Amazing Video on Redwoods

[Brian Underwood]

I love redwoods perhaps more than any tree, and this video gave me an even deeper appreciation for the worlds tallest trees.


http://video.nationalgeographic.com...pisodes/explorer/ngc-climbing-redwood-giants/

 

[Attila Soos]

I love redwoods perhaps more than any tree, and this video gave me an even deeper appreciation for the worlds tallest trees.

Yes, I've read the book on which this documentary was based on, it has the same title "Climbing redwood giants".

 

[misfit11]

Steve Sillet, the researcher whom this documentary is based on, was my botany professor at Humboldt State University. He's done some amazing research and really changed the idea of what was possible regarding the ability of the world's tallest trees to support life, particularly in the epiphitic environments some 200 feet up in the canopy. I believe he was also instrumental in developing an understanding of how redwoods get water from their roots to the very top of a 300 foot tall tree. I remember thinking his interest in those huge trees bordered on obsessive, but then again, someone could probably make the same case for my interest in miniature ones...

 

[Attila Soos]

Yes, those guys are maniacs, for sure. In a good way, of course.
It's also worth noting how dangerous this tree climbing is. One mistake, and you are gone. I think everything over 92 feet they call "the death zone". And these trees don't have low limbs, so sometimes in order to climb one tree, you have to climb a smaller one, and then jump over.

Then there is the case of the notorious adventitious branches on the lower trunk. These branches can easily break, and become "widow makers".

It often happens, that in the middle of a climb (that can last for hours) a ferocious storm breaks out. Some climbers can actually tell from the noise that tree makes during a windstorm, whether or not it is about to snap or topple. These are really terrifying moments, if one happens to be in the middle of it all.

 

[jkd2572]

Do you have any redwood trees in pots? If so would you post one?

 

[Brian Underwood]

I have lots, just search my posts and you'll find one in no time.