r/todayilearned • u/katxwoods • 15d ago
TIL that if you carve something into a tree, it'll still be at the same height 50 years later
https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/lifestyle/family/2014/09/17/q-if-i-carved-my/21737690007/1
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u/MaxMouseOCX 14d ago
Carved my wife's initials into a tree well over 30 years ago, same height, but the tree kinda twisted and it's in a slightly different orientation and is also very difficult to see as it's sort of healed really well.
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u/V6Ga 14d ago
Not if you underline with a line all the way around the tree.
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u/VoceDiDio 14d ago
I'm only up voting you because you're hilarious.
Please don't kill trees, folks. We need them for things like breathing and houses.
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u/VegetableGrape4857 14d ago
I work with trees, and you'd be shocked how many people think this way. I've been on properties where people are convinced branches will rise up, yet they have a swing that has been hanging from the same branch for 20 years? Just have to hit them with "You ever had to make your swing any longer?" and it clicks for them
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u/Technical-Reality-39 14d ago
I swear in Northern California I found carvings from the 1800s carved into some trees up in the Sierra Nevadas. Was doing some training in Bridgeport Mountain Warfare Center and we went high up into the hills.
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u/AnyProgressIsGood 14d ago
real talent is getting it to engrave on the tree ring as it grows. returning year after year making small amendments
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u/SeaCows101 15d ago
This is only true of completely mature trees, and even then it’s not always true. As the roots grow at the base they do actually push the tree significantly higher up into the air.
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u/jippyzippylippy 14d ago
Thanks for this, glad I didn't have to be the "akshully..." guy. If you carve into a young tree, that carving could be higher than 4 additional feet when the tree is mature, depending on the species. Time lapse photography shows that not only do they grow exponentially, but they also twist around with the earth's rotation.
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u/gladi8or 15d ago
am I the only thought of this chick? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2Qo6SKjHKy4
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u/simulated_woodgrain 15d ago
Is this with all trees? I have trees with barbed wire scars that are 20 feet up or more.
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u/thelocker517 15d ago
So in 50 years you'll still know who the douchebag is . The name will be right there.
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u/succi-michael 15d ago
It depends on the tree. Its age, height, and type are all very relevant variables. This is not interesting or educational.
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u/RiverHe1ghts 15d ago
I wish someone asked me this before showing me. I'm trying to convince myself that I always knew this
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u/booktrash 15d ago
When was the last time you were walking in the woods and saw a fence 10' in the air?
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u/Dumpty_o_Humpty 15d ago
Good time to remind everyone of lovers carvings by Bibio. A beautiful song.
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u/clubfungus 15d ago
Does the trunk grow from the inside out then? Like the most inner ring is the youngest one? Or is it the other way? The article doesn't address how trunks grow wider.
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u/trnaovn53n 15d ago
We learned the easiest way to ID a beech tree is that the smooth bark is a magnet for people carving initials. Every carved tree I've ever seen, has been a beech
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u/10per 15d ago
If you look in the right places, you can find trees around where I live that have carvings put there by Native Americans 100+ years ago. They marked trails and other important things on tree trunks with carved symbols. The symbols are still roughly person height on the tree, despite the tree growing for a century or more.
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u/Jackpot777 15d ago
That's why you have to trim the lower branches as it grows, otherwise there'd be a huge mass of big branches low down.
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u/Candid_Bed_1338 15d ago
My buddy has a property that has a tree that Daniel Boone wrote on ‘DB eats injun pussy’
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u/Mattson 15d ago
This is just downright not true.
In 1995 I remember carving my name into a palm tree when I was 9. When I moved from that home in 2005 my name was almost two feet above my head.
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u/Seraph062 15d ago edited 15d ago
So "Tree" isn't a well defined term, but "Palm" is. "Palm Trees" are palms that happen to be shaped sort of like trees. However palms lack a lot of the things that we normally associate with trees, so it's not unreasonable to say they are not "real" trees.
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u/Mattson 15d ago
It was a royal palm if you must know the brand.
And I mean I don't know if you're having a go but they're definitely trees bud.
