Northland Timber News

Tamarack Tree

MJCrave — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:58:07 +0000

What is a Tamarack Tree?

Larch or Tamarack tree, comes from the genus of trees of pine and are unusual among the conifers. Tamarack tree grows mostly on the restricted cold parts of Northern hemisphere, in that they are deciduous, their soft, needle-like leaves, borne in dense clusters, drop in the fall, and new leaves do not appear until the following spring.

Tamarack Tree Facts

1. Tamarack tree bark and leaves

Tamarack tree is a small to medium-sized deciduous coniferous tree, that grows reaching about 10 to 20 meters (33 to 66 feet), with a trunk diameter of 60 centimeters (40 inches). Its bark is kind of tight and flaky, brown in color, sometimes appears to be a bit reddish. Its leaves are needle-like in appearance, long and blue-green colored, and changes into bright yellow before they fall in autumn, leaving pinkish-brown shoots bare until the next spring.

2. Tamarack tree Cones

Larch cones are the smallest part of the tree. Its dimensions are 1 to 2.5 cm (0.4 to 0.9 inches) long, with 12 to 25 seeds inside. They are bright red in color which makes the tree more appealing to look at, and turns brown when it is about to release mature seeds, 4 to 6 months after pollination.

3. Distinct Features of the Tamarack Tree

There are about 10 to 20 needles borne in a Tamarack tree shoot.
The larch needles turn yellow in autumn.
The cones are bright red in color and about 2 cm long, which turns brown when the seeds are about to mature.
Tamarack or Larch trees basically grows in swamps, bogs, and other low-land areas.

Tamarack Tree Uses

Like any other trees, Tamarack tree is best both as an ornamental plant and its wood is best for crafted objects.

Tamarack tree is grown as an ornamental plant in cold regions in the north, and is a favorite tree for bonsai.

The bark of the Tamarack tree is a good use for medicinal purposes, according to Aboriginal Plant Use in Canada’s Northwest Boreal Forest. The inner bark is used as a poultice in trating wounds, frost bites, boils and hemorrhoids. On the other hand, the outer bark is used together with another plant as a treatment for arthritis, cold and general body aches.

Tamarack wood is described as tough and durable. That is why, it is mostly been chosen as a material for snow shoes and knees for wooden boats. When toughness is required, it is made as posts and poles. Other uses include as a firewood, lumber for wood houses, boat paddles, kitchenwares like spatulas, and handcrafted objects.

Tamarack Tree Damages

The Tamarack tree is susceptible to any rough damage that is inflected. Its bark is thin, risking for a fire damage. It can also be easily tumbled down by strong wind since it grows mostly on swampy areas, thus it can be easily uproot.

Insects and pests can also damage the Tamarack tree. The common one is the larch saw fly which is the most destructive, that surely gives the suppliers of Tamarack lumber a decline in their sales. However, there are also other parasites that feeds on the Tamarack tree causing serious injuries.

Only the needle rust is not a major problem on Tamarack since it can be prevented by spraying fungicide on the trees. Needle rust causes the needle leaves of the tamarack to turn brown with spots, affecting usually the tips. This is primarily caused by a fungus called Melampsora medusae.

Please Note: Our Logging company does not harvest single trees or just a few trees in a yard. If you own forested property with Tamarack trees and other species contact us to receive fair market value and a high quality harvesting job.

Questions, comments about Tamarack tree enter them in the box below.

Beech Tree

MJCrave — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:41:47 +0000

The Wonderful Beech Tree

Beechwood or Beech tree comes from the family tree species of Fagaceae, that sheds of their leaves during the fall which is a wonderful and dramatic scene to capture. This type of tree is a native in Eurasia and North America.

Beech Tree Facts

The leaves of the beech tree grows for about 5 to 15 cm long with a width of 4 to 10 cm. The flowers are kind of small and is monoecious. The female and male flowers are born separately; the male flower are often conspicuous in the spring, when they shed their pollen, as in oaks. A unique feature of the family is the cupule, a cuplike, often scale-covered structure that surrounds the single-seeded nut. The cap of an acorn is a good example of a cupule.

The Beech trees are beautifully majestic in its vibrant colors of deep and luscious green and copper.

