Re: Those Trees From Monteray

--- Tony and Moira Ryan <tomory@xtra.co.nz> wrote:


> The younger trees here have also been very carefully
> bred for the best 
> and most even results, first by rigorous seed
> selection and more 
> recently by cloning, often using tissue culture to
> get a maximum number 
> of superior offspring. This is the only pampering
> they receive though, 
> they are planted into unimproved soils fed only with
> the litter from 
> their predecessors and the planting method is casual
> in the extreme, 
> bare rooted small trees being set in holes made with
> a single thrust of 
> a spade to open the ground and then firmed with a
> quick stamp before the 
> planter moves on. Amazingly the establishment rate
> is little short of 
> 100%. Perhaps we are too kind to the trees we plant
> in our gardens?!

The Monterey Pines here (P. radiata) grow quite fast
even from trees in native stands. I think the quick
growth you see in New Zealand results from a much more
constant moisture supply there than here. In fact i've
read that if they grow in a mild enough climate with
constant moisture, they will grow without annual
rings, and continue to just grow. There's a large
thicket of them that sprung up after the 1985 Pebble
Beach fire and the trees are maybe 30 - 40 feet tall. 

I did read that the trees selected for timber in New
Zealand were picked from a lot grown to find those
with the provenance to grow increidbly fast and tall.

We don't grow them for lumber here because they are
considered much more as an ornamental by most people
(and also the fact that pretty much all of the trees
in the Monterey area grow on private or residential
lands.) It's common to see many dead snags in the
forest here. 

However with Pitch Canker I noticed people are less
inclined to plant Monterey Pine and are branching out
into other types of trees (Metrosideros seems to be
the  tree du jour these days)


> 
> Their ability to succeed on the poorest of land is
> phenomenal. Some of 
> the largest plantings in North Island are situated
> on areas which have a 
> thick coating of pumice from an enormous eruption
> many centuries earlier 
> and which formerly were just the poorest of
> scrublands. Of course this 
> ability to survive on infertile soils is actually
> typical of pines  in 
> general, which owe this useful trait to the help of
> mycorrhizal fungi 
> without which they would never grow properly at all
> in such situations.

Monterey Pine is a bit weedy. They will grow anywhere,
from beach sand conditions, to old sand dunes, and
even soils derived from weathering limestone and
granite. Where they occur naturally the soil is thin
and poor, but even in those places they grow fast.

>  >
> Cupressus macrocarpa (known here just as
> "macrocarpa") was not 
> originally introduced as a timber tree, but
> primarily as a good wind 
> shelter in the form of  hedges and as shelter belts
> on farms and also 
> occasionally as a specimen in large gardens and
> parks.  By now these 
> uses have largely died out. For hedging it has been
> replaced by 
> C.lawsoniana

Here, people grow them for their ornamental value, but
they tend to grow big and dominant. I can see one
right now that has branches spanning probably 70 feet
total, and is about 40 feet tall. They turn into
monsters unless controlled. Here, no one really uses
them for hedges, except at Casa Soberanes, which is
surrounded by a hedge of this cypress (so dense you
can barely tell there's a house there except for the
opening  at the gate, and the trees aren't hedged all
the way to the ground. 

These are easily controlled by pruning out the
branches to prevent them from growing to "medusalike"
and i've even seen some where the tips have been kept
short so they turn out much smaller crowned. 

> 
> What has happened in recent years however is an
> increasing appreciation 
> of its value as a timber tree as it is one of the
> few woods naturally 
> highly resistant to weather and soil fungi, so it
> can be used for 
> outdoor applications without chemical treatment..

I think the reason the native stands (which are very
small) were never cut for timber because the trunks
are short, twisted, and often flattish, which made
them poor for ship timbers (I believe Monterey Pine
was used for masts during the sailing era). Out of
wind they do get round boles, which can be pretty
straight, compared to their windswept form.

>I gather quite a lot of young trees
> have now been planted 
> strictly to produce timber and careful training and
> pruning is being 
> undertaken to encourage more useful and straight
> growth. I am sure the 
> demand will quickly increase once these trees reach
> maturity.

There's a grove of these near the recreation trail
just west of Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey that
consists of tall straight trunked C. macrocarpa. They
really do need to be trained when young. They can grow
straight tall trunks but they tend to form lower
branches as thick as their main stem, so pruning and
training is necessary for good even growth. Growing
them together in tight plantations also helps.


> And talking of aged monsters, the huge knotty planks
> which such trees 
> can  produce have created a fad among the more
> way-out furniture makers 
> for incorporating them in weird seats and tables
> where they certainly 
> can look very striking if not exactly beautiful!

There's an incredible specimen in Pacific Grove (next
to Monterey) that has a very thick trunk base that is
knobby and rounded, like candle wax drippings that i'm
sure has an incredible grain pattern. Fortunately for
it the owner likes the tree. 

The cemetary in Monterey has some outstanding trees.
The following shows one that is maybe about 40 feet
tall, and 30 feet wide. Behind it are a couple of
other C. macrocarpa that have thinner taller boles and
are probably 50 feet tall:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/Doobieous/plantae/cypress.jpg

Barry
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index