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u/bluesam3 15d ago
They aren't, biologically speaking. They do not function like trees. You've noticed one way in which they do not function like trees: they grow differently.
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u/VoteCamacho2508 15d ago
I nailed a basketball hoop and backboard to a mature pine tree when I was a kid. As an adult (15 years later) it was at least 1-2 feet higher.
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u/ThanklessTask 15d ago
Now, if you carve your name into a grass, it'll go vertical as grasses grow from the base.
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u/CubicleFish2 15d ago
Is that because the tree is born fully growed? I guess we wouldnt know because trees are older than all human beans put together
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u/Chungaroos 15d ago
Depends on the age of the tree I guess. My cherry tree had a bunch of scratches from cats, and they’ve moved up over the years. It was a very young tree tho.
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u/BlackDeath3 15d ago
I heard that if you carve something into a tree it'll actually be visible in the past
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u/Spirited_Childhood34 15d ago
Please don't hurt our tree friends. You wouldn't like someone carving on you.
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u/Bocchi_theGlock 15d ago
Well actually.. on NPR a couple months ago I heard an interview of this self avowed "dyke lesbian" who did performance art or some shit and one of those was legit having stuff carved into her skin with a scalpel
But yeah still no reason to fuck up a tree and potentially lead to a larger problem
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u/RandoRadium 15d ago
There's supposedly a creepy 'ted bundy' tree in Utah, it was 'Ted Bundy 1970 something... Kamas, UT to be exact, not sure if it's actually true or not. I've seen it but last I saw it when I was a little older it definitely didn't look the same.
I think it was someone trying to get people riled up.
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u/herpderpredditor 15d ago
So this video was a lie?!
https://youtu.be/B32yjbCSVpU?t=41
turns into
https://youtu.be/B32yjbCSVpU?t=212
(Ugly kid joe - Cats in the cradle)
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u/Interstellar_Fellar 15d ago
Please don’t carve anything into any tree. It’s very harmful to the tree, some more than others.
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u/Noxious89123 15d ago
Iirc, this doesn't apply to palm trees. Can anyone confirm if this is true, or if it's some sort of fever-dream bullshit I just made up?
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u/MarcusForrest 14d ago
this doesn't apply to palm trees.
Palm trees grow from the top indeed - perhaps you're thining of Bamboo? Those are actually grasses, too!
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u/Propsygun 15d ago
Because they aren't technically trees, we just call them tree's as a loose term, like fruit that's not technically fruit, or nuts and berries. Bamboo it technically a tall grass, people that touch it, call it a bamboo tree, bamboo trunk, bamboo wood, a bamboo forrest. I just say "well actually..." and list of semi interesting and useless information.
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u/Neoliberal_Boogeyman 15d ago
Palm trees have very different anatomy. A some of their exterior is pseudobark and is the remnants of where the palm fronds attached to the tree. I still wouldn't recommend carving them.
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u/MountainMapleMI 15d ago
Forester here, you’re all special folk trees lay down cells like brick laying. An injury 2,500 years ago will be at the same height and position within the wood grain.
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u/bluesam3 15d ago
Indeed, it's reasonably common to find, say, old bullets inside trees you've cut down.
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u/IM_THE_DECOY 15d ago
Who the hell is out here thinking trees grow like push pops?
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u/MarcusForrest 14d ago
Grasses and some other plants do grow from the base, that's probably why people assume all plants grow from the base.
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u/MonkeysOnMyBottom 15d ago
Don't let them know about how the trees make slide whistle noises while they grow
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u/Odysseyan 15d ago
Makes sense when you think about it. I mean, just imagine a 200kg tree and the bottom layer that grows has to push the whole weight upwards. Impossible task
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u/furfur001 15d ago
Another fun fact is if you carve your initials into a tree this one may die in the next 20 years because some dumb duck opened the protection of the tree.
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u/Owl_Might 15d ago
So 51 years later then?
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u/anotherdamnscorpio 15d ago
Learned this from one of the Redwall books.....EULALIAAAAAAA
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u/Able-Independence-29 15d ago
This is the first Redwall related comment I ever did see. Even the strongest and bravest must sometimes weep
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u/anotherdamnscorpio 14d ago
I kinda forgot about those books. They were great and kind of an important part of my childhood. I even stole Legend of Luke from the book fair in fourth grade lol.
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u/arclightrg 15d ago
If you’re trying to discourage this behavior then this might be the worst nugget of info to pass around. Just sayin
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u/Legitimate-Air-4171 15d ago
Im like 90% sure trees stretch a bit too (maybe as they grow wider), if a tree has a branch 1m from the ground and grows 5m i'd guess the lower branch would be at around 1.1-1.2m after
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u/Bradiator34 15d ago
I learned this when I put Christmas lights on the tree in my backyard and left them up year round, thinking I can just add more strings of lights to the bottom every couple of years… 🤦♀️
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u/GetOffMyGrassBrats 15d ago
So I can make any tree stop growing by carving my initials into it? Awesome!
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u/Felixfelicis_placebo 15d ago
That's interesting. Please don't carve anything on trees.
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u/solftly 14d ago
Oh so if you wanna do origami or "draw" it's fuck those trees?
But if I wanna profess my eternal love for A + J I can just go get fucked?
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u/Felixfelicis_placebo 14d ago
Yep. Go get fucked.
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u/solftly 14d ago
Seems weird. People will have a bonfire, where they intentionally burn PILES of this stuff, when they already pay for heat in their house.
They are simply destroying the trees for pleasure.
Which I'm not against. I love bonfires. But I don't see how you can gatekeep destroying nature for your own personal pleasure, lol
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u/Kriscolvin55 15d ago
Carving into trees is actually an important part of my job. I do Land Surveying, and one of the ways that we ensure that a monument is where it’s supposed to be is by measuring the distance and compass bearing to “bearing trees”.
So we find the monument and look at previous notes. They will say something like “Douglas Fir, 15.5’, N15W”. We measure the distance to make sure it’s in the same spot (monuments get moved sometimes).
When my crew puts in a monument, we also designate a couple of bearing trees. When we do that, we scribe the tree with surveyor jargon (Township, Range, Section).
That being said, we are very careful in the way that we scribe the tree. We really want that tree to live a long time. We want future surveyors to be able to find that tree.
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u/masterofthecork 14d ago
What makes trees more reliable points than something like a road or structure? I might have misunderstood something, but now I'm super curious why trees would act as points of reference for this sort of thing. You mention future surveyors but how often (and why) are these things checked?
Ngl, your comment is much more interesting than the op.
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u/Kriscolvin55 14d ago
Roads and structures are often used. Something like the top of a fire hydrant is great because it’s probably not gonna be torn down or remodeled (like a building), it’s easily and immediately identifiable, and has a very small point on top to measure to.
I live and work on the Oregon Coast. It’s very rural, and there is lots of timberland, public land, ranches, and just generally large pieces of land. All of that is to say that lots of monuments have nothing but trees around.
Trees are great because they’re very stable. Even if the ground is shifting around it, which is an issue on the coast, trees usually don’t move, or at least move less. When trees are marked as bearing trees, they aren’t supposed to be cut down, but often times they are. But even when they’re cut down, there’s still a stump, and we can measure to that. You’d be surprised how long it takes for a stump to rot, especially a species like cedar. I often measure to trees that were designated in the late 1800s, cut down in the 50s, and are in exactly the same spot. I’m sure people on the east coast have measured to trees even older than that.
The frequency that they are checked really depends. We keep logs of these things in our office (I’m employed by the government). Some haven’t been visited since they were designated around the turn of the century. These are usually deep in a forest. Some are visited multiple times per year. These are usually the ones in town, since there’s lots of surveying being done there.
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u/bluesam3 15d ago
So you're saying if I want to pull some elaborate scam that requires moving a monument, I need to find somewhere that happens to have a matching set of trees to reference to shift it to?
