Corkscrew trees

[Clark]

When I was working in the midwest I noticed a pattern in paper birch and black cherry when growing under existing stands.  Often times it was birch or cherry growing under red pine and sometimes cherry growing under maple.  Most often this was simply one individual tree, sometimes up to a dozen individuals but nothing stand wide.  For example:

When a birch is able to establish itself under pine, often after a thinning, it will almost always grow in a corkscrew fashion.  At best it will produce pulp, not even a chance of a half log.  It seems to me that the birch will "follow" the light...it seems that it follows the best gap in the canopy where it can get the most light.  This seems to be the pattern of black cherry under pine and (sometimes) maple.  Needless to say these trees are also receiving just enough light to grow.

What I am wondering is if this is the result of intolerant trees growing under an existing stand or is this  just a property of certain species in certain conditions?  Any thoughts?

Clark

[WDH]

I think their shade intolerance causes them to react this way.  In plenty of light, they grow tall and straight.

[RSteiner]

Some one once told me that twisting was a genetic defect.  I have seen areas where several trees of the same type grew twisted while others, some smaller in diameter grew straight.  I don't know if it is really genetic or not, I do know they do not make good lumber.

Randy

[jim king]

I bet there is some beautiful grain in that lumber.

[WDH]

Loblolly pine can exhibit a growth wobble where it seems to grow so fast that the trunk has a spiral to it.  Also, if planting loblolly pine, and the tap root gets J-rooted (where the seedling is pushed into the planting hole to far so the the root tip curls up), the trunks can grow with a spiral.

I believe that there are several causitive factors for corkscrew.  In cherry, shade intolerance plays a big factor.

[thecfarm]

I have noticed that cedar is really the only one that does that on my land.I owm about 120 acres of wood land.I have a mix of red oak,whiie and yellow birch,white pine,fur,spruce,beech and white maple.I did have a few places that you talked about.The white maple that grew in there was some nice pretty stuff.It was nice and straight and grew for the light.By the time I came to a limb there was hardly enough for a log.