Old Chinquapin Oak

Height 67'
Circumference 115"
Canopy 50 & 55
Points 187

There are many dead branches on this tree. When they drop off the canopy will be even shorter.  The split in the bole of the tree is allowing disease and bugs to attack the health of the tree.

There are signs of life and death in our walk with the Lord. When we speak of God's work in us and through us we are giving testimony to Jesus and advancing. When we focus on the things of this world we have our mind on fleshly things and life is not happening.

The solution is to live with expectation for what God has promised.

Romans 8:5,6

"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,"

Chinquapin Oak

Height 51'
Circumference   124 5/8   In 2009 the circumference was 117"
Canopy 70 & 59
Points 192

Looking on one side of this tree it looks healthy. But when you go around to the other side there are many signs of decay.

There are 2 sides to our life, the physical and the spiritual. Don't neglect the spiritual part of your life. Turn to Jesus every day to be refreshed.

Psalm 119:121-128

"I have done justice and righteousness;

Do not leave me to my oppressors.

122 Be surety for Your servant for good;

Do not let the arrogant oppress me.

123 My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation

And for Your righteous word.

124 Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness

And teach me Your statutes.

125 I am Your servant; give me understanding,

That I may know Your testimonies.

126 It is time for the Lord to act,

For they have broken Your law.

127 Therefore I love Your commandments

Above gold, yes, above fine gold.

128 Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything,

I hate every false way."

Wolf Tree in Younger Forest

Hiking among the rocks we enjoyed the winter woods that blocked the cold wind blowing.

In our hike the other day ( December 16th 2014)  we came across this larger Chinquapin Oak. We measured it because it was larger than the other trees in this forest.

Circumference of 135.25 "

Height of 100.5 '

and a Canopy of 68 ' and 61 '

Total points of: 227

This tree will be easy to find because it is not far in the woods after a clearing as we walk on a chip seal gravel trail. The day was windy and 30 degrees and overcast. The tree sort of resembles a wolf tree. This tree may have been in an open field and then the woods were allowed to grow up later.

Lord let there be a place for people to grow in their knowledge of you, among the mature Christians who understand how to nurture others in their Christian walk.

Bark Contrast

Chinquapin oak is on the left and Eastern Cottonwood is on the right. This is a contrast between 2 very different types of bark. Cottonwood is rarely seen in these woods on the hillside. They are found along the creek bottoms.

Cottonwood germinates easily and it is not rare to see large patches of ground of pure cottonwood seedlings. It is my guess that the trees are about the same age showing the faster growth of the Eastern cottonwood. At one point this hillside may have been cleared and this cottonwood started on a bare patch of ground.

This unusual occurance of cottonwood brings to mind the occurance of Christ  birth in my heart. I was a child and accepted the Lord because of John 3:16 being explained to me.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His ^[a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Extra Long Limb Tree

The big tree in the background is the object of this photo. The flush of brush/saplings would hide this tree in the summer. One thing that brought this tree to my attention is the extra long branch that extends to the right. I try to visualize why a tree grows the way it does. Up to now I don't have an explanation for the extra long limb growth.

It could have a broken top and this branch attempted to gain dominance. I don't remember that when I measured the tree. I do notice that the dominate part of the tree leans to the left in this photo and may have been another branch to the right that has broken off.

Now I have a reason to return to the tree to see if there is a scar of the missing branch to the right. This tree is not far from my bench I rested at Saturday. So I will be revisiting this tree at some point.

Chinquapin oak
Height 50 feet
circumference 92 & 3/4 inches
Canopy 52 and 64 feet.
Total points = 157.6 points

I am not so much concerned to find the biggest tree where I live but to monitor and watch the growth of trees over the years.

Swirled Chinquapin Oak 30-May-09

Coming back to my swirled tree which is a Chinquapin oak, I find that it is not long for this world. It is no surprise because I saw some tell tale signs in the bark during winter. Go to my old post here which has better photos of how the bole swirls. And here was a video of the tree.

Chinquapin Malaise

Here is a photo of Chinquapin malaise. I don't know the true name of the disease, but it seems only to attack Chimquapins. A knob on the tree bowl with many small twigs coming out of it.

Here is the white oak pattern bark on this Chinquapin.



The 3 photos below I took in Feb 08 show the problem as well.

Old Chinquapin Oak 150 + Years Old

Circumferance 117"
Canopy 58' and 65'
Height 52'
Points 184 points

Two Toned Chinquipin Oak Leaf

This is the same Chinquapin oak leaf. I flipped it over to take a picture of the back side. I saw a little bit of red in the veins on top and when I flipped it over the red dominates the bottom.




Life is always interesting to me. I see in myself some rough edges in my personality. I try to be nice to others but there seems to be at times something that is selfish. It can't be hidden. When this occurs to me I go to God in prayer and ask forgiveness. I read the Bible and pray for God to soften my heart and make me like Him. When I am relying on Him to live through me I am able to help others and not just look out for myself.

