[TowerTalk] Re: The Anger of Trees

[Richard L. King]

At 09:57 AM 1/12/98 GMT+1, you wrote:
>
>>I had to cut down a smallish pine in order to put up my HyTower in my back
>>yard.  I appologized to it and to all the other trees in the area.
>>However, I think they got mad:
>
><snip>
>>I think the trees got angry and have "fixed" my antenna twice.  Will I
>>give up if  a third happening?  Stay tuned.  K4VUD
>>
>>Charles

I did a lot of tree clearing (mostly hardwood) in New York to make room for
new towers. I found that the trees at the edge of a clearing had stronger
root systems and when you removed those, the interior trees had a high
probablity of falling down. This is what happens:

Trees at the edge of a clearing get more sunlight, grow slower vertically
(ie. they branch out more), and have stronger root systems.

Trees that grow in the interior of tree stands grow faster vertically
trying to grab the sunlight and their root systems are less developed. The
other trees around them contribute to "holding each other up".

If you cut the trees on the edge of a stand it takes a while for the new
trees on the edge to develop a strong root system. If a strong wind or ice
storm comes along in the first few years, over they may go.

For this reason, it is ALWAYS a good idea to clear any interior trees that
are tall enough to fall on anything that you don't want a tree to fall on.

Get out the chainsaw ad be careful.

73, Richard

K5NA@BGA.COM
http://www.realtime.net/~k5na

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