Re: NANFA-- swamp tank pictures

Bonnie Ullmann (ullmann_at_uoneuro.uoregon.edu)
Fri, 5 Jan 2001 08:24:16 -0800

<x-flowed>

I got one given to me a gift by my son who knew I loved living in the
redwoods for 18 years. I stuck it in a pot with soil and it's become
a gorgeous cascading redwood bush with many branches and no real main
trunk (rather than the upright standard conifer configuration redwood
saplings usually are). It's pretty happy in the pot and if the
weather looks like a very hard freeze I can drag it into a protected
place. A redwood sapling I planted in my yard is growing missionary
style. So, they can survive here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
There are nice big show specimens on the Univ of Oregon campus but
I've also seen people lose unestablished saplings in cold years. They
have a notoriously shallow root system for such a tall tree and
really need to be in a stand of trees.....but tell that to
Horwitz.....They are picky about what ridge they grow on in
California. I've never seen one on the ridge closest to the ocean but
always on the next ridge inland where the wind isn't so strong. They
love fog.
Burls are growths that form on the side of the trunk of the sequoia
sempervirens, usually at the base. They are not part of the main
trunk, that's why you see convoluted growth when they are sliced, not
concentric rings. People love to slice 'em up and make tables out of
the big ones in Mendocino and Humboldt California. I might be able to
come up with the name of one of the tourist places that sells live
burls if anyone wants to get one. I'm not sure where they get
them......it doesn't necessarily kill the tree if you saw off the
burl.....
sorry to be so long-winded and off the subject of fish (unless you're
a chinook salmon or steelhead...)
bonnie

>
>
>Back to the question. Redwood burl is a knot like thing in the tree.
>They sell them in and around the Redwood Forest. I think they just save
>them off of the trees they cut. If you put one in water little redwood
>tree fronds grow out of it. They look like mini forests on a mountain of
>wood. They're really neat. It's too hot here for me to be able to
>actually grow a redwood tree, but they are really pretty trees, even the
>ones that aren't huge. It's my understanding that occasionally you can
>get the burl to grow into a tree, but usually they are a temporary
>thing. Maybe someone from Northern CA can chime in and give us more
>info.
>
>Rhonda
>

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>