Big cotton wood

[Al Smith]

Danged thing up and died on me all 100 foot of it .I think it was some kind of a parasite about like the EAB .100 foot and about 5 feet over the stump .I got Tom and crew out here and I ran my 70 year old Oliver bull dozer about 200 feet away with a 1" three strand nylon line .
Three strand has an elongation of around 70 percent in effect about like a big rubber band .That little dozer,9,000 pounds bowed the main trunk about a foot or two .Then I held it with the brakes until most of the back cut was finished .When it started over I gunned it and down it went with a mighty crash .
If you look real close between those two little girls standing on the tree there's a little dab of blue .That's the target .Only missed it by 1 foot . That thing mowed down a few maple saplings which wasn't that bad considering .I'll be all winter cutting this thing up .Possibly some lumber for out rigger pads and a whole bunch of fire wood which isn't the best but it still burns .
Before anybody asks the guy making the cut I think didn't have much experience with a heavy long bar saw .084 Stihl with a 42" bar .It fell the right direction though which is all that counts .

 

[Ed L]

Last one I took down was 36" dbh. Like yours, it just died, it was 100% solid.

Ed

 

[Al Smith]

That one the double trunks are about 36" . It will give me the very rare occasion to use my 100 plus cc saws .It has been in decline for several years so it wasn't a surprise .From what I read it might have been some parasite that attacked the inner bark like EAB .It left tracks but not as aggressive as what I've seen on EAB killed ash . From what I've read the average life of a cotton wood is around 75-80 years as opposed to a white oak that could be 250 years . That stump in my avatar pic was over 4 feet and I counted 270 rings but it was wind damaged from 90-100 MPH straight line winds from a tornado .

 

[Jed]

Pretty cool post Al.