ever heard of this method?

[Curlycherry1]

Would someone please tell how they do the girdle. We made a cut around the base about an inch or two deep on some elm a few years back and the are still alive.

For most trees just a cut through the bark and about 1/2" into the wood is enough to do it. Only the outside part of the tree is actually living. The outside tissue is called Phloem and is alive and under that is Xylem and that is dead. Cut the phloem and the tree will die because sugars cannot get transported down and water cannot be transported up. Or that was what I remember from plant biology in college.

Weeping willows (my tree nemesis) never seem to die when girdled. My grandmother had one that needed to go and I cut 3 rings around it ~2" deep and the next summer is leafed out just as if nothing had happened. I then cut 3" deep all the way around and I used an axe to chip out ~2" of the bark and wood. It held leaves for ~3 months. At that point I got out the big bar and cut that sucker off and let it fall. The stump then started sending up suckers for the next ~10 years.

 

[swerner]

For most trees just a cut through the bark and about 1/2" into the wood is enough to do it. Only the outside part of the tree is actually living. The outside tissue is called Phloem and is alive and under that is Xylem and that is dead. Cut the phloem and the tree will die because sugars cannot get transported down and water cannot be transported up. Or that was what I remember from plant biology in college.

Weeping willows (my tree nemesis) never seem to die when girdled. My grandmother had one that needed to go and I cut 3 rings around it ~2" deep and the next summer is leafed out just as if nothing had happened. I then cut 3" deep all the way around and I used an axe to chip out ~2" of the bark and wood. It held leaves for ~3 months. At that point I got out the big bar and cut that sucker off and let it fall. The stump then started sending up suckers for the next ~10 years.

I could be wrong but i recall that the xylem is actually alive. This is what takes the water from the roots and sends it to the rest of plant. My biology teacher had this little saying "xylem up, phloem down" which meant that xylem took water up and phloem took sugars to the rest of the plant and waste down. At least thats how I remember it.

Back to the original topic, we call it ringing. I have heard of guys doing this as described above to season trees while standing up. However, I have also heard of guys doing this to locust, then in 2,3,4 years the needles will drop. Never seen this first hand anyone else do this????

 

[Fronty Owner]

knowing a bad bulldozer driver is just as good... I got three trees last weekend that were standing dead that the bulldozer driver was supposed to leave untouched... it took em a couple years to die tho.

 

[milkie62]

I am trying to manage my woodlot and will girdle trees in the winter since I do not want fallen trees all over the place.Then I take pink flagging and mark the trees.Seems to work and I get a bit ahead on the drying.

 

[Curlycherry1]

I could be wrong but i recall that the xylem is actually alive. This is what takes the water from the roots and sends it to the rest of plant. My biology teacher had this little saying "xylem up, phloem down" which meant that xylem took water up and phloem took sugars to the rest of the plant and waste down. At least thats how I remember it.

Yes, part of the Xylem is alive. I just check my books on the shelf and they confirmed Phloem on the outside, Xylem on the inside. I remember it by following the alphabet (C for cambium - under the bark, P for Phloem, X for Xylem. The very outside layer of Xylem is alive and, but the inside bulk layers of Xylem are dead. Hence a tree can be hollow and very much alive. Phloem carried Phood, Xylem is starts with X which is close to W which carries water.

Here is a good picture of all the layers: