Hedge

[MattB]

I've only encountered it one time, on a ranch in Mendocino. I cut a big spar off of a tree in a 100 year old orchard. I really wish I had known what I was working with. We bucked up about a dozen bow blanks for firewood. Totally strait, no branches or knots for 8', about 22" diameter before forking. Still bugs me, I'm not sure there are many out there that size. The bulk of the tree is still there. I'll try to get a picture. It must be 40" across at the ground...not dbh.

The cut is sprouting like crazy. We cut the spar about 5 years ago and the sprouts are 15'+ tall and 5" diameter. Now I'm wishing I had pruned and trained the sprouts for bows...sigh...

 

[rancher2]

That sure looks to be hedge. If the stumps aren't treated with tordon it will come back just like that one did. If you don't prune the new trees they seem to get real bushy when they regrow. Around here we want them gone so we cut the stumps to the ground and treat them and sometimes you have to treat them again in a year of two. Hedge makes great post and firewood but what a bitch to deal with. I have a lot of them in that size range in my pasture as they were planted in the 1930's and never harvested until now.

 

[Cedar Row]

My neighbor has lots of osage orange growing, but it grows more like a large shrub. He has ringed many of them, because the cows eat the apples and have internal problems. The trees just continue to grow and eventually seal up the cut. Wish we had some around here that grew like a real tree (there are a few around here that do grow like trees, but not where I cut) because they are great firewood. This is one of the few big trees. The intertwined branches and thorns make cutting these trees for firewood a difficult operation.

 

[MattB]

That one looks like it grew with a decent tree form and then fell or was pushed over and kept growing. The roots are pulled up on the one side and was home toa rattle snake until the orchard was put in and the snake moved on. My buddy is thinking of removing thewhole thing because of the "apples", I think it's historic now that I know more about the tree and the location. With the amount of madrone and manzanita we have access to on the property the firewood value isn't even a temptation.

 

[WKEND LUMBERJAK]

This is my wifes wood of choice. Not the best picture of hedge. but a real good picture of a saw.