Uses of Beech Tree

In the old times, Beech is used as a medium is writing before the development of paper during the Germanic era. The modern word book was derived from its name as the connection is even more apparent in German words like “das Buch” or “Buche”.

The beech wood is a good firewood, producing bright and calm flames that burns for longer hours. Its chips are used in the brewing of beers and the logs are used to burn the dry malts, giving the beer a fine and typical taste. Beech wood can also be used in smoking some cheeses. The soot of burned beechwood is used in the making pigment called bistre.

The pulp of the beech wood makes a fine cloth known as modal.

Beech Tree Diseases

Just like any tree, Beech trees also suffers damages from fungis and insects which inhabits the tree. These parasites slowly kills the tree making the trunk cripple and the leaves unsightly brown and curled.

1. Beech bark disease which is primarily caused by beech scales, a soft bodied insect that feeds on the trees. This leaves the tree a white, waxy substance resulting to the weakening of the tree bark and is exposed to the fungus Nectria galligena. This fungus will eat up the whole tree, eventually killing it.

2. Bleeding beech is caused by the fungus pythophora, the tree disease itself is known as bleeding canker fungus. This is characterozed by reddish-brown, oozing dead spots that eats the tree and slowly killing it resulting to weakening and fatal breakage.

3. Powdery mildew leaves the white powder on the leaves making it crinkled and wilted. This is not actually a major problem on beech tree and other trees because it can be controlled by spraying fungicide, killing off the fungus and makes the leaves spotless.

Please Note: Our Logging company does not harvest single trees or just a few trees in a yard. If you own forested property with beech trees and other species contact us to receive fair market value and a high quality harvesting job.

Questions, comments about beech tree enter them in the box below.

WILLOW TREE

MJCrave — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:18:52 +0000

THE ENCHANTED WILLOW TREE

Willow tree, is a common name for a small family of woody flowering plants, including the aspens and cottonwoods. Members of this tree family mostly lives in moist habitats and flood plains and riverbanks; thus, they are rapidly growing species. Some of species are ornamental, their leaves and flowers provide food for the wildlife, and the wood is used in many ways. Willow trees are most abundant in the Arctic tundra zones, where they are low and mat-like.

Willow Tree Facts

1. Willow leaves

The leaves of the willow tree are elongated, but may also be round and oval with saw toothed-like edges. Most species of willows are deciduous, and the semi-evergreen kind is mostly rare to find. All the buds are lateral; no absolutely terminal bud is ever formed. In colors, the leaves shows varieties of greens, ranging from yellowish to bluish.

2. Willow flowers

The flowers of the willow tree are very simple, lacking both sepals and petals. They appear in dense clusters, called catkins, before or during the growth of new leaves in the spring. The willow flowers are dioecious, which is having male and female flowers on different plants of the same specie. The scale is in oval shape and is entirely hairy, much like a dandylion.

3. Willow fruit

The fruits of willow tree are single celled capsules that contains many seeds, each of which has cottonlike threads that acts as a parachute, aiding in wind dispersal. If the seeds land on proper, moist soil, they germinate within one or two days.

4. Willow wood, twigs, and bark

The twigs of the willow tree are good materials for basket making because of it’s durability and toughness qualities, and the light but dent-resistant wood of other willows is used for artificial limbs, wooden shoes, and cricket bats. The willow bark contains salicin, an active compund, used in many folk medicines; the Aspirin, which is a derivative form of salicyclic acid, was first synthesized from the willow bark. The willow wood is a good medium for the manufacturing of boxes, brooms, hand crafted objects and even paper.

Willow Tree Disease

1. Crown Gall

Crown gall is a bacterial disease of plants that primarily target the roots causing root rot that progree to the trees’ decline and death. This form galls on the roots of plants until the tree no longer holds on to the soil where it stands.

2. Scabs

Scabs attack the freshly sprouted leaves and cause the formation of blackish or reddish brown blotches. These blotches causes the leaves to wilt and then fall off, and spreads throughout the twigs until it majorly infect the entire tree.

3. Willow Blight

Willow blight is a combination0n of black canker and willow scab. There is a whitish or grayish spot or lesion on the leaves of the willow, greatly infects until the whole infected area defoliates then necrotize and leads to the death of the tree.

