Very wet tree

I cut down an English Walnut (that is what I was told it was) yesterday because the bottom was rotting with mushrooms growing out of it and parts of the top were dying out. The wood was VERY hard. The shavings were nice long strips but the chainsaw did not like it. Anyhow, when I was cutting the tree it began to leak water. Not just become wet on the surface but dripping water almost to a constant stream. I have never seen that before but I am a little wet behind the ears. I should have taken a picture. Have any of you all seen that before?

Cut 2 black walnuts trees yesterday. Both green/no dead. Water ran off the stump and trunk at the cut. This is next years firewood. Glad I
cut it down yesterday. Going to cut in logs and bring to pile to dry tomorrow. Never seen that this time of year before either with walnut
wood.

Sap is running. Guys will be making maple syrup pretty soon.

As noted, sap is probably running already. Though not as big of a sap producer as maple, walnut trees are do produce enough sap that some people tap them and make syrup.

Well I learn something every day. Thanks

It shows that the roots are still alive. You'll probably have a bunch of suckers sprouting when the weather gets a little warmer. If you would like another tree growing in that spot pick out the best looking sprout and cut the others off. If you don't want any sprouts to grow paint the stump with round-up. That will carry down to the roots and kill it.

Around here in North Idaho, we have Cotton Wood Trees. They are kind of rare anymore, and like it in the swamps, and I mean swamp! They are a very hard, fibrous wood (make the BEST trailer decking ever!!!) Couple years ago, we had a very bad wind storm, and that broke the tops off of 3 or 4 of them that we have on the property, leaving 40 or 50 foot poles, with no branches or anything, just a BIG log!

Well, it came time to start cleaning up, and it had been about 2 weeks since the storm. I chose the first one to cut down and IMMEDIATELY after sinking the chain into it, water started RUNNING out the tree! No joke, it looked like there was a small sink fixture inside this tree!!! My legs were soaked from the chain pulling / throwing water and chips onto them. Keep in mind, this stuff cuts weird, so along with normal chips, it also saws out a lot of dust like material, which flies really well when it is soaking wet!!!

What a freaking mess! By the time I cut those 4 down, I could have gone swimming!!!

Sorry for the long story, but it just goes to show that some types of tress hold a LOT of water!!

Could also have been rotten in the core with water built up in the inner rot cavity. I have had that
on a few dying trees where water could run into the core through an opening further up the tree.

Going the opposite way, I injected an American Elm with fungicide to try and save it from dutch elm disease (DED) and it literally took in a 55 gallon drum of the solution through a harness which I tapped in to the base of the tree at where the roots splay out. The tree was close to or at 48" above the butt, it was an old large elm, but it had flagged already (DED- one branch of yellow leaves up top) which only gave it a 50% chance anyways. Being a landmark tree I did try to save it.

What you describe happens when you cut large wild grape vines, water drips out and I like the flavor of it as it is safe to drink, it seems to have a nice taste to it. I cut one along the driveway early last summer and it ran for days.

Did the tree that you treated survive??

(quoted from post at 16:41:04 01/31/16) Around here in North Idaho, we have Cotton Wood Trees. They are kind of rare anymore, and like it in the swamps, and I mean swamp! They are a very hard, fibrous wood (make the BEST trailer decking ever!!!) Couple years ago, we had a very bad wind storm, and that broke the tops off of 3 or 4 of them that we have on the property, leaving 40 or 50 foot poles, with no branches or anything, just a BIG log!

Well, it came time to start cleaning up, and it had been about 2 weeks since the storm. I chose the first one to cut down and IMMEDIATELY after sinking the chain into it, water started RUNNING out the tree! No joke, it looked like there was a small sink fixture inside this tree!!! My legs were soaked from the chain pulling / throwing water and chips onto them. Keep in mind, this stuff cuts weird, so along with normal chips, it also saws out a lot of dust like material, which flies really well when it is soaking wet!!!

What a freaking mess! By the time I cut those 4 down, I could have gone swimming!!!

Sorry for the long story, but it just goes to show that some types of tress hold a LOT of water!!

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You're cotton wood must be different that the kind we have around here. The ones we have will make nice lumber, but it wouldn't make very good trailer beds, because it is so soft. It's also a poor firewood too. If burns up as fast as paper and doesn't make much heat. You have to keep the draft shut tight when you put a piece of cotton wood in the stove. Otherwise the piece of wood would rattle up and out of the chimney. It's that light.