Psalm 69:5
You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.

New Growth Chinquapin Oak

Psalm 70:5
"But I am afflicted and needy;
Hasten to me, O God!
Your are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay."

Chinquapin Oak

Here is a Chinquapin oak with an unusual branch that harbors a bush growing out of it.



There is a predominance of Chinquapin oak leaves below the tree that gives me the confidence to call it that.


John 3:3
"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'"

Spiral Chinquapin Oak

Here is a video of the swirled Chinquapin. Here is the link to the photos I posted earlier.


Psalm 66:5
"Come and see the works of God,
Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men."

Chinquapin Oak Disease?

Here is disease like growth that is occurring on this Chinquapin. The knobs have multi sprouts.


Isaiah 53:5
"But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed."

Multi Stemed Chinquapin Oak

I came across this multi stemmed Chinquapin oak on my lunch hike today. Some of the questions I have about this are was this caused by sprouts from an old stump? Did the trees grow together?

Sometimes the tree is weakened by this type of stump. I will find one side of the tree fallen often in the woods.


Psalm 133:1
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!"

Swirled Tree

Swirled tree catches my eye on one of my lunch hikes.
There was a leaf left on a twig so I was able to ID it as a Chinquapin oak.






So far I have made it back to this tree 3 times.







Unfortunately this tree is not in good condition. These holes seem to be made by woodpeckers.


Matthew 12:33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good,
or make the tree bad and its fruit bad;
for the tree is known by its fruit."

Chinquapin Oak, Bur Oak, and Shagbark Hickory Comparrison

I hiked back into some woods I have not seen for a while for lunch. I knew there were some large trees at this one spot. I came across a couple of Bur oaks, Shagbark hickory, Chinquapin oak. There were some smaller Hackberries and American elms. I got some photos of the bark of the large trees and a few photos of leaves for comparison.

This first photo is showing the mature bark of a shag bark hickory. One interesting thing about Shagbark hickory bark is that bats like to sleep under the shag bark.

Here is the bark of young Shagbark hickory. Don't pay attention to the poison ivy vines. The bark is tightly fissured with flat smooth ridges.

this third photo shows the bark of Bur oak. This is a good contrast of a red oak bark with a white oak (group) bark. The white oak (group) has light gray scaly bark.


This photo shows the white bark of Chinquapin oak.





Of the 4 leaves on the log the one on the left is a Bur oak leaf and the third leaf from the left is a Chinquapin oak leaf. The leaf on the right is from the shagbark hickory. The second from the left is a leaf from American elm.

Revisit Tree with Vines

I started my Saturday walk at 7:30 AM with the temperature at 21 degrees. A little bit of sun was showing through the clouds to the east. The were some flurries. Before I went I brushed a little bit of snow off the car windshield for my wife.

Followed the normal trail across the creek I saw a hop hornbeam growing out of the root base of Northern Red oak I took a photo of that.



The bud scales are not finely grooved. they are rounded. This threw me off because that is what a hop hornbeam should have. Hop hornbeam has false end buds. And they were off to the side a little.

The next photo of a tree is taken with red inner bark and it looks like a Black cherry. From the northern Red oak where I saw the Hop hornbeam it is 24 degrees and about 50’ to the red bark tree.



Took a photo of a brush that showed evidence of a vine that squeezed it to grow in a
spiral.



I cut back to the tree that has all the vines growing on it. I wrote about this tree in a previous post. It has a compound leaf tree because I see the leaflet stem still on the twigs at the top of the tree.



The leaf stem is hard to see but click on the photo to enlarge and look at the top of the tree.

Then I came upon a bent over Redbud (took 3 photos) . The cracked stem is characteristic of this happening. Branches are again growing upward from the bent over stem.





Walking up a narrow ridge I took a photo (looking back) of the way the erosion has eaten the ground away.




I came upon some brush which was all mangled when something rubbed up against it but
it was too high for a deer. I don’t see any branch that fell against the brush and caused it. Another enigma.



Coming over the top of the hill and going on down the east side there is a predominance of dominate trees and there is not the brush that is prevalent on the west side.



Vertical bark pattern is interesting of this tree and it is a bur oak. The tree behind that is a white oak and the photo of the leaves on the ground show it is a white oak.






I hiked to the bottom over a couple of gullies and back up. On this side of the ridge I hear a bird chirping in the snow falling. I don’t remember hearing birds earlier today.

The closer of those 2 trees (center of the photo in the background) is a bur oak and the one further away is a Chinquapin.



On the way back we have blue sky. It was snowing a little the whole time I was in the
woods but on the way back the sky has broken up and the snow has stopped. Nothing
accumulated.

Again, hiking in the woods allows my heart to feast on the goodness of God. "How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" Romans 11:33