[yaric008]

My dad's neighbors tree just fell over today. No warning or anything, no storm, no wind. It was a smaller oak tree, probably 50 feet tall. Trunk about 1.5feet in diameter, maybe a little smaller. Anyways, the kids were out playing in the street and then all of a sudden the tree just started falling over. It fell all the way over and covered the street. Anyways, someone came and cut it up eventually but we were looking at the tree tonight. The roots only went into the ground maybe 6 inches, it was weird... and the weirdest thing, the tree had maple and oak leaves... How the heck does that happen? The people that lived there before my dad's previous neighbor were normal people and didn't graft plants that we know of, and his current neighbor who is his best friend knows nothing of plants so he certainly didn't graft any plants together.

So my question is, can grafting of plants happen naturally? My neighbors girlfriend who's a plant lady said that maybe that's what weakened the tree, the two kinds of tree killing each other somehow. All the leaves on the tree were bright and healthy and green though.

So yeah, how did this happen.

 

[hapaschold]

in recent storms that have blown thru our area, i ve seen huge trees, some 2 1/2 feet in diameter, least 75 feet high, with very little root systems. odd how so few roots can hold up a big tree like that ....

 

[Diesel Jay]

I'd let your local conservation folks know. They'd probably be pretty interested in a tree that naturally grafted between two species.

- Jay

 

[MGX]

Natural 'grafting' happens. Saw it all the time when I lived in Florida. Strangler Figs would completely cover and overtake other trees. When you cut them down you would see the 2 trunks. I've also seen it locally with Mulberry trees.

 

[yaric008]

[ QUOTE ]
Natural 'grafting' happens. Saw it all the time when I lived in Florida. Strangler Figs would completely cover and overtake other trees. When you cut them down you would see the 2 trunks. I've also seen it locally with Mulberry trees.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard of the strangler fig, but i've never heard of oak and maple naturally grafting...

The tree is all cut up now so probably conservation people would be like, whatever, if i could even find them.

 

[redfishman17]

Wrong,, wrong, and wrong /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/phoney.gif

just messin, Actually the tree you are describing is probably a water oak, most leaves are spatula shaped with a few lobed leaves. It would be imposible for an oak and a maple to graph together, Oaks are in the Fagaceae family while maples are in in the Araceae family. If ALL of the leaves are star shaped and with 5 points, then it is a Sweet Gum.

Anyways back to the tree, Water Oak trees are actually not called water oaks because they are by water, because they are actually part of a regular hardwood forest. They are called water oaks because as they age they tend to retain a large amount of moisture in the center of their trunks, the center will rot and die, leaving a perfectly healthy looking tree on the outside. Roots also tend to be shallow. I have actually seen a water oak 3 feet in diameter fall down 2 weeks after a forest fire. The fire apparently was retained in the peat, worked its way up the roots, dryed out the roted wood in the center, and slowly burnt it hollow. The tree looked healthy on the outside, it was quite a sight to see.

Did the tree break or get up-rooted?

 

[yaric008]

[ QUOTE ]
Did the tree break or get up-rooted?

[/ QUOTE ]

It was uprooted. I looked at the bottom and it didn't seem to be hollow... but could have been a water oak, i have no idea.

 

[redfishman17]

I guess a tree is a tree... well at least you can have a bon fire now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Pappy19]

Most people think that large oak trees have a "tap" root, when in actuality, a tree's roots only go as far as they need to to get water. If you water your lawn, then most of the roots are shallow, and thus are prone to blow over or finally fall over. Some, like yours, just finally fall over due to wet ground and some sort of imbalalce.

 

[islandbluester]

[ QUOTE ]
My dad's neighbors tree just fell over today. No warning or anything, no storm, no wind. It was a smaller oak tree, probably 50 feet tall. Trunk about 1.5feet in diameter, maybe a little smaller. Anyways, the kids were out playing in the street and then all of a sudden the tree just started falling over. It fell all the way over and covered the street. Anyways, someone came and cut it up eventually but we were looking at the tree tonight. The roots only went into the ground maybe 6 inches, it was weird... and the weirdest thing, the tree had maple and oak leaves... How the heck does that happen? The people that lived there before my dad's previous neighbor were normal people and didn't graft plants that we know of, and his current neighbor who is his best friend knows nothing of plants so he certainly didn't graft any plants together.

So my question is, can grafting of plants happen naturally? My neighbors girlfriend who's a plant lady said that maybe that's what weakened the tree, the two kinds of tree killing each other somehow. All the leaves on the tree were bright and healthy and green though.

So yeah, how did this happen.

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW,, i was just watching the local6 news and another tree fell over in orlando today. they said it was "tree rot". it fell onto a hood of a van that was going down the road.

 

[Camshaft]

So the question remains....did you hear it fall?

 

[redfishman17]

[ QUOTE ]
So the question remains....did you hear it fall?

[/ QUOTE ]

if no one was around......