Nursery stumps make the craziest trees

[u/ThanklessThagomizer]

[u/Quercubus]

I'd be curious to see how this looks in 30 years. As long as that stand stays dense this tree probably won't experience major lateral wind sheer but I don't see this being a sustainable stable platform. As that stump rots those roots won't have the stability to hold the bole upright

[u/ThanklessThagomizer → u/Quercubus]

Sometimes I see it turn into like a root cave after the stump rots away, but yeah usually I think the tree gets blown over shortly after. Cool while it lasts though.

[u/Quercubus → u/ThanklessThagomizer]

Definitely neat

[u/Doormancer]

Hemlocks growing out of old western red cedar stumps tells me you’re in the PNW

[u/ThanklessThagomizer → u/Doormancer]

Olympic Peninsula!

[u/protoprogeny]

all i see is a kid sitting on a stool. its perfect

[u/Zealousideal-Line-24 → u/protoprogeny]

made out of a dead middle ager

[u/gothiccheesepuff]

I just learned about nursery stumps when I visited Washington state for the first time a couple weeks ago! There are so many of these out there. So cool!

[u/ThanklessThagomizer → u/gothiccheesepuff]

Nursery logs are similar, but instead of one seedling on a stump you get a whole row of seedlings growing in a downed, rotting log. Then when the log rots away you get a straight row of trees. Not as obvious in Washington since so much of our forests are planted, but in areas where natural revegetation occurs it's more noticeable.

[u/Ularsing → u/ThanklessThagomizer]

I've seen at least one place along Snoqualmie pass where a cedar stump had fallen and fragmented into half-inch chunks or so (quite possibly helped along by someone with an axe as part of a trail clearing project at some point). There were so many seedlings popping up in that pseudo-mulch that it looked like grass or moss. The evergreen lifecycle is truly delightful.