Easy-to-cut tree

[Oww My Back Hurts]

I saw this tree in San Francisco. The ocean is to the left and I'm guessing the constant, strong winds caused the tree to grow like this.

In any case, I was just thinking, if trees grew like this it would be a lot easier to cut them up, wouldn't need a bucket truck! Maybe I should have grabbed a few seeds from it and tried planting them in MN, maybe I could have started a grove

 

[StihlHead]

I used to live near there. That is a cypress tree. More specifically a Monterey cypress. People like you often times get seeds or small cypress trees and plant them, thinking that they will grow like this inland. Well, they don't. Without the harsh coastal winds and environment, they grow really tall, upright and spindly and look nothing like these do. The most famous of these trees is called the Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach, CA. Though in truth there is a smaller one on the rocks behind it from this vantage it that they are keeping trimmed back in case the big one croaks. That is Pt. Lobos in the background. Makes me homesick...

 

[ScotO]

That's really cool.....that said, if the wind is that friggin bad there, I'd hate the place! Can't stand constant sustained winds......Sandy reminded me of just how much so last October......

 

[Oww My Back Hurts]

Thanks for all the info! I was wondering what kind of tree it was. Yeah I was kidding about trying to grow some of those here. Anyway with my luck I'd find a way to get my blade pinched while cutting anyways!

If I remember right there were sand dunes or hills that kind of funneled the wind right into a narrow path aimed directly at that tree. It was a moderately windy day that day, but a person almost couldn't stand where that tree was without being blown away.

 

[StihlHead]

That's really cool.....that said, if the wind is that friggin bad there, I'd hate the place! Can't stand constant sustained winds......Sandy reminded me of just how much so last October......

Its usually windy in SF, but not that windy. Kite flying wind. That tree is unusual, and really twisted even for a cypress tree. The photo is of the Pacific side of SF (the Sunset district) that gets all the fog in summer. If there is no fog, there is moderate steady wind off the Pacific. If there is no wind, there is usually fog there. In winter is it warm there though. It rarely snows (average is about once every 11 years), and if it does its an event and does not stick. In winter/fall its usually 60 degree days, high 40s at night, and it rarely freezes. Summer weather is moderate, and usually upper 50s at night, mid 70s in the day. All 'summer' long. It rarely gets hot or even into the 90s there. A/C is uncommon in SF. It does not rain much from May though October. Rains intermittent in storms from October through May, with lots of clear days between. Storm winds rarely exceed 50 MPH. Fall is the nicest season there, from mid September through October. May is also usually the best month. Some winters it floods, mainly in El Nino years. Storms like Sandy only occur here on the west coast once every 50 years or so. The last one was in 1962, The Columbus Day Storm.

Earthquakes are the main issue in SF and most of California. The San Andreas fault line runs into the Pacific just a few miles west of where that tree is in west SF. Monterey to LA/San Diego & Baja California are heading north on the Pacific plate, and SF and the rest of us are riding south on the North American plate. Ever so slowly. Here in the PNW we have the Juan de Fuca plate diving under the North American plate, and that is causing the Cascade Mountain range volcanoes to form and pop off periodically. Geology is the big issue out here, more than the weather.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

For sure it would be a joy cutting a bunch of trees like that if they were good for firewood. It would save lots of bending for sure.

 

[ScotO]

For sure it would be a joy cutting a bunch of trees like that if they were good for firewood. It would save lots of bending for sure.

it wouldn't make a very good tree for the treestand come deer season, that's for sure!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wouldn't need a safety strap for sure.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Is cypress in the pine family?

 

[StihlHead]

For sure it would be a joy cutting a bunch of trees like that if they were good for firewood. It would save lots of bending for sure.

Monterey Cypress is a moderately good firewood, with about 20 MBTU per cord. I have a cord of Leyland cypress in my racks, which is a cross of Monterey cypress and Alaskan 'cedar' (which is really a cypress). Dries fast, burns hot, and burns longer than pine. Most cypress trees are upright and more like a cedar in growth habit though.

 

[StihlHead]

Is cypress in the pine family?

No. Different family and different genus (cypress for both).

 

[StihlHead]

it wouldn't make a very good tree for the treestand come deer season, that's for sure!

Deer hunting in San Francisco? <blink blink>

I can just see it in the SF Chronicle headlines now... "Pennsylvania man arrested in possession of illegal deadly assault rifle while hunting tame wildlife in the Sunset District; Mission District gay environmentalists all up in arms in protest demand life sentence for his crime".

 

[ajreid]

Thats a lot different than what they look like here in Southern Illinois. This is a big one! these trees in the background are some pretty good size trees. This one is about 10 miles from my house on the Cashe River.

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Eagles like the tops.

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