Re: Watering tree

[Guest guest]

The tree may be dying.

Most people are not aware that trees contain so much water. During

dry spells, a tree may lose 10 to 40 gallons of water a day through

respiration. (Yes, trees respire).

This is why experts say to ignore the grass and water the trees

during droughts.

It could be that some oddity in the tree is causing the water to

condense out of the sap and leech out of the tree.

Alternatively, it could be that ants have eaten the middle of it, and

water condenses inside of it at night. During the say, as the water

heats up, it dribbles out.

Tom

Administrator

This East Side tree does its own watering

Web Posted: 08/10/2006 11:09 PM CDT

T.

Express-News Staff Writer

Lucille Pope's red oak tree has baffled tree experts, water

specialists and nursery professionals.

The knotted, towering tree, more than 100 years old, has become the

root of scrutiny in her East Side neighborhood. The tree has gurgled

water from its trunk for the past three months.

Pope, 65, has sought answers from several specialists, calling

experts from the Texas Forest Service, the Aquifer Authority

and nurseries for an explanation.

They've combed her backyard, probing the gnarled tree that leans away

from a parked white 1980s Cadillac.

After snapping pictures, doing taste tests and conducting preliminary

studies, they're still working to give her a definitive answer.

" I got a mystery tree, " Pope said. " What kind of mystery do I have

where water comes out of a tree? "

The odd occurrence started in early April when her son, Lloyd Pope,

noticed bark smeared with sap when he went to fill his the water

trough of his stepson's dog Neno. After moving the Rottweiler's tray,

he saw a wide stain that ran from the root up toward the branches,

with fluid dripping to the ground from above.

Days later, he saw water streaming onto the ground from the other

side, and he showed his mother the sight.

Lloyd Pope, 47, said the water was cool, like it came from a faucet.

The only damp spot around the tree trunk is where the water lands.

The peculiar incident has the Popes wondering if the water has

properties not found on tap.

Pope said her insurance agent dabbed drops on a spider bite that went

away after the application on the welt. Pope said she's soaked her

sore ankles in water from the tree and the pain has gone away.

Now she wonders, is it a tree that heals or water that blesses?

Her son doesn't believe the cause of the streaming water is anything

holy or religious.

" I ain't with that superstitious stuff, " Lloyd Pope said, sitting on

the hood of the Cadillac, catching water spurting out of the tree in

a plastic gallon jug. " There's no crying here. "

After hearing of the leaking tree, two water experts stopped by

Wednesday afternoon to study the strange sight.

Rice, a hydrologist on the board of the authority, and

lisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Aquifer

Alliance, walked around the tree, touching the damp surface.

" I've never seen anything like this before, " Rice said. " If you

wanted to dream something up I'd say that somehow water pressure

underneath is forced through some kind of channel in the tree. But

that's still very unlikely. "

Rice watched the water gurgling about 2 feet up from the roots,

estimating the flow at a 10th or 20th of a gallon every minute.

Lloyd Pope offered a blue plastic cup of the cool water to Rice and

several bystanders. After a sip, Rice said it tasted like it could

have had a trace of saline, almost like something that could have

gone through natural dissolving salts.

Rice took a quarter of a plastic bottle of water from the tree,

analyzing it later with a quick examination kit that measured water

conductivity.

" From a crude, free test I can't tell the difference, " Rice said of

the water he compared to Aquifer water. " It's 600 micromhos,

the same as what comes out of my tap, maybe a little higher. "

Mark , regional community forester from the Texas Forest

Service, paid a courtesy call three weeks ago to help Pope figure out

a logical explanation to the phenomenon. He hasn't done any extensive

research but still is trying to identify the enigma. He's talked to

consultation services without any results

He said he believes it could be a spring, adding that that would be

rare with the drought conditions this summer.

plans to ask colleagues around the country via link services

for ideas about the tree.

" If it is a burst pipe their monthly bill would be enormous, "

said. " It would definitely be reflected in their bill. "

Pope said she doesn't think the cause is a broken water pipe. She

said her water bill is normal and hasn't fluctuated from the monthly

average.

The only fluctuation she's seen she said is in the morning when the

water flow is more forceful.

Roland Ruiz, spokesman for the authority, said that early in the

morning he would suspect that the aquifer level would be up.

