Nice tree no roots

[jim king]

I thought this photo may be interesting to some.  This has an 18 inch tree downed by a light breeze.  As you can see the trees here in the Amazon have no root system to speak of as you have with Oak or whatever.  This is the main reason that the Amazon forest simply does not get very old. This is a lot different than those stumps I used to help my dad dig out when I was a kid.

[Coon]

I hear ya on the stump diggin'.  Those stumps woulda come out like a breeze, if you know what I mean. ;) :D

The moisture in the Amazon must be very close to the top of the soil hence the shallow roots......

[Rokky Rakkoon]

 

   my tree roots in upper michigan are similar. i think this is a spruce (about 14" diam) but all my trees are like this, maple, hemlock, etc. my woods are pretty flat and the "water table" sits just below the surface most of the year. the tree roots go down and hit the water and then spread out. i think thats why i dont have any oak trees as i think they like to grow a big tap root straight down.
  but, regarding my use of the term "water table", i'm not sure thats what it really is. the soil in my woods is very sandy and only about 2-3 feet think and then it hits solid sandstone. this water seems to be annually temporary as it sits on top of the sandstone but eventually drains away by late fall. i'm thinking the true water table is some 40 or more feet further down, as my well is about 80 feet deep.
  (i was looking for a reason to practice uploading another photo)   :D

[jim king]

Our problem in the Amazon is nothing to do with water as we have trees on high dry land and trees that live under water for months at a time.  The thing is here is that there is about an inch of topsoil and sand or clay below that.  The tree has no reason to send roots down as there are no nutrients there.

[thecfarm]

Where's all the rocks in that root ball?The few that I have uprooted will have rocks sticking out from the root ball.I think any that have been uprooted are in my bog.They look like the one in Rokky's picture.

[jim king]

Having grown up on a farm in Northern Wisconsin I never was to fond of rocks.  Here in the upper Amazon if you want rock it comes from hundreds of miles upstream at the base of the Andes and is very expensive.  They are collectors items here.