Ice damage

[gbk]

I posted in the photo section few photos of tamaracks bent down from the weight of the ice and perhaps wind force.5-7 year old trees,tip touching the dirt.

Many many of them,whole rows.

I am wondering if they will ever stand up straight-what is Your guys experience?

Not my plantation(i wish it is)but it is so beautiful and so sad at the same time............

[GW11]

Not sure about those trees specifically, but when you're out in the bush and see a tree with a defined crook or "L" in the trunk, that's usually old ice storm damage. In many cases, they are otherwise healthy looking trees.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[smitty55]

It was like that around here of course with the big ice storm of '98. Tons of trees of many species were bent over so far it made some country roads impassable until they eventually straightened up to a point.
As for lasting effect the one species I noticed for sure was ironwood. It didn't happen right away but 3-5 years later I noticed a lot of them dying off for no apparent reason, it was easy to surmise that the stress for that ice storm was the culprit.

Cheers

[oaknut]

A general rule of thumb is that anything bent over 60% is going to stay that way, between 25% and 60% has a fair chance and those less than 25% will be fine. Tamarack are relatively tough and being that young I think they will be fine so long as they are left alone and don't stay that way for too long.

I think the bigger question is, why a Tamarack plantation?

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[gbk]

[QUOTE=oaknut;1102340].

I think the bigger question is, why a Tamarack plantation?

Thanx guys for the replies.

Oaknut-i am not sure how to answer your question.This plantation is a part of a "return the farm land to its original state"so to say project by GRCA,whereas they stopped farming on their land and planted many many trees.Planted them few different ways-mainly mixed species.Not necessary a large lot of only tamaracks-my bad.
Like few rows(rows of great lengths)of pine-then few rows of spruce then few rows of tamarack.Then start over.Row after row.
Other places they threw in some deciduous tree rows or white cedars as well.

This is how they do plantations in the past 5-7 years.
Earlier they planted whole blocks of the same species.Tamarack included.

I think this is as close as they can get to the "natural"forest using modern cost effective measures...I think.

[gbk]

I made a commitment to myself ,to watch the area in the future,and learn the effects of the ice damage on these trees.Just for curiosity sake......

[sawbill]

Trees that are naturally springy or have a long grain to them like white birch, red cherry, balsam fir, black spruce, will stand back up as soon as the ice and snow on the ground and snow on their boughs comes off. Usually this takes wind and warmth of the sun. Evaporation also helps. Some smaller pines will stand back up but usually its their boughs that bend over and cause the problem. Again, soon as the snow comes off and the sun starts to work on them, they'll straighten back up.

[Fox]

Tamarack are like a spring, it all depends on how long the ice stays on them though. I have watched 50ft tamarack trees bend 90 deg and not break, they were being dragged out by a dozer, these were dead standing trees. Then sprung back straight, no issues, work pretty well for heating the old farm house up north.

[gbk]

FOLLOW UP

Went back and looked at the area yesterday-You guys were right ,most -if not all tamarack is up,almost straight,and other then some slight tip deformation occasionally,they look quite alright.