Willow Tree Management: Preventing tree disease

To counteract many tree problems and save lots of plants in your garden, you only have to ponder on these things (These planting care tips will will apply generally to all kinds of plants):

1. If you have experienced seeing your plants suffer in such tree diseases, you must remember to plant seedlings in a good soil if you’re planning to grow another specie of plant. Don’t re-plant your seedling on the same area, not until two years have passed. The fungus or parasites may still be there and would eat up your plant to death.

2. Regular fertilization and raking up the fallen diseased leaves are essential to keep away all kinds of fungi from affecting the tree.

3. The plants should have a comfortable environment. It should be well temperate and well shaded so that it would grow effectively. Also remember that you should not plant them on loose soil with adequate spacing so that when their roots grow, there wouldn’t be uprooting will happen.

Please Note: Our Logging company does not harvest single trees or just a few trees in a yard. If you own forested property with Willow trees and other species contact us to receive fair market value and a high quality harvesting job.

Questions, comments about Willow tree enter them in the box below.

LOCUST TREE

MJCrave — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:16:51 +0000

ALL ABOUT LOCUST TREE

The Locust tree comes from the pea family fabaceae, constituting a genus of North American trees and shrubs. Locust’s flowers are shaped like a pea, clustered and branched, as well as long, papery pods that contain hard seeds. Along the leafy branches are pairs of sharp spines.

Locust Tree Facts and Uses

In general, the locust tree is a deciduous plant, that is why viewing it during autumn is calming experience while the some leaves are swept off from the branches and its flowers blooms and dominates the air with its fragrance during spring. There are two types of Locust tree known; The Black Locust Tree and Honey Locust Tree.

Black Locust Tree

The black locust tree grows about 20 meters (66 feet) high and is native in the eastern half of the United States. Black Locust tree produces a heaven scented white flowers in late spring and for everybody’s information, its considered to be edible. Since this tree comes from the pea family, its fruit is a legume, containing 4 to 10 seeds.

Unlike honey locust tree, black locust doesn’t have a long branched spines on the trunk, instead, it has short thorns at the base of each leaf.

Black locust tree possess a good hard wood which is much better. It is extremely hard, durable and unlikely to rot, making it as a good material for making fences, furniture and small water craft. Its is also used as firewood, what is more better is that it is easily ignited with flames even when wet.

Honey Locust Tree

The honey locust tree approximately reaches the height of about 21 to 24 meters (70 to 80 feet), and may grow as tall as 43 meters (140 feet). Like the black locust, its flowers blossoms in spring mixing its fragrance with the air. The fruit of this tree consists of black or brown leathery pods consisting of black seeds separated by a sweet pulp. Native to the deep woods of the southeastern and central United States, the honey locust tree is planted extensively in parks.

The honey locust tree is a flexible and hardy tree, meaning that it easily adapts and grows into any kind of soil, like loams, Loam, wet, well-drained, sandy, acidic soil, and even moist rich soil which works well with this plant. This honey locust even grows well with in times if spring and summertime, and can survive even with less water.

This tree also compliments the garden and any parks because of its majestic beauty it possess, especially in an urban area which draws out the busyness and provides placid in the area.

Since the fruit is considered edible, some culinary experts use it. The pulp can be fermented into alcohol and also extraction of sugar. The seeds of locus tree can be dried, roasted and ground to be made as a substitute for coffee; another is that it can be cooked just like the way we boil or blanched peas; and the pods whether ripe or unripe can be eaten directly after picking it.

Locust Tree Diseases

Locust trees can also be affected by diseases and insect and parasite infestations like any other trees. This can weaken the tree and eventually rots to death.

1. Verticillium Wilt

This is when the leaves and branches of the tree turns brown and wilted. Some shows signs of fungal infections, but unfortunately, even with treated with fungicides, verticillium wilt can’t be eliminated. This disease spreads from between trees all down to the root system, thus stunted growth, small leaves and large seed crops are signs of ongoing disease process. The only way to eradicate this dreaded plant disease is proper planting and care.