" With a high demand the level would be down, " Ruiz said. " As the

demand dropped, theoretically it would go up. "

Thursday afternoon Ruiz said a science team member researched the

elevation of the area and said that it's unlikely that the water from

the tree is from aquifer springflow.

The family members said they plan to call the San Water

System for an assessment.

After Rice and Peace left with their sample of water, Lloyd Pope

continued to sit on the hood of the Cadillac, pressing the mouth of

the nearly filled jug to the spout of water, just as he does every

other day. Then he put the collected water, which he said is better

than faucet water, in the icebox.

His mother cupped her hands to the tree, drinking the pooled water

spilling over her fingers.

She's still waiting to find out if the source of the mysterious water

flow is an artesian spring, a broken water pipe or an abandoned well.

Or possibly something else.

" I just want to know if it is a healing tree or blessed water, " she

said. " That's God's water. Nobody knows but God. "

[Guest guest]

Yes the trees do indeed respire. Pine trees in particular are very good at soaking up lots of water from the soil and passing it into the air. Because of their deep taproot, they can sometimes weather droughts and such more readily than other trees. Sometimes you can even feel the increased humidity in a thick stand of trees.

[Guest guest]

Yes the trees do indeed respire. Pine trees in particular are very good at soaking up lots of water from the soil and passing it into the air. Because of their deep taproot, they can sometimes weather droughts and such more readily than other trees. Sometimes you can even feel the increased humidity in a thick stand of trees.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/16/2006 7:01:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round. This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere. TomAdministrator

But bear in mind that as part of respiration, the trees also release CO2 in large amounts as well.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/16/2006 7:01:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round. This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere. TomAdministrator

But bear in mind that as part of respiration, the trees also release CO2 in large amounts as well.

[Guest guest]

The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round.

This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm

regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere.

Tom

Administrator

Re: Re: Watering tree

Yes the trees do indeed respire. Pine trees in particular are very

good at soaking up lots of water from the soil and passing it into

the air. Because of their deep taproot, they can sometimes weather

droughts and such more readily than other trees. Sometimes you can

even feel the increased humidity in a thick stand of trees.

[Guest guest]

The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round.

This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm

regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere.

Tom

Administrator

Re: Re: Watering tree

Yes the trees do indeed respire. Pine trees in particular are very

good at soaking up lots of water from the soil and passing it into

the air. Because of their deep taproot, they can sometimes weather

droughts and such more readily than other trees. Sometimes you can

even feel the increased humidity in a thick stand of trees.

[Guest guest]

Yes, but they exhale less CO2 than they do pure oxygen. Trees are

like humans: mostly carbon and water with some trace elements.

Except they have a lot more carbon and grow bigger as they age,

thereby storing more of it. Yet, like humans, they can only take in

so much sustenance and absorb it at once, so they expell carbon in

the form of CO2 as waste.

When they exhale only oxygen, they are retaining the carbon. When

they exhale CO2, they are exhaling one part carbon and two parts

oxygen, so you can see that even though they take in CO and CO2

during the day, they are only exhaling three times as much oxygen as

carbon.

If we ceased to pollute the atmosphere, eventually, trees would take

all the carbon out of it and die of starvation.

As it is, we have to pollute less because too much carbon can also

hurt foliage in the same way that too much flouride can cause tooth

decay in people.

Tom

Administrator

>

Re: Re: Watering tree

In a message dated 8/16/2006 7:01:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

no_reply writes:

The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round.

This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm

regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere.

Tom

Administrator

" But bear in mind that as part of respiration, the trees also

release CO2 in large amounts as well. "

[Guest guest]

>

> " The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round.

> This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm

> regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere. "

Siberia has the most forests in the world, which is good to know

since people are flocking there to develop it. I'm such much of it is

evergreen. Then there's the Black Forest in Germany, though that's

being cut back every year.

Did you know that the oceans supply most of the world's oxygen

because of the plants and algae on top of the oceans? Isn't that good

to know, unless something is messing with that. But doesn't pollution

and other problems with water often result in excess algae growth? I

wonder if that's true of oceans as well?

>

[Guest guest]

Good on evolution for filling all the niches.

trees are a strong design, and they have proved a good adaptable

status of the biomass, eveywhere except the deserts + poles.

>

> The good thing about evergreens is that they respire year round.

> This means that if all the trees are cut down in tropical and warm

> regions, we can at least get some oxygren from somewhere.

>

> Tom

> Administrator

>