Red Oak Water Fountain

[BrotherBart]

I have been cutting red oaks for thirty years and have never seen any thing quite like this. This tree is a big'un and was blown down fifty feet beside the house as part of the havoc wreaked by a tornado that spun off of Hurricane Ivan and touched down in our yard in 2004. The "yard" is four acres of woods. I have avoided the tree because it fell pointing downhill into a gully and getting those huge red oak rounds up the hill by hand was going to be a killer. Well, a new mid-size saw joined its Poulan cousins today, yep all three Poulans can't stand the color orange and grey is a depressing color, so I decided to break it in on the problem tree.

The last round I cut is maybe eight or ten feet from the base. When it fell off the cut I looked down and water was pouring, not seeping - pouring, out of the remaining part of the tree base. I have seen wet red oak before but never anything like that. The strange thing is that none of the rounds have even a hint of the classic red oak smell.

A half hour later and it hasn't slowed down a drop. My well may go dry tomorrow.

 

[babalu87]

Man, thats some good heating once it dries out.

 

[Eric Johnson]

IF it ever dries out!

 

[BrotherBart]

IF it ever dries out!

No kidding. Three hours later it has slowed a little bit but still coming. And the weird part is that trees here don't have the classic tap root. The darn roots run out from the base of the tree. Which is why they go down so easily in storms. There is one root somewhere on the bottom of that stump that ain't giving up.

I have always heard that an oak can take in fifty gallons of water a day. Now I believe it! This thing has been "dead" for three years and the bark is peeling off. Mushrooms on it.

 

[DriftWood]

Its water logged. I see that in water logged wood on the bottom of the lake, never in a log on the ground.

 

[BrotherBart]

Its water logged. I see that in water logged wood on the bottom of the lake, never in a log on the ground.

Only parts of this sucker touching the ground were the very bottom of the root ball and then fifty feet away across the ravine down hill from the base.

Really weird. It is sucking the water out of the ground through a root.

 

[Roospike]

O' Yeah , That'll be good stuff in a couple of years. Get'er cut up a split .

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It doesn't hurth that red oak is a bunch of straws. You can literally blow through a small piece when it's dry.

 

[Jake]

I had a large silver maple die a couple years ago. I cut it down last summer, When I was cutting the trunk, I literally had water spraying all over the place. My first thought was that I somehow broke my saw... Then I realized it was water / sap. and yes, it poured out

 

[keyman512us]

Oaks are amazing...and yes they can/do suck 50+ gallons of water a day out of the ground:


(broken link removed)

 

[Corey]

That is interesting. I guess the downhill slope might have helped concentrate the water in the tree? Kind of goes along with my observations on wood drying. A lot of water can move up and down the tree, but not much goes out the bark.

Corey

 

[struggle]

OUt at the farm the owners asked if I would cut some branches off an elm tree. I cut one off and it turned in to a water fountain for a while and then eventually stopped.

This elm tree they later had a pro come and cut down entirely. They asked me to do it and would pay but I declined as it was to close to thier house. Anyway it was very near thier septic system and I suggested to them that I bet the septic system backs up after they cut the tree down and quits working and about 6 months later they had to have the septic system replaced as that was where that tree was getting all of its water.

Hey wait a minute I got peeeee'd on by a tree that is total not right :bug:

 

[babalu87]

Oaks are amazing...and yes they can/do suck 50+ gallons of water a day out of the ground:


(broken link removed)

FTA

What can destroy oak trees? -- One common element that destroys oak trees is fire. When fire, caused by lightning or by a careless human being, hits a tree, the fire can spread and burn several trees.

Thanks for that