2. Leaf Spot

This is characterized by black, brown or red spots on the leaf tissues which sometimes may cover the whole leaf. Leaf spots are csused fungus, therefore it can be managed by treating with fungicide, at least 2 to 3 sprays for preventiv measure. Rake all the fallen dead leaves because this may predispose on the growth of fungus and can reinfect again the plants.

3. Canker

Cankers are found on the twigs, branches and trunks of the locust tree and any other affected trees. This is described as cracks, dark and sunken areas. Cankers on the trees are primarily caused by environmental factors such as wounds, severe drought and stressful environment. Cankers can be mended by adjusting the following environmental factors like treating the wounds, avoiding injury to the tree, and proper plant care.

Please Note: Our Logging company does not harvest single trees or just a few trees in a yard. If you own forested property with Locust trees and other species contact us to receive fair market value and a high quality harvesting job.

Questions, comments about Locust tree enter them in the box below.

WHITE PINE TREE

MJCrave — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:08:07 +0000

THE WHITE PINE TREE

White Pine tree is known for names like the Weymouth Pine, Northern White Pine, Soft Pine and the Tree of Great Peace. This came from the family of medium-sized trees, mostly evergreen, widely distributed in the zones with temperate weather, the northern hemisphere. Pine trees in general have helically arranged needle-like leaves, bluish-green in color. White pine trees lasted for 2 centuries in age but most would even for 4 centuries in existence.

White Pine Tree Facts

White pine trees grows on a well temperate area. It is easily seen in the northern part of America for the fact that it grows more than a hundred feet, that is estimated about 230 feet. This also has been the habitat of crossbills and squirrels.

The white pine tree trunk grows for about 1 to 1.6 meters in diameter. It is tough and fire resistant. White pine wood is known to aid in production good crafted materials like furniture, in building panels, poles, and flooring options because of its durable quality. Its timber appears to be in creamy white appearance when freshly cut and turns deep brown due to passing.

The vitamin c found in the needle leaves of white pine is being sought to make tisane, an infusion of leaves and flowers to make a beverage, e.g. herbal tea. Also, white pine’s cambium is edible and a good source of resveratrol, a natural antioxidant, antimutagen, and anti-inflammatory.

White Pine Tree Disease

1. White Pine Blister Rust

This is one of the most destructive pine tree disease. There is a sudden evidence of a yellow or red spot on the pine needles soon after the infection occurs. The disease is usually first detected with a slight swelling on the infected branch, and as the disease progresses, this swollen area becomes spindled-shaped canker.

2. Fusiform Rust

This is primarily caused by fungus called Cronartium Fusiforme, which inhibits on the timbers causing infection. In about 5 years as the disease progresses, the tree will eventually die.

3. Armilliara Root Disease

It primarily attacks the hardwoods and soft woods; aside from that, shrubs, vines and forbs are no exception to this disease. The causative agent, the Armilliara, can kill trees when there are previous injuries inflicted to the tree. This fungi can even attack healthy trees, either directly destroying it or predispose it to other destructive factors like other pests and insects.

Please Note: Our Logging company does not harvest single trees or just a few trees in a yard. If you own forested property with white pine trees and other species contact us to receive fair market value and a high quality harvesting job.

Questions, comments about white pine tree enter them in the box below.

COTTONWOOD TREE

MJCrave — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:43:20 +0000

THE MAGNIFICENT COTTONWOOD TREE

Cottonwood tree is a member of the family of willows, species of deciduous trees and shrubs that grows on moist soils in cold and temperate regions, Northern part of the globe. It is known as cottonwood because its seeds are surrounded with cotton-like mass surrounding it. The tree is related to poplars and aspens.

Cottonwood Tree Facts

Cottonwood trees grows taller reaching the height of 30 meters (100 feet) or more, with a trunk diameter of up to 2.4 meters (8 feet). The bark is knobby with deep fissures. Cottonwoods trees are fast growing but short-lived trees.

Cottonwood trees are easily reproduce that is why they are some are tended in the garden as an ornamental. The wood of cottonwood tree is moderately soft and rather lightweight. It is used chiefly for boxes, crates, and the interior parts of furniture.

TYPES OF COTTONWOOD TREES

The eastern or common cottonwood tree stands vastly from western New England to southern Saskatchewan and south to Texas and Florida. The leaves are triangular in shape, having coarse, round teeth with flat leaf stalk and the branchlets are yellow in color. This tree often grows along the streams.

