Very Quick Technique for Deciding Your Favorite tree (spoiler, it involves lots of fire)

hemmy

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We had to bug out Mon. night from the Thomas fire and only had room for one tree between my feet on the floorboards. I chose a little cork elm, below is the spring pic before pruning. Not my best or most refined, but it is one that I am looking forward to developing. (It’s a Muranaka wire-wrapped special). Funny how there would normally be no way I could ever pick just one tree. But put my feet to the fire and it was pretty easy! Made it back in today and we were lucky, no real damage and tons of free ash fertilizer.

I hope all our SoCal Nuts and family are safe! It seems like the Valley is burning on all sides!

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justBonsai

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We had to bug out Mon. night from the Thomas fire and only had room for one tree between my feet on the floorboards. I chose a little cork elm, below is the spring pic before pruning. Not my best or most refined, but it is one that I am looking forward to developing. (It’s a Muranaka wire-wrapped special). Funny how there would normally be no way I could ever pick just one tree. But put my feet to the fire and it was pretty easy! Made it back in today and we were lucky, no real damage and tons of free ash fertilizer.

I hope all our SoCal Nuts and family are safe! It seems like the Valley is burning on all sides!

View attachment 170237
Glad you are safe. The fire is nuts. I'm out here in Riverside and I had ash falling on me when I eating lunch yesterday.
 

leatherback

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Such a messed up situation. Good to hear you are OK.
Are these fires something new? I think 10 years ago I never heard of large fires in the USA< and now it seems to be near continuous?
 

sorce

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Glad you're well Hems!
Nice trunk!

Sorce
 

JudyB

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I hope that all out there stay safe. Getting out is the most important job, getting your stuff out is unimportant. But glad you grabbed one on the way. Good luck to all.
 

bonsaibp

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Such a messed up situation. Good to hear you are OK.
Are these fires something new? I think 10 years ago I never heard of large fires in the USA< and now it seems to be near continuous?
Not new but worse because of years of drought than a wet winter wiith explosive growth that is now bone dry. Plus 20-80 mph winds!
 

Dav4

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I guess that's one way to cull the non -starters...yikes! The images of those fires raging on the hillsides while people commute to work is surreal. I'm glad you and yours were relatively unaffected in the end. Praying for some rain for you guys.
 

hemmy

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Not new but worse because of years of drought than a wet winter wiith explosive growth that is now bone dry. Plus 20-80 mph winds!
Plus every year more houses creep further into previously undeveloped areas that are no longer allowed the natural cycle of burn and renewal (controlled burns would be pretty impossible and risky in SoCal). It would be interesting to know if anyone has mapped paleofire records from the soil profile in SoCal. I guess I will research that today!
 

Velodog2

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My family-in-law are all located in and around Simi Valley. One household had to evacuate, and a niece’s place of employment burned to the ground. They are now soliciting donations to rebuild. This is our future. Not that we weren’t warned.

I can see why you chose this tree though! The size and taper will make it very rewarding in the relatively near future I believe.
 

CasAH

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Glad you made it out and with little damage to the property.

Do they clear brush out in California to reduce fire intensity?

Out here we clear non natives and some natives that are fire intolerant to get better controlled burns. We are trying to restore ecosystems, not do fire suppression.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Glad you made it out and with little damage to the property.

Do they clear brush out in California to reduce fire intensity?

Out here we clear non natives and some natives that are fire intolerant to get better controlled burns. We are trying to restore ecosystems, not do fire suppression.

Tough to do when you are on the border of a National Forest. We're talking 100,000's of acres. The best they can do is cut fire breaks. And even those don't help much when you are experiencing 80 mph wind gusts.

The good news is that they have changed building code so that dwellings are much more fire resistant. When we first moved here 20 years ago, a good percentage of the houses in our neighborhood still had cedar shake roofing!
 

justBonsai

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Glad you made it out and with little damage to the property.

Do they clear brush out in California to reduce fire intensity?

Out here we clear non natives and some natives that are fire intolerant to get better controlled burns. We are trying to restore ecosystems, not do fire suppression.
After the fires in the spring and summer at the local hills near UCR I did notice they clear brush from a lot of regions. It's a pretty small reserve though so probably easier to implement compared to the much larger areas the fires are burning on right now.
 

CasAH

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Tough to do when you are on the border of a National Forest. We're talking 100,000's of acres. The best they can do is cut fire breaks. And even those don't help much when you are experiencing 80 mph wind gusts.

The good news is that they have changed building code so that dwellings are much more fire resistant. When we first moved here 20 years ago, a good percentage of the houses in our neighborhood still had cedar shake roofing!

They also use mechanical clearing using bobcats and larger tractors to clear acres per day. May not be able to clear a national forest, but near the urban/wilderness interface it could create less dangerous conditions.

I am glad they updated the building codes. Most fire crew deaths seem to happen when they are trying to protect homes and businesses.
 

Adair M

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Tough to do when you are on the border of a National Forest. We're talking 100,000's of acres. The best they can do is cut fire breaks. And even those don't help much when you are experiencing 80 mph wind gusts.

The good news is that they have changed building code so that dwellings are much more fire resistant. When we first moved here 20 years ago, a good percentage of the houses in our neighborhood still had cedar shake roofing!
Maybe another reason to get a Tesla solar shingled roof!
 

Bonsai Nut

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Maybe another reason to get a Tesla solar shingled roof!

We have stucco walls and clay tile roofing. The issue when the wind is howling is that you can get sparks blown UNDER your tiles. Once fire gets into your roof sheathing it is game over.

Fortunately, I don't live anywhere near nature :(
 
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