What type of trees are hardwood trees? Hardwoods mostly are deciduous trees, have flat, broad leaves and thick inner wood. They are familiar sights all across the US. These tree types are harvested to make durable decks, flooring, furniture, and home remodels. They don’t grow as fast as softwood trees, making hardwoods treasured harder to replace. Though they grow practically anywhere in the nation and make up over 35% of all trees, most folks can’t point out more than two or three types. How do you think you can do? Like a knowledgeable tree specialist, do you know a lot about trees? How many of the most common hardwood trees could you recognize by just the leaves? Bur Oak Over 50% of all hardwoods in North America are oak trees. The Bur Oak is the most well-known oak in the States, and it can grow to over 150 feet tall. This wood is almost always referred to as white oak. It's fungal and insect resistant and is frequently used in flooring and construction. Red Oak Easily noticeable by its red leaves in the autumn, the Red Oak can grow over 85 feet tall. Growing in acidic soil, it is frequently used for flooring, fence posts, and firewood. Sugar Maple No argument, this tree is one of the most productive US trees. The Sugar Maple makes a hugely impressive contribution to the world: maple syrup. This is good for pancake and waffle lovers since it takes over 35 gallons of tree sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup. Recognized by their "helicopter" winged seeds and colorful fall leaves, this tree is perhaps the most famous tree on this list. Certain types in America have been recorded as being over 350 years old. A Sugar Maple's wood is the thickest of all maple wood and is used mostly in flooring and furniture. Silver Maple This tree is right behind the Sugar Maple as being the most abundant tree in North America. With leaves that look almost like the Sugar Maple, the Silver Maple's leaves are thinner with more definite points. Like the Red Maple, it is tolerant of urban atmosphere and quite hearty, making it the best tree to be planted near expressways. A wide selection of uses for this wood includes cabinets, instruments, crates, and pulp for paper. During times of cold winter nights followed by warm sunny days, you may see frost cracks in trees. They can be many feet long and a couple of inches wide, and the colder the temp, the bigger the cracks. Frost cracks typically occur on the southwest to the south side of the tree. Why are my trees cracking? Is it frost crack? The phrase “frost crack” denotes vertical cracks in trees due to alternating freezing and thawing temps. When the bark contracts with freezing temps and enlarges on warm days, a break will occur. A tree with a crack is in no real danger and can live for many years. Reasons for Frost Crack in Trees Frost is just one of the reasons for tree bark cracking. Also, you’ll see cracking tree trunks from a disorder termed sunscald. In early spring or late winter, the warm sun beaming on the trunk causes the tree tissue to break rest. When sunshine afternoons are trailed by freezing nights, the tissue perishes. You could see bark peeling off the tree. Smooth-barked and dark-colored trees are most vulnerable to sunscald. Splitting tree trunks also happen in trees grown in places where they are a bit hardy. Hardiness zones reflect the lowest normal temperature in an area. These low temperatures can harm trees growing on the boundaries of their hardiness zones. How to Fix Frost Crack If you've thought about how to fix a frost crack, the answer is that you can’t. Wound paint, adhesives, and sealants do not affect the health of the tree or the healing process. Keep the wound clean to avoid infection and leave it open. Once a crack happens, another crack will probably form in the same spot. You can help stop a re-occurrence by casing the trunk of the tree in tree wrap in the wintertime. Remove the cover in late winter or spring when the temperatures are warmer. Leaving the wrap on too long offer a good hiding place for disease organisms and bugs. A way to safeguard the tree is to put shrubs around the trunk. Shrubs can shield the trunk from weather extremes and shelter it from direct sunlight. You should also trim the canopy of surrounding trees. When it comes to tree trimming, it’s best to get a tree specialist to come and do a consultation to help you decide what trees need to be pruned and when. Trees are life. Trees are beautiful. They help express the character of your property and help shape the life you enjoy. This is why you should hire an arborist who is certified. If you take your pet to a vet for a health issue, you want to be sure that the individual examining your pet knows what they are doing. A certificate from a veterinary school gives that assurance. The same is true for a tree doctor also called a certified arborist. This person is a pro who has been schooled in the practice and science of tree care. To get certified, the person has to have been active in the trade for a minimum of three years and has excelled an extensive exam given by the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture). Once certified, tree experts must sustain their schooling and training by attending classes. If they don't, they must re-take the certification test to keep professional standing. What Arborists Have to Do to Become Certified? Don’t trust the health, safety, and care of your property and your trees to unskilled, uncertified fakers. Trees add beauty and style to your property. However, they can kill as well. Hire a person with proper tools, experience, and training to tell you if your tree is healthy or sick, safe or hazardous. Have your trees serviced by a reputable tree care company that is concerned about them, not someone wanting to make some money by frightening you with false information and a misdiagnosis. Ask a certified arborist whenever you have questions about your trees. Certified arborists are devoted tree professionals who get certified only after meeting many requirements, like three or more years in the arboriculture sector, knowledge and skill testing and tree identification exam. After all that training and schooling and practicing, a certified arborist is the only one you need to aid you in keeping your trees looking and feeling great. The top arborist society’s website, www.isa-arbor.org, can aid you to find the best-certified arborist in York, NY. State and local governments want proof of general liability insurance and worker’s compensation besides evidence of training and competency before giving a person a tree trimmer’s license. A tree’s growth is based on its surroundings. It needs the sun and lots of room. But this explains what determines the height of a tree, not the how. How tall a tree will grow is defined by its genes. Environmental conditions can also determine a tree's height. If a tree doesn't get enough water, nutrients, or light - the tree will not grow as tall as it could. In the northeast, the tallest tree is the white pine, growing over 150 feet. But the tallest trees on earth are coast redwoods. Sequoias are more massive, but still about a tree shorter than the most towering redwoods. The tallest known individual tree on the planet is a redwood, also called Hyperion. It’s all about water: not water supply, but the dynamics of moving water. We understand trees need water and that it comes from the ground. Transporting water from the roots through the trunk and up to the leaves is the challenge. Unlike animals, a tree’s inner system has no heart — no pump of any sort. Water is not moved up the tree. It is drawn from above. Water molecules are likely to attach to each other and other elements. When moisture vaporizes from a leaf’s surface, it pulls along the water that goes all the way down to the roots. The water is drawn from the soil to replace what was lost in the watering process. As a tree gets taller, it becomes hard to get water to its top leaves. All trees go through this, but redwoods handle it better than other trees. And according to some tree care experts, their superiority may come from the fog in which they live. This may be one of the reasons they can grow so tall. Redwoods are capable of absorbing water from fog right into their leaves. Unlike other trees, redwoods make their water source. Therefore, instead of going against the dynamic of drawing water from the soil through the tree’s complicated and lengthy vasculature, they create a much more convenient source. With entry to water in the fog nearby the leaves, the plumbing issue turns out to be a plumbing benefit. If you're interested in finding out how tall your trees can get, or which trees you should plant based on where you want them to grow, contact a York arborist for a consultation. |