Swamp cottonwood tree is mainly found in the swampy areas of southern United States. It grows about 80 feet, with ovate leaves and cylindrical leaf stalks.

The black cottonwood tree is the largest broad leaf tree of the Pacific Northwest, estimated to attaining a height of 69 meters (225 feet). Characterized with broad ovate leaves, featuring sharp points, smooth undersides and round leaf stalks.

Plains cottonwood is a large tree from Great Plains along the eastern border of Rocky Mountains and extends to north into Canada. This tree is a sub-specie of the eastern cottonwood, with a light yellow branchlets and hairy buds. Its coarsely toothed leaves are often broader than they are long and have glands at the base of the leaf blade.

THE COTTONWOOD TREE DISEASES

1. Wetwood or also known as slime flux is characterized by wet-grayish patch of slime that forms on the woods of a tree or the cottonwoods. This is caused by bacterial infections that enters through the wounds of the bark, eventually killing the tree in 2 years.

2. Leaf miner damage are caused by insects particularly blackmine blot larvae, that burrows and lives inside the leaves of plants. The leaves are destroyed because these insects feeds on the leaves’ soft tissues resulting to a paper-thin covering on the leaf surface.

3. Scale insects burrows and broods on cottonwoods and other trees as well. They cause serious damage by sucking the fluids from plants, and once they grow in numbers, they excrete substance known as honey dew that eventually leaves a harmful effect on the plant growth.

Please Note: Our Logging company does not harvest single trees or just a few trees in a yard. If you own forested property with cottonwood trees and other species contact us to receive fair market value and a high quality harvesting job.

Questions, comments about cottonwood trees enter them in the box below.

Tulip Poplar Tree

WayneGregory — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:49:15 +0000

Tulip Poplar Tree – Reach for the sky

Author:wishymom (Stephanie Wallace Photography)

This tulip poplar (State Tree of Indiana) sits on the property line between

my house and my neighbors. Photo taken April 06.

Tulip Poplar Tree or better known as just Poplar is one of the largest trees in the Eastern United States. Poplar is logged for making Pianos because of it is fine and smooth finish, poplar works well in sealing against the valves and pipes on the organs. Poplar is also used for the interior finishes of homes and for siding or clapboard. Wood from the Tulip Poplar Tree is used for coffin boxes and carriage panels.

The Poplar tree is a very large tree that has been known to grow as large as 190’ with a diameter of up to 4-4½’. The Poplar likes to habitat moist forests.

Tulip Poplar Tree Bark

The bark of the Tulip Poplar Tree is brown and has a large, thick, deeply furrowed trunk. The wood color is light yellow to a brown and is straight grained.

Tulip Poplar Tree Leaves, Flowers & Fruit

The Tulip Poplar Tree leaves are 3-7” long and wide with 4 broad triangular lobes, the upper pair often shallowly divided and nearly straight base. It is described as a “cat’s face” shape. The leaf is shiny dark green above the leaf and paler in color beneath the leaf. The fall color of the leaf is a golden yellow.

The flower of the Tulip Poplar Tree is 1½-3” long and is side and can be yellow to green with orange toward the base and is cup or tulip shaped with 6 round petals that are upright at the end of the twig.

The fruit is 2½-3” long with a narrow upright cone like cluster of overlapping samaras around a central axis.

Photo:Tulip Poplar Tree Author:Rob Robbins

The Tulip Poplar Tree has showy flowers, usually hidden in the high crown of the tree but scattered on the ground beneath the tree. The production of nectar is abundant and it attracts hummingbirds.

The Tulip Poplar Tree likes to grow in well drained soil that is loam that has thick dark topsoil. The Tulip Poplar tree is shade intolerant.

Our Michigan logging company is always available to help you identify the species on your timbered land. Contact us if you would like any assistance.

Tulip Poplar Tree Discussion on YouTube

Liriodendron tulipifera Family

Publish Date: 09/13/2010

The stately tulip poplar tree is so called because of the tulip-like blossoms it sports in early spring. Unfortunately, by the time the tree is large enough to begin blooming, it is so tall that the attractive blossoms are too high for most …

Questions comments about the Tulip Poplar Tree, just leave them in the box below.

