Tallest tree in the world

[Dan_Shade]

you guys need pandas to control the bamboo!

[farmerdoug]

SD,  I think what you are refering to in northern bamboo.  We have it around the house also.  It was planted before we moved here.  It stays around the house because of the mower.  I discovered that 2-4-D will knock it down but it seems to come back just as strong in a couple of years. :

Farmerdoug

[SwampDonkey]

What has always amazed me about the tallest tree thing, is why isn't the tallest trees in the tropics where there are green house like conditions and no severe cold.

[TexasTimbers]

Genes. Redwoods have great genes. ;)

[Kcwoodbutcher]

I believe most of the trees in the tropics are shallow rooted, basically because they don't need a deep root system to get water. This would hinder very tall growth as they may easily fall in a strong wind. I received the book "High Climbers and Timber Fallers" from Bailey's as a Christmas present. It's probably as close as I'll ever get to the real thing, but the size of those redwoods and what those guys do to get them down is incredible

[Ianab]

What has always amazed me about the tallest tree thing, is why isn't the tallest trees in the tropics where there are green house like conditions and no severe cold.

In the tropics EVERYTHING grows fast, incuding the termites and the fungus, so trees just dont live very long. The mild climates like Pacific NW, NZ, South Australia seems to let those big trees grow for hundreds of years and get some decent size on them. No extremes of hot, cold or dry to stress the trees etc.

Cheers

Ian

[Fla._Deadheader]

Concerning the reply about "Water Column", Where is the water pump located on these tall trees ???  It is a known fact that you can not use a pump to "Pull" water over 23' , elevation, from it's source.  It takes a decent sized pump to "push" water over 150'. HOW does this water move ???

[Ron Wenrich]

Sure, if you're pulling through a tube your 23' might be the limitation.  However, on plants, you are moving from cell to cell.  Process of osmosis going from that of a greater concentration to that of a lesser concentration.  Those cells aren't 23' long, so the height you're lifting is more like lifting with a series of buckets instead of through a tube. 

[Kcwoodbutcher]

I may me wrong but I think it's like 32 ft. At that height the vacuum at the head of the tube would boil the water. In the real world this limitation is always lower. This is why primitive plants such as ferns and horsetails cannot attain heights greater than this. The water in these plants is fed up the stem simply by capillary action. While osmosis plays an important role in the transport of water in large trees, active transport (think chemical reaction) allows these trees to transport the water and nutrients to the great heights of the large trees.

[Ironwood]

Been to Humbolt, the trees get moisture from the coastal fog that lingers high in there canopies. A MUST SEE is the flood footage of the 1964 flood that is in Sciotia the old PALCO lumber town. DON"T miss this if you are in the Eureka/ Humbolt area. Some of the camping areas allow you to camp right among the giants. We had a hollow trunk that the kids climbed into to play. The trunk was 10 feet or so high, and a perimeter "fence like" raised portion to keep to kiddies from falling out. It was really neat.

                                      Reid

[Fla._Deadheader]

   : : :  I really do understand how the water moves in the plants.  : :

  Just making a point as how much and how fast, as evidenced in Sap runs, like Maples and other tappable trees.  ;D ;D ;D  Dat's a LOTTA water.  :D :D

[WDH]

What has always amazed me about the tallest tree thing, is why isn't the tallest trees in the tropics where there are green house like conditions and no severe cold.

Intriguing question.  I remember a wood tech professor asking the question, "Why are there no hardwoods at the timberline in high elevations?".  It seems that the tracheids that make up the conifer wood and transport the water are closed at both ends with little valves called "bordered pits" between the cells.  That way, if an embolism in one cell occurs (from freezing, etc), the bordered pits close off and isolate the cell with the embolism and protect the water column from breaking.  The vascular elements in hardwoods that make up the water conducting cells have open ends, like sections of sewer pipe.  If an embolism occurs in one cell, that cell cannot be isolated, and the entire water column breaks. 

I suspect that is why most of the tallest trees are conifers and not hardwood.  Think of the tension on the water column as a tree grows ever higher and higher.  The probablility of the water column breaking, thereby limiting growth, would be greater in hardwood than conifer because of the type of cells that make up the water transporting xylem.

Probably wrong, but Swamp's question begs an answer.

[SwampDonkey]

FD, the water column going up is a lot bigger than that coming down as sap. Excess water is transpired through leaves and what ever is needed to transport food is sent down the pipes, just under the bark, toward the roots.

WDH, sounds like a good answer to me. ;D