400+ beauty meets her end
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:52 am
A tree that I have admired and loved for many years has met it's end.
and it was caught on video...(you'll see below)
The storms of late have wreaked havoc with some of our ancient oak trees that have been suffering in the drought. Part of the problem is they suck up too much water too fast and the branches become overloaded with water and break, also the San Fernando Valley oaks have been getting root fungus disease, which I believe is exacerbated by the drought. The other problem is the oaks are protected...which is good...but then a housing project goes in and people plant lawns under them or a road goes next to them and their natural dripline is compromised. The whole area from dripline to trunk should not be disturbed.
The beautiful San Fernando Valley has many old oaks, besides scrub oak two are most prevalent,
Quercus agrifolia and Quercus lobata, that's "coast live oak" and "valley oak"...respectively.
The look of the coast live oak is what the area is known for....it is large and sprawling, typically with a perfect canopy, it is an evergreen, which means it is constantly loosing and renewing leaves.
The valley oak gets much larger with twisted branches that are less uniform to it's overall appearance, it is deciduous, meaning it looses all it's leaves...usually after the first or second cold snap which can be anytime from early November to February. This tree was favored by the local natives for its very large acorns with relatively low amout of tannic acid.
Both trees can get quite old and can reach ages up to 1000 years. There is another oak a few blocks from this house that is about 700 years old and was used for fuel in the kilns which made ash out of limestone to make mortar for the early structures of the area. It's called the Bicentennial oak (quercus agrifolia), and it's in a lovely park called Orcutt Ranch, there are several large oaks on the property but this one is thought to be most historic. There was an older tree in Encino, but it fell several years ago, it was 1000yrs old, the news guy mentions it at the end of the news clip.
Anyway, I tend to pay homage and leave offerings when I can to the very old ones in my area,
this particular tree was very near my flower shop,
so I would drive by and wave almost daily for years and years.
This oak (a Quercus lobata...valley oak), that you're about to see go down, is in a neighborhood that is about 35 to 40 years old, ...so this house was planted right next to this monster, and in my opinion, it took 35 years to kill a 400 year old tree. The roots were rotten...probably because of the lawn.
I'm seeing this problem all over where pavement, lawns or other high impact impede the dripline.
It's hard to watch, I cried initially....went by for photos today, maybe I can see if a staff will be avaliable!
[EDIT:] the original newsreel is gone but the tree crashing to the ground was archived below]
https://video-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t43 ... e=5F10F1AF
Gah...try again https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/loca ... s/1990063/
Bb, Firebird
and it was caught on video...(you'll see below)
The storms of late have wreaked havoc with some of our ancient oak trees that have been suffering in the drought. Part of the problem is they suck up too much water too fast and the branches become overloaded with water and break, also the San Fernando Valley oaks have been getting root fungus disease, which I believe is exacerbated by the drought. The other problem is the oaks are protected...which is good...but then a housing project goes in and people plant lawns under them or a road goes next to them and their natural dripline is compromised. The whole area from dripline to trunk should not be disturbed.
The beautiful San Fernando Valley has many old oaks, besides scrub oak two are most prevalent,
Quercus agrifolia and Quercus lobata, that's "coast live oak" and "valley oak"...respectively.
The look of the coast live oak is what the area is known for....it is large and sprawling, typically with a perfect canopy, it is an evergreen, which means it is constantly loosing and renewing leaves.
The valley oak gets much larger with twisted branches that are less uniform to it's overall appearance, it is deciduous, meaning it looses all it's leaves...usually after the first or second cold snap which can be anytime from early November to February. This tree was favored by the local natives for its very large acorns with relatively low amout of tannic acid.
Both trees can get quite old and can reach ages up to 1000 years. There is another oak a few blocks from this house that is about 700 years old and was used for fuel in the kilns which made ash out of limestone to make mortar for the early structures of the area. It's called the Bicentennial oak (quercus agrifolia), and it's in a lovely park called Orcutt Ranch, there are several large oaks on the property but this one is thought to be most historic. There was an older tree in Encino, but it fell several years ago, it was 1000yrs old, the news guy mentions it at the end of the news clip.
Anyway, I tend to pay homage and leave offerings when I can to the very old ones in my area,
this particular tree was very near my flower shop,
so I would drive by and wave almost daily for years and years.
This oak (a Quercus lobata...valley oak), that you're about to see go down, is in a neighborhood that is about 35 to 40 years old, ...so this house was planted right next to this monster, and in my opinion, it took 35 years to kill a 400 year old tree. The roots were rotten...probably because of the lawn.
I'm seeing this problem all over where pavement, lawns or other high impact impede the dripline.
It's hard to watch, I cried initially....went by for photos today, maybe I can see if a staff will be avaliable!
[EDIT:] the original newsreel is gone but the tree crashing to the ground was archived below]
https://video-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t43 ... e=5F10F1AF
Gah...try again https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/loca ... s/1990063/
Bb, Firebird