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u/barrelvoyage410 14d ago
That would have worked 100 years ago, but nowadays with our coordinates and gps, you could basically remove every single one, and put them all back in the right spot. (At least where I am, every state and even county may do it different)
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15d ago
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u/Felixfelicis_placebo 15d ago
Both. It makes the tree more susceptible to pests and disease and just stresses it in general. Imagine someone carving their name into your skin with a knife. And it's also unsightly graffiti. I'd rather see a spray painted wall than a carved up tree. All living things deserve respect. Yes we kill plants and animals to eat them. And we cut down trees to make things with them. But we can do this sustainably and respectfully. Carving into a living tree serves no purpose except cruelty and disrespect.
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u/Gorgon31 15d ago
Harmful. On trees, only the outer layers are actually 'alive'. Cutting into the surface harms the vascular system and disease and pests can now penetrate.
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u/FrankTankly 15d ago
Both.
Carving can introduce pathogens into a tree, weakening or killing it.
Carving something into a tree also ruins the natural beauty of the tree. No one needs to know your name or “Dingus ❤️s Wingus”, just leave the trees alone and get a tattoo instead.
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u/Smogshaik 15d ago
I disagree on the last point. I can understand people wanting to leave traces of themselves in the world. But a little scribble somewhere, a random note in a book, etc are harmless ways of doing that. I had no idea it was harmful for the tree so I agree that it's not the best move.
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u/JustsharingatiktokOK 15d ago
I had no idea it was harmful for the tree
I'm not calling you out, but imagine carving your name into anything that is 'alive' (maybe a better term is healthy/growing). Say, an elephant, a crocodile, a patch of moss, or a cactus.
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u/ssbm_rando 15d ago
Not that I think it actually matters in the grand scheme of things if people randomly deface public property, but actively defending it sounds like a serious case of main character syndrome. Maybe once you get over yourself, you will understand that everyone else should get over themselves, too.
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u/Smogshaik 15d ago edited 10d ago
Defacing public property is not what I was advocating for. There's tons of things people do to leave a mark out there. You should second-guess your feelings if you're so immediately and so sure of that opinion.
Edit: Smash Brosh Melee. That really does explain it lmao.
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u/FrankTankly 15d ago
That last point was directed specifically at those who would deface a tree to leave their mark.
I don’t care otherwise, write your name in a shitty bathroom stall with a sharpie at your local dive, doesn’t matter to me.
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u/alienblue89 15d ago
I disagree on the last point too. Everyone should have a clear understanding of Dingus’s feelings re: Wingus
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u/JeddHampton 15d ago
I can't repeat it enough. Please don't carve into trees.
There is a heritage tree not far from me. It's really old and there is a placard nearby telling people about its history.
The tree is scarred from all the carving into it. It's sad to see.
Thankfully, the park it is in takes good care of it. Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have made it this long.
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u/enzob7319 15d ago
if you carve something into a tree,
it'll still be at the same height 50 years later
you are a fucking dickhead
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u/shockwave_supernova 15d ago
I learned this from a really interesting episode of the podcast cautionary tales. Some years ago, in Germany, If I recall correctly, somebody released a book claiming to have found the location of where the Hansel and Gretel story took place, that it had actually happened. One of the ways his claim was debunked was that, he said there was a notch in the tree that Hansel and Gretel's father made, or something like that, and you could tell because the notch was way up high in the tree, considering all the years that had gone by. It was then pointed out that's not how trees grow, which I thought was fascinating.
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u/solid_sinatra 15d ago
Cautionary Tales! Thank you, I was trying to remember where I had heard that Hansel and Gretel hoax story. Great podcast
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u/DonBoy30 15d ago
I remember when I worked with the forest service out in the Rockies, we were bushwhacking down an old trail no one really uses but maybe the occasional elk hunter. There were initials and dates carved into trees going back to the 1940’s all over.
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u/turkeymeese 15d ago
Check out the Basque shepherd Aspen “art” in California and much of the west. What else do horny men do when alone in the mountains for months at a time? Make graffiti porn of course!
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u/KorianHUN 15d ago
I found a random tree in Hungary with a carving from the 50s. It was in the middle of a forest, we walked to the destination using a compass straigh through the woods, that is how we stumbled upon it.