I have a trailer with a cottonwood deck.That stuff is TOUGH. It will twist,squirm/run around if not completely dried when sawed into lumber.

Unfortunately it did not, but its chances were 50/50 at that point. It was a landmark/prominent tree with a massive canopy, and we had some really old ones around here when I was very young. I know all things only live for so long, but this one surely would have lasted a lot longer. Part of it is in a picture from the 30's of this farm, it was close to 100 years when I counted the rings, maybe more I'd have to count them again. I got the supplies from the elm research institute, its now liberty tree society if I am correct.

This species grows rapidly, and I have lived long enough to see many of them grow from saplings to 30" at the butt, then get wiped out. I have cut and keep cutting them down to stop the spread,(frugal attempt, but its excellent firewood). Some were in nice locations too. I have one adjacent to my deer stand that I may inject to protect it because its great cover.

What was interesting, and it appeared that it left a sibling, much younger, but the same canopy as it was a good match to the old one that died. Unfortunately I get to take that one down this week and 2 others in the same area, as there is a business there and the limbs will eventually start dropping on their work vans. The older sibling I tried to save, dropped some down causing damage, but I found out when the property owner paid to have its remains taken down, we only had less than half on our side, so I was working and paying to save one that I did not fully own LOL ! Regardless it was a keeper given where it was and was really something to admire. They do replant themselves and won't be wiped out, but they never get very large anymore, just a scant few that escape the DED somehow and its wiped most of the 30" ones out that came up in the late 70's to early 80's. Lot of firewood though.
USDA

Liberty Tree Society

I was pruning black walnut trees yesterday and was surprised at how much sap was running. there has been some maple syrup already made here in southwestern Ontario. One maple bush operator with a long history in the business was on TV stating that it is only the second time in the last 125 years that they have had a worthwhile sap run in January!

Yep!! Around here, guys will saw it out on a Woodmiser or something, then lay them in a shop, and put concrete blocks on them. HAVE to force them flat for a couple of weeks, other wise they will go all over the place!!!

(quoted from post at 09:33:03 01/31/16) I have a trailer with a cottonwood deck.That stuff is TOUGH. It will twist,squirm/run around if not completely dried when sawed into lumber.

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The cottonwood around here gets harder than a rock after it dries, so hard you can't drive a nail through it but if it is exposed to water it rots before your eyes.

I've seen a couple that were gushers--- they had hollow spots that filled with rain water.

Cottonwood is like poplar.When fully dried it is HARD.If you want to drive a nail in it you need to drill first!

Cottonwood, if cut live, makes good fire wood.
Let it die and it turns to pulp.

I have had a few trees with water pockets in them. It's a little unpleasant when I cut into the water on a cold day and get sprayed.
Zach

We don't use elm for firewood because it is too hard to split. And some of it does not put out much heat.

Our cottonwood (in Oklahoma) is soft but tough wood. Traditionally used for hay loft floors because it is very light and tough. But our would not make a good trailer floor except for maybe the first year: it is not very rot resistant.

I've got lots of black walnut. Anybody know what the syrup tastes like?

Yes I have seen that. Cut a wild grape maybe five years ago and it was almost a garden hose. I mean a LOT of water. Not a drip but a real trickle. Up on the farm I cut down a huge RED oak one time where the top was dead and the bark was starting to come off. When I cut it down the earth moved! Big tree. Now starting to cut it up the chain was smoking like crazy { steam }from all of the water in the wood. As the sections were push aside with a tractor it looked like you were running a hose through them. They would squish as you split them and it took months before they could be burned.

I'm clearing brush and didn't know I had wild grapes. Lots of two inch thick vines up into the trees, and if I don't cut them I can't rip them out to move the trees. Using a shear on a Bobcat, and I've taken to cutting most of the vines, they are running lots of water. Interesting posts here, I may have ot get off and drink some.

I cut an eight inch grape vine that was choking out several large live oaks. When I came back two days later with poison there was a mound of sugar under the truck where the water dripped out. The next one I have to cut like that will get a mason jar and some cheese cloth. that was good sugar.

might be poisonous; Walnut gives off a poison which kills many types of weeds that would grow under it. That is why when you walk thru a field & come to a Walnut tree, the grass cover type changes quickly. Tomatoes are easily killed by nearby Walnut trees or the hulls from the nuts. Trappers boil their new traps in walnut hulls, which stains the trap black.

I used to cut timber for a living. Been soaked several times when gallons of water suddenly rushed out of the cut. A nasty surprise!