tree is so large since the "stuff" isn't that old...although the '50's were awhile back. lol That's so interesting what you said about Custer & the cottonwood grove. Yes, I've been by the Bosque near Socorro many times, lot's of Sandhill cranes & other birds there. Thanks again!

tamrock · Oct 17, 2014

curious kat said:
tamrock...thank you so much for the great information on everything. Do have water here, so maybe that's why the tree is so large since the "stuff" isn't that old...although the '50's were awhile back. lol That's so interesting what you said about Custer & the cottonwood grove. Yes, I've been by the Bosque near Socorro many times, lot's of Sandhill cranes & other birds there. Thanks again!

In the past I had a job that took me down to El Paso and Silver City often and I stayed in Socorro and T or C allot. I've seen the Sandhill's along the Rio Grande a few times. Once I saw going south along 25 that guy who rehabilitated geese with an ultra-lite aircraft. These geese were flying along with the small plane in formation. No digital cams or picture taking cell phones in those days to document that, but the talk on the CB was all about the site of that guy leading geese with a plane amongst the truckers. When I saw it coming at me I didn't know what the heck it was til it got closer. I was amazed.

texasred777 · Oct 17, 2014

The neighbor that lives behind us had a cottonwood in his back yard. That thing was huge! I'd say about 3 feet above the ground, the diameter was at least 4 feet thick. It was definitely and old one. There were numerous large limbs that had broken, showing just a few feet of stump left. It had been trimmed by tree surgeons several times in the last few years. It's roots were so far reaching that our back yard was a jungle that we couldn't even mow! The roots would come up in the back yard then one shoot would become a group of shoots that would be several inches thick. It would become a giant bush. They would grow to whatever height they were allowed to grow. I cut them back several times to clear the yard. When my COPD got worse, I hired a man and his helper to come in and clear it all out. I guess the neighbor saw what a problem it was causing, even in his yard also. He finally cut the tree down. He rented a lift so he could start near the top and cut the limbs in a way so as not to damage anything when they fell. Well, there was a time or 3 when the limbs hit something! One hit the edge of the roof of his house. There wasn't a lot of damage, but enough that he had to hire a company to come out and repair it. One limb fell on his new ladder and just destroyed it.
After the tree was cut down, I got my son and grandson to help me clear the backyard of the 'stickups'. We would dig down to the single root, cut it, and apply some root killer. The grandson cut several down the other day that had survived the root killer. And, of course, he didn't apply the root killer. I told him that now he could look forward to cutting them down again!
As far as water for growth, I don't know how old that tree was, but feel it was probably ancient. There has been very little water for it to grow. Our area gets only 6 to 9 inches of moisture a year; high desert. If water controls the growth, then this thing must have been hundreds of years old.

austin · Oct 17, 2014

Age of the tree? No problem. Just cut it down and count the rings...Just kidding of course.

curious kat · Oct 18, 2014

tamrock....I saw that special & the movie about that guy & the birds...how great that you got to see it first hand. :icon_thumright:

texasred....thanks for sharing the story of the cottonwood, they do "soak up" a lot of water, maybe it was an underground spring? Yes, shouldn't have a house near where they're growing, limbs do fall....had a neighbor that had to hire one of those extra tall cranes to cut some of theirs off.

Austin.... :laughing7: