Just been cutting a car tyre off Swamp cypress and noticed there are several lumpy things on the waterward side of the tree pointing up Are these suckers or ariel roots The tyre had almost choked the tree,but i was able to cut tyre and partially remove tyre (Do you think it would have killed the tree???,, im sure this happens all the time in the everglades) Any how blew up my angle grinder so will have a short break from tyre cutting!!!:rofl: I guess you could use the tyre tree choking tecnique as a design tecnique!!8)
It could girdle it and then kill it, or it could callous over it and seem unperturbed. You never know. Then it might fail years later. No tree is the same and some defy all logic, regularly. Don't know about Swamp Cypress but it could be one of its techniques to surviving in water.
Those are called knees, they serve the tree's purpose of getting oxygen to the root system. Cypress trees can grow both on dry land and in water, They can not be transplanted from a swampy area to a dry land area or vice versa, their growth patterns are set when they sprout. Cypress knees will proliferate until the tree has enough oxygen getting to the roots. I've seen swamp growing trees with a five foot radius of knees. If the water is at least 2 feet deep the knees will hold bass, bream and catfish, they will also be good areas for crawdad traps. anything that girdles a tree will eventually kill it since it functions as a sap stopper. One of the tools I use to remove tree girding trash is a saws all with a bimetal demolition blade. it works very well at cutting steel belted tires and other tough materials that might otherwise kill a tree.
Addendum to my last post to correct bad information. The Knees of bald cypress form to provide added support for the main trunk not provide additional air. Cite: https://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_tadi2.pdf
i was using that sort of blade 8) They sound like a good tree for riparian health! Thnks for the info!!!
They are very useful trees for building, the wood is resistant to rot and insects and not real heavy. I've seen houses built of cypress and no finish on the exterior that have been around for 80 years. Here they are now listed as protected and only downed trees (or sunk logs) are permitted to be harvested for lumber. I've got a query in to the state to see if I would be able to cut trees I grow from seed for the purpose of growing lumber. I am going to plant several at the road front of my property and see how they do, the seed I have gathered are from trees growing on dry land so they should do fairly well in the thin area of my woods (lots of sun on that south facing slope).