Black Walnut Tree

WayneGregory — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:50:45 +0000

Makin’ Time (For Black Walnut Tree Delights)

Author:The Nature Nook

What You Should Know About The Black Walnut Tree

The Black Walnut Tree yields very fine wood in logging for commercial use. The Black Walnut Tree is also used commercially for their nuts in harvesting for food products, though not as much as the more common English Walnut. The fruit husks are sticky and will stain your hands and the nut is very difficult to open. Pioneers used the hulls of the nuts to die their clothing and to make ink.

The Black Walnut Tree is a medium to large tree growing 70-90’ with a 2-4’ diameter. Forest grown trees have a tall straight trunk topped with a small rounded crown. When grown in the open the black walnut tree trunk often forks into 2 stout limbs supporting a symmetrical domed crown of stout spreading branches which is one reason why logging companies would rather not cut “yard trees” .

Black Walnut Tree Bark & Leaves

The bark of the Black Walnut Tree is thick dark brown to blackish is scaly and deeply fissured and rough in older trees. The leaves are 12-14” long and usually has 15-19 leaflets. The leaflets are 2½-6” long and are lance shaped to ovate and sometimes curved and have a pointed tip with finely toothed margins.

The color is glossy green above the leaf and a lighter greed below the leaf. The fall color is bright yellow and when the leaf is crushed it is aromatic. It is rare to see a walnut tree in its fall color because once a black walnut tree has yellow leaves they are quickly shed.

Black Walnut Tree Fruit (nut)

1½-2” wide round husk covered nut that sometimes comes in pairs or 3’s. The husk is very thick and light green in color, the surface of the husk is roughly dotted sticky with no seams or ridges. The nut is irregularly ridged and dark brown with a thick shell that encases an edible seed inside. The nuts are harvested in the fall.

The Shells of the walnut that encases the nut itself is of its own value, it is crushed fine and is used in drilling oil wells and in the cleaning of jet engines. Walnut shells are also used in making industrial charcoal.

Black Walnut Tree Wood

Some say the Black Walnut Tree has the finest most beautiful wood in the world. In days long ago walnut was used in homes of lavish lifestyles, it was also used in barns and for fences. Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home utilize the wood from the black walnut tree for shingles and shutters. The color of the wood is a beautiful warm brown with a finish that is stunning.

Walnut is easy to work with while being very durable, no other wood has the quality of less shrinking and swelling as that of the black walnut tree, this makes the wood quality wonderful for cabinetmaking.

Veneer is made from high quality Black Walnut Tree logs, the wood is sliced up to 1/28th of an inch and is glued to other woods of lower quality to make furniture and paneling that is affordable to purchase. The Black Walnut Tree is also used in making gunstocks and the finest of furniture.

Walnut is known for its beauty, stability and its strength. Black Walnut Trees are in the same family as Hickory and Pecan trees.
A Black Walnut Tree will grow in different soils but prefers deep well drained soil. The Black Walnut Tree gives off chemicals that prevent many other plants (including tomatoes) from growing in their vicinity sometimes even other walnut trees.

Oak Tree Red, White & Black

WayneGregory — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 01:36:48 +0000

Red Oak Tree Quercus rubra

Author:amandabhslater

I have been watching the leaves change color on these oak trees in Wolf Road for over a week. The sun came out for a short blast as I was leaving work this afternoon, so I hopped across the road and took a couple of snaps. I thought that they were Turkey Oaks, but on closer inspection I discovered they are Red Oak .

Know Your Trees Series on the Oak Tree Family

There are several hundred species of the Oak tree, today we are going to look at 3 groups Red Oak, White Oak and Black Oak that are mainly terms used in logging and timber for commercial production of wood and lumber. The wood of the oak tree is tough and durable and has an attractive grain. Oak is used for cabinets because of the quality of grain and is also used in oak flooring.

Red Oak Tree

The Red Oak Tree can grow from 60-90’ tall and have a diameter of 2-3’. The Red Oak Tree is a medium to large sized tree with simple leaves. The trunk is tall and narrow and has a broad crown. The Red Oak Tree also called the Northern Oak and is often found with other oak trees and sometimes can be the dominant tree. The Red Oak Tree is a fast growing tree that likes to habitat moist woods with slopes and valleys.

