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| Yesterday we had a 120 year old sugar maple felled on our property. We did it for safety, but we still feel sick about it. The canopy did not reveal any of the rot in the trunk. The recent thread linking to the New York Times article Neglected Rotting Trees Turn Deadly. assuaged our guilt somewhat, but still, it was a very hard day around here.
Before: 
And now: 
We will definitely be using this forum as we try to decide what to plant in its place. If you want to see more pictures and know more about the why and how, the before during and after, I wrote about it on our blog at the link below. |
Here is a link that might be useful: If a tree falls...
Follow-Up Postings:
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| so, why did you cut it, again, if it wasn't sick and it was a beautiful sugar maple? |
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| You did the right thing. A little late, but not too late. I wouldn't want that tree on my house! It was close. Mike |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, May 17, 12 at 15:25
| oooweeee.. another maple bites the dust.. sorry.. as a hosta fanatic.. i am not sad ... looking at the pix at your blog site.. i dont understand this comment from you: The canopy did not reveal any of the rot in the trunk. ==>> the pix show severe rot in the trunk.. i dont understand the correlation to the canopy ... can you just post the trunk rot here in the post??? regardless.. i understand you are grieving.. and i feel for ya.. but it had to go.. you know it.. and it gives you opportunities for the future ... focus forward.. rather than back ... i think the first step.. is to enjoy the new light patterns in your yard.. you most likely went from a full shade yard.. to lots of sunlight... and that is good... find my post on o'neills red .. that's a nice little tree ... ken |
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| I read your story on your blog. I'm sorry that had to happen. Grow, little tuliptree, grow! |
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| Yep you did the right thing no doubt! Myself having lost many new plantings the last 2 years in no way compares to losing a such a giant. Getting 120 years out of a tree is way above the urban average. At least you got to enjoy it for a while. I know you miss big momma, but now there is so much more ground to play around with new stuff ;) Have fun with it and keep us posted on what you decide to do!!! John |
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| Thanks, all. We are trying to share (and therefore dilute) the pain a little. But we can embrace change. Lcadem, the tree was structurally unsound, not sick. We were lamenting the necessary loss of such a beautiful specimen. Mike, we do know we did the right thing. Timing the perfect moment to stop gambling with a tree, like attempting to time the stock market, is a mug's game. Here's the split:  and the felled tree.:  Ken, our hostas seem to flourish under the big maples. Your red chestnut is lovely. Thanks Esh Ga, the little tulip tree has been very much dwarfed by the maples. You can see it in the bottom right corner of the "after" picture, above. We'll see what it can do without all the light and root competition. John, we got to enjoy the tree for 14 years. Sugar maples are suffering in urban environments, and this one did have a very long life. Situated as it was on the west side of the house, it shaded the roof from the hot afternoon sun. Summers in our non-air-conditioned house are going to be much hotter now. So this is a physical, aesthetic, and financial (if we need to install air conditioning) loss. |
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| It's a perfect example of the inevitable cycle of life. The death of this grand tree leaves a void to be filled by another. |
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Fri, May 18, 12 at 1:08
| A sad day for sure. FWIW I agree with your decision 100%. The young Tulip tree will grow large itself. Your home will have 200 years with two of my favorite trees. |
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| I see, the problem of the tree wasn't obvious from the first pictures |
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| Leaf outlines in the second shot may indicate it was a black sugar maple. If the development of the neighborhood postdates the germination and growth of the tree, the start of the rot may date back to when the neighborhood was put in. Damage to and death of trees due to development is not quite the same as the natural cycle of life. I suspect (but don't know that) 120 years may be a bit low of a span for a sugar maple growing under natural (undisturbed, wild) conditions. |
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| Thanks, Tornado. And, yes, Rhizo. It is a perfect example of the cycle of life. City life is not good for sugar maples. Bboy, we're pretty sure the trees are younger than our 1889 house. Our entire neighborhood is filled with sugar maples, all of similar vintage. They are succumbing to old age; many have thinning canopies. We've lost 4 or 5 in the past 3 years. We hate waking up to the sound of chainsaws. Luckily we have 2 more century maples on our property, one is very healthy, the other next to the road, is not doing quite as well. Here's a picture showing all three trees, the one in the middle was the doomed tree.
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| Google sugar maple lifespan etc. if interested. One site says they can live up to 500 years, I also saw it mentioned that they are unusually long lived for the type of tree they are. That's what I thought. I also knew the species was not the most urban tolerant, and there is mention online of it being in decline due to global warming, with a possible significant reduction in its natural range being on the horizon. I have seen the term sugar maple decline used before, this phenomenon may be something apart from the climate change issue - I don't know, I haven't paid that much attention. |
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| I remember seeing a projection in National Geographic from many years ago (early 90s I think) showing how far north the Sugar Maple range would get shoved. Of course, that was a very old projection but I think they still believe the same thing, more or less. I've seen Sugars planted in a lot of suburban areas in New Jersey succumbing due to "decline" in the last 10-15 years. Natural ones in rural areas seem to be doing OK though. |
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| Any pics of what they look like in the fall? I bet they're majestic. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sat, May 19, 12 at 22:57
| Extremely common tree here, and yes, the street-side ones are often in decline as well. There is a complex of issues seeming to lead to their demise, which includes poor planting tech-this is for trees that were planted fairly recently, within perhaps the last fifty years, road salt, and a host of less than perfect environmental factors. Here too, those trees in forest stands do not seem affected. This is an urban tree issue. A lifespan of five hundred years does not sound exaggerated to me. In choice hardwood stands, there are some really big old sugar maples, and they are found next to other long-lived species like hemlock and yellow birch. +oM |
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| Hi Bboy, Famartin, Jqpublic, and Wisconsinitom, I'm not surprised that the sugar maple can make it to 500 years in ideal conditions. The person who has been hauling away the lumber from our tree has found an iron peg, and today a nail (with his chainsaw, unfortunately), revealing a glimpse into a history we can only guess at. But we have stands of native sugar maples all around Ontario and throughout Quebec and New Brunswick. It is a ubiquitous tree here. The "sugar bush", and the "sugar shack" (where the sap is boiled down) are common expressions here. The Mennonites and many other farmers and chefs tap the trees in the spring. Municipalities and cities often extend special agreements to allow farmers to tap the trees on city or regional land. Maple syrup is a huge commodity here with maple syrup festivals every spring. This year the sap was running earlier than usual.
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