Tree of the day

doc henderson · September 11, 2020, 07:04:39 PM

here is a chunk I ran through the planer a few years back

WDH · September 11, 2020, 08:36:12 PM

Very pretty wood. I have never dealt with the wood.

WV Sawmiller · September 11, 2020, 08:38:44 PM

We always grew them for fishbait trees as they will have big caterpillars a couple times a year. They will eat every leaf off the tree then go into the ground and pupate, hatch, the moths will lay more eggs which will strip the trees again. Biggest I ever saw were at Colonial Willamsburg with big tall trees 40-50 inches in diameter. That's a lot of fishbait.

I sawed one for a neighbor and it saws really good and pretty wood.

WDH · September 11, 2020, 09:03:43 PM

Caught a lot of catfish on those "catalpa worms".

tule peak timber · September 11, 2020, 09:08:07 PM

Catalpa out west...Wish I had more of it. This is from an urban lumber tree out of San Francisco

WV Sawmiller · September 11, 2020, 11:04:45 PM

Quote from: WDH on September 11, 2020, 09:03:43 PM
Caught a lot of catfish on those "catalpa worms".

Did you ever get into a bunch of fish where they would just suck the juice out of one leaving just an empty skin? When we'd run into that we would pull the head off and take a match-sized stick and push from the rear end and turn him inside out on the stick, put it on a hook and toss it back in the same spot. Often that would do the trick but the bait would not last long like that if they did not grab it right away.

Catalpa worms spit out a nasty juice when you put one on a hook. It is terrible to stain your hands and almost impossible to wash off. My dad was a cook in the Army and he said the best way he found to get it off was to make up a big batch of biscuit batter. :D

A-z farmer · September 12, 2020, 05:29:55 AM

We have old catalpa trees around our houses and 7 years ago the ground beetles came out of the ground every night by the tens of thousands .They would eat the leaves and the only thing that would eat them are the bats.I put up bug zappers and would get thousands a night but the birds would not eat them the next day .This year being dry we did not see as many and the trees got a break.When they flower they are pretty and the bees love them .The only thing I do not like is all the 18 inch to 24 inch long bean pods that get dropped all over during the fall and winter.

caveman · October 20, 2020, 06:22:48 PM

It has been a while since I posted a tree of the day. I haven't really gone anywhere lately that has anything I am familiar with that I have not posted. While planting strawberry plants in a parking lot island at school with my students I noticed this in a neighboring yard.

Ianab · October 20, 2020, 07:27:16 PM

Aww, that's just mean. We had to cancel our tropical island holiday this year, and that's where I've seen those before.... digin1

caveman · October 24, 2020, 05:50:24 AM

This fruit tree is a papaya (Carica papaya). It has been so long since I have tasted one that I do not remember how they taste. The school where I work is only 17 miles from where I live but there are several plants that will grow on that higher elevation site on the south side of town that won't endure the cold we occasionally have at my place.

Several months ago Golden Rain Tree was the tree of the day. They are now blooming with red and yellow blooms. They are one of those trees that goes mostly unnoticed until this time of the year.

WV Sawmiller · October 24, 2020, 10:42:04 AM

We had loads of them when I worked in Cameroon in west Africa. Most were about the size of a pint jar or slightly larger but one version was as big or bigger than half gallon jars. Local street venders sold peeled and cut up papaya and they always looked so refreshing and inviting on a hot day but I always found them pretty bland unless mixed with pineapple and mango in a fruit salad where they were very good eating then.

caveman · October 25, 2020, 05:35:13 AM

WV, mentioning the pineapple and mango piqued my interest. Almost three years ago my mother and youngest daughter planted a pineapple top in our front flower bed. The pineapple that had been growing was almost ready to pick. Just like every other pineapple we have ever planted here, a coon or opossum got it.

Mangoes are my absolute favorite fruit. Earlier in the summer we air layered some on the two trees at my folk's beach house on Anna Maria Island. We tentatively planned to go down there today to see if they took but Jmoore and I are going fishing in stead (local lake). Last weekend I helped my mother graft some mango scions she ordered from someone in south Florida on to some small mango trees she planted from
seeds. The grafted ones are supposed to bear fruit sooner.

tule peak timber · October 25, 2020, 09:11:24 AM

Might have to do with the stronger root systems from seed grown stock. I have some experience propagating lychee and longans by air layering out here on the left coast.Rob

Clark · December 20, 2020, 03:52:07 PM

This one made me do a double-take in the woods yesterday:

WDH · December 22, 2020, 07:22:28 AM

If the bark was knobbier, I would say persimmon and it is not supposed to be that far in the land of glaciation, so very probably not it. if it was in the South, would be a dead ringer for blackjack oak, but it is not supposed to be in the frigid North, so very probably not it.

Down here it would most likely be an oak like black oak or southern red oak with that very dark bark.

Hmmmmmm.

Magicman · December 22, 2020, 08:12:18 AM

Or an odd ball Cherry?? Individual trees can look much differently than how they are "supposed" to look.

WDH · December 22, 2020, 04:57:20 PM

Oddball cherry may be just right.

Clark · December 22, 2020, 06:41:17 PM

Black cherry was the first thing that popped into my mind but I have only seen 2 in this part of the world that were over 12" DBH. That is what made me double-take.

I have worked in equatorial Missouri and I can see where your guesses of persimmon and blackjack oak are coming from. It does make me quite happy that neither of you are even remotely correct but then again, this species doesn't grow that far south so it's hardly fair.

Yellow birch is the correct answer. An old, angry and slow growing yellow birch at that. Of all the species growing around here yellow birch has the most polymorphic bark and will occasionally give weird examples like this one.

Clark