Red Oak Tree Bark

The bark of the Red Oak Tree is smooth and light gray in color with furrows that run the length of the trunk that has between dark gray to brown rough ridges. Older trees have very rough black bark with long plates and deep fissures.

Red Oak Tree Leaf & Nut

The leaf of the Red Oak Tree is 4-9” long and is widest at the middle, the leaf has 7-11 lobes with each lobe having bristle-tipped teeth. The leaf color is dull green above and below is light green and appears to have tufts of hairs in the vein angles beneath. The fall color of the Red Oak Tree is deep red, orange and brown.

The acorn of the Red Oak is Tree ¾-1¼” long and is pale brown, ¼ enclosed within a shallow cup of thin reddish brown scales.

White Oak – Quercus alba leaves and acorns

Author:Clemson HGIC Photos

White Oak Tree

The White Oak Tree is also called the Eastern White Oak and can grow up to 80’ tall and 2-3’ in diameter. The white oak tree can grow in a wide range of habitats and likes moist fertile valleys to dry sterile mountains. A White Oak Tree can live 500 years or longer.

White Oak Trees can produce abundant seeds in good crop years which occur irregularly, every 4 to 10 years. The White Oak Tree is one of the most important Northern American timber oaks.

The wood is important commercially and is logged to make barrels and in ship building. The grain is close and the wood is strong and best for the making of furniture and flooring. Acorns were used in making flour from the acorns by the Native American Indians.

White Oak Tree Bark, Leaves & Nuts

The tall trunk (when grown in the forest) or short and stocky (when grown in the open) has a broad rugged crown. A white oak tree is distinguished by its loose, shaggy, scaly gray to whitish bark.

The leaves of the White Oak Tree are pale green or whitish beneath and dull to somewhat shiny bright green above. Leaves are 5-9” long, broad and widest at the middle with 7 or 9 rounded lobes.

The nut or acorn looks similar to that of the Red Oak Tree, however wildlife tends to like the taste of the acorns from the White Oak Tree best. Fall color of the White Oak Tree is light pink, deep red and violet-purple.

EASTERN BLACK OAK | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Publish Date: 09/21/2010 ” On my walk today on the outer perimeter of

the property there is a huge Eastern Black Oak among many other large

and small trees. Today two squirrels were chasing each other around and

up and down the trunk, while I gathered some…”

: Eastern Black Oak

Black Oak Tree

The Black Oak Tree is a medium sized tree that grows 50-80’ tall and 1-3’ in diameter. The leaves are easily confused with those of the Red Oak but are asymmetrical in shape. The Black Oak Tree likes dry rocky ridges and slopes; it also tolerated drier, less fertile sites than the Red Oak Tree and grows slightly more southern only just reaching into Canada.

Timber from the Black Oak Tree is not a valuable logging tree, it is mainly used for making pallets and in some flooring because it sands and holds stain nicely.

Black Oak Tree Bark, Leaves and Nuts

The leaf of the Black Oak Tree is 4-10” long and variable in shape, asymmetrical and has 5-9 lobes with shallowly divided in leaves growing in the shade, more deeply divided (halfway to midvein) in leaves receiving more sunlight. Each lobe ends in bristle-tipped teeth. The leaf is leathery and shiny above and yellow-green underneath.

The fall color of the Black Oak Tree is a dull red orange, brown. The bud is gray or tan and hairy. The acorn is ⅝ to ¾” long and is light chestnut brown, about ½ is enclosed within deep cup of thick, shaggy, rusty-wooly scales. The acorn usually comes in pairs and ripens in the fall in about 2 years.

The bark on the Black Oak Tree is very rough and dark brown to nearly black in color with an inner bark that is yellow or orange.

Are you interested in selling some Oak Trees in your woods? Proper forest management will keep your woodland in top productivity. Contact our Logging Company if you own property in Michigan.

How to Tell the Oak Trees Apart: Black Oak, White Oak? Which is It?

Publish Date: 01/10/2009

North American oaks separate naturally into two groups having many distinct characteristics described here.