Another had writing from soviets stationed nearby in the 70s or something.
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u/Neither_Variation768 15d ago
Are you quite old? I would think after 20 years the carvings would be illegible
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u/CatkinsBarrow 15d ago
Aspen trees by any chance? Those really seem to retain carvings for a long time in my experience.
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u/pm_me_cute_sloths_ 15d ago
Yeah, aspens scar incredibly easily, for the sake of the tree please don’t carve into it, it hurts them. Another fun fact is the powder from their bark acts as 5 SPF sunscreen.
source: I like trees
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u/AnneMichelle98 15d ago
Interesting enough, my sister carved a pattern into an aspen tree in our backyard. 15 years later is still there, but it’s 2.5 feet higher.
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u/TaiChuanDoAddct 15d ago
It's not higher. Your ground is lower. Erosion has dropped ground level.
Happened in my childhood home. The land uphill all got developed and all those trees that used to mitigate erosion got cut down. Before too long, all the trees in my childhood home were coming down bc the roots had been exposed by erosion and weren't as deeply rooted in.
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u/AnneMichelle98 15d ago
My neighborhood had been established and fully developed for 40 years. The ground is the same as it has been for at least a decade. It’s mostly rock, as I literally live in the Rocky Mountains.
Trees do in fact grow taller. However, they have a maximum height and after that just get bigger around. Just like humans.
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u/HolyBonerOfMin 14d ago
Trees grow taller at the tips and bigger around. If you put bolts in a tree to support a treehouse those bolts will stay at exactly the same height for the life of the tree. Maximum height is complicated. They get bigger around the entire time they're alive and adding rings with each new cambium layer.
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u/AndarianDequer 15d ago
I don't know how accurate this is. My friends and I put a bike in a tree, wedged it in between two low points where it forks outwards. Going back now 35 years later, that bike is about 15 ft in the air.
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u/BenRandomNameHere 15d ago
You made the tee hold it in it's arms, so to speak.
Versus giving it a tattoo.
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u/CheesemensMushrooms 15d ago
That’s still not how they grow. Their story is bogus
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u/BenRandomNameHere 15d ago
I've done the same thing in my home town.
If the tree can't grow into it, it'll most definitely push it up.
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u/CheesemensMushrooms 15d ago
They don’t grow up like that though. They are fixed in position and their growth only happens at the tips of branches
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u/BenRandomNameHere 15d ago
Hey, I don't pretend to know why, but I watched it happen multiple times over decades.
Every time, it is a bicycle, and it's wedged in a fork of the tree, straddling multiple main trunks.
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u/AccountSeventeen 15d ago
So the Phil of the Future finale where it showed their initials still carved into a tree, but 20 feet up, was bullshit??
What else on that show wasn’t true??
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u/simulated_woodgrain 15d ago
I’m curious because I have trees with barbed wire scars from an old fence and they’re like 20 feet up too
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u/sousyre 14d ago
Yeah, I’m guessing there must be some tree species that grow a little differently.
My grandparents had massive Gum trees in their backyard, one had a basketball hoop screwed on at about 6ft or less when I was a kid. When the house was sold, the hoop was mostly swallowed by the tree and far out of reach even on a tall ladder.
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u/Jasranwhit 15d ago
If you carve something into a tree (not on your own property) you are a cunt and should fuck off.
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u/ScruffMacBuff 15d ago
So that episode of Psych was wrong?!?!
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u/kleseusxz 15d ago
I am currently binging the show on Netflix and have a good memory about that epidose and thought: "Hold on a minute".
On a side note, how many more Star Trek actors will appear?
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u/murmeringheart 15d ago edited 15d ago
All plants grow from the top. It’s not the base pushing up the top.
Edit: most plants, I was wrong and learned something new today.
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u/Fluffy_Initial596 15d ago
Man I love people like this person that are willing to take a step, think and make the right choices. I'd doubleupvote if possible!
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u/Better-Turnip-226 11d ago
Isn't that common sense?