A real nice quick course on Oak Trees on YouTube

Comments, Questions about Oak Trees, leave them in the box below.

Maple Trees In Your Woods

WayneGregory — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:54:33 +0000

Maple Tree – “fuego”

Acer saccharum – sugar maple, rock maple, hard maple Author:Seaweed Lady

Types of Maple Trees

There 13 different species of maple trees native to North America, and today we will be discussing 2 broad classes of them (hard and soft maple trees) because of their value for commercial products and logging purposes. Hard Maple trees also called sugar maple are a medium to large sized tree that grow in the North Eastern part of United States. Hard Maple trees grow mainly in moist forests and Maples are shade tolerant and like to grow in the understory of other trees. Hard Maples Trees can grow up to 100’ tall and 2-3’ in diameter.

The Hard Maple Tree is popular for its production of maple products such as syrup. Timber from Hard Maple Trees is primarily used in the production of sturdy, fine grained furniture. Maple trees are also used to make high quality charcoal because it is a wonderful source of fuel.

photo right: Sugar Maple Tree Taken in West Corinth Vermont

Author:BlTZy

Hard Maple Tree Bark

The Hard Maple tree has a tall straight trunk that has a dense elliptic crown. The bark is gray and smooth when the maple tree is young, as the tree ages the bark begins to split into narrow slightly concave plates. Older maple trees will develop a fluted, buttressed trunk base and a massive crooked or staghorn shaped branches.

Maple Tree Leaves

Hard Maple Tree leaves have 5 lobes that are drawn out into long pointed tips: 3 longest lobes often have 2 shoulder subpoints, and sometimes a few additional short points. The leaf is 4-6” long, usually slightly wider than long. The top of the leaf is a dull green where the underneath is a pale green or whitish in color. The fall leaves of the Hard Maple Tree is among the most beautiful with brilliant orange, red and yellow colors.

Flowers & Fruit

The Hard Maple Tree flower is yellowish green and come with the new leaves in early spring. The fruit is 1-1½” long with paired samaras that make an acute angle or are almost parallel to one another in the late summer to fall.

Soft MapleTree or Red Maple Tree

photo left: Red Maple Tree

Knife River, Minnesota Author:pirate johnny

The Soft Maple Tree is a medium sized tree that grows from 60-80’ and 1-2½’ in diameter. Soft Maple Trees have a tall straight trunk with a dense elliptic crown. Soft Maple trees have red or reddish young leaves, leafstalk and twigs. Soft Maple likes to grow in diverse areas like low wetland to moist forests to dry ridges.

Soft Maple Tree Bark

The bark of the Soft Maple is red tinged in older trees the bark is grayish in color and can also be red tinged.

Soft Maple Tree Leaves

The leaves of the soft maple tree are 2½-5” long, usually longer than wide. There are 3 or 5 shallowly divided pointed lobes, 3 that are more apparent and look coarsely toothed. The color is a dull green on the top and whitish underneath, the fall color of the soft maple tree is beautiful scarlet, orange-red and yellowish in color.

Flowers and Fruit

The flowers are scarlet to yellowish in the late winter to early spring before the leaves emerge. Fruit is ¾-1” long with paired samaras that make and acute angle that are red the browning somewhat at maturity in spring to early summer.

The maple syrup of the Soft Maple tree is used on a smaller scale for production than with the Hard Maple tree. Soft Maple lumber is of medium to high in quality and is used for the production of furniture when it is of high grade; soft maple wood has a tendency to shrink more than hard maple during the drying process.

Are Your Maple Trees Hard or Soft?

It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between hard maple trees and soft maple trees, by looking at the growth of the tree form the prior year on the soft maple tree you will see red twigs and buds that are blunt or rounded at the end, it the twigs are tan to brown with the same color buds than it is a hard maple tree. The buds on a hard maple tree will also have a sharp point on them. The bark on a soft maple tree will flake of when you rub it where the bark on the hard maple will not and it will feel sharp against your hand.

Confused?

It takes a while for anyone to learn how to quickly distinguish the Difference between Hard & Soft Maple Trees. Contact us if you live in Michigan, someone from our Michigan logging company will help you determine the types of trees in your woods.

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