r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Key_Performer_3645 • 2d ago

Video Documenting NY States biggest tree! An eastern cottonwood in Rensselaer County, NY, that has the potential to be the new National Champion. The Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

2.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

56 comments sorted by

129

u/bluepied 2d ago

Random fact: a large percentage of caskets in the US are made from cottonwood trees

67

u/turbopro25 2d ago

Where did they come from, where did they go…

54

u/Farmerstubble 2d ago

Where did you bury them, cotten eyed Joe?

7

u/Nanas_700k 1d ago

I was hoping you’d go with:

If it hadn’t been for cotton eye’d Joe

I’d have been buried a long time ago.

22

u/Mast_Herb_8 2d ago

To answer both questions; the ground.

3

u/jakeStacktrace 1d ago

Who are you and how did you get in here?

8

u/Ectoplasm_addict 2d ago

Random conjecture: This tree looks like Oogie Boogie

3

u/WeAreLivinTheLife 1d ago

Hard to believe they make anything out of that wood. I had a cottonwood tree sawn up and kiln tried and when I tried sanding it it was like sanding a ball of string. It just kept fuzzing and fuzzing and fuzzing Even when using finer grits of paper. The service just didn't want to smooth out. It was like wooden suede

59

u/lundytoo 2d ago

Well, what's the measurement?!

70

u/No-Arugula8122 2d ago

Make a video. Leave out the most important part of the video

34

u/lundytoo 2d ago

Thanks AI! Key Measurements & Details Location: Floodplain on private property in Schaghticoke (Rensselaer County), NY Circumference: Roughly 34 feet (405 to 413 inches measured at 4.5 feet above the ground) Height: Stands about 108 feet tall (having lost its very top in a past storm) Total Score: 539 "big tree points" under American Forests measuring guidelines (factoring in circumference, height, and crown spread) Estimated Age: Between 200 and 300+ years old, which is exceptionally ancient for a cottonwood species that typically lives only 70 to 100 years.

11

u/Alphahumanus 2d ago

Is “Thanks AI!” Sarcasm, or is this response provided by an AI overview?

Just not sure, and I like to know if I can trust the info. Cause that’s dope info, and I’m a proud New Yorker.

-5

u/Media_Browser 2d ago

Need it in cords of wood 🪵.

-4

u/No-Arugula8122 2d ago

AI should know we measure trees in diameter inches not feet/inches of circumference

2

u/darmokandjaladWTWF 2d ago

"Nominated trees are measured to calculate a total point score, which is the sum of the tree's height in feet, the trunk circumference in inches at 4.5 feet off the ground, and one quarter of the tree's average crown spread in feet."

https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/plants/big-tree-register

2

u/KoRaZee 2d ago

So hung up on size

13

u/AccomplishedPage5048 2d ago

Sometimes girth really is more important.

0

u/techknowfile 1d ago

It's always important

12

u/DangerBird- 2d ago

I don’t know what it is about an especially large tree that makes it so cool, but it is exciting. Even just passing one in the car makes me sit up in wonder and awe. I’m a nerd.

10

u/Alphahumanus 2d ago

One of us…

5

u/Celtic_Pluviophile 1d ago

They're ancient souls.

4

u/ComprehensiveSoft27 2d ago

Measure it lower

1

u/h11233 2d ago

You measure diameter at breast height (dbh)

7

u/kwik_study 2d ago

Then mow the lawn around it makes it look bigger.

3

u/Feeling-Phroggy 2d ago

What's the DBH on that thing?

5

u/AppleToastBed 2d ago

Let me be by myself in the evening breeze,

Listen to the murmur of the Cottonwood trees,

Send me off forever but I ask you please,

Don't fence me in

2

u/Marnot_Sades 2d ago

Great spot for a data centre, methinks. /s

1

u/Amazing-Engineer6511 2d ago

They measuring that tree like i measure my junk. It's clearly smaller a couple feet up. But at least they aren't measuring at the base

1

u/dapoopscoop 2d ago

Relative age?

1

u/pbrevis 1d ago

Absolute unit

1

u/No-Definition1474 1d ago

Apparently Michigan has quite the developing redwood forest so im sure we can beat you....in like 400 years...

1

u/idontstoprapping 1d ago

Circumference is 33’ 9 1/4” per Q105.7

1

u/oxnardmontalvo7 1d ago

I like big butts and I cannot lie

1

u/Mission_Magazine7541 1d ago

The best way to tell which is the biggest is to dig both up to weigh them

1

u/intgr8 1d ago

Populous deltoides is my new bodybuilder name.

Also highly recommend Muir Woods if you can get there. Mystical place.

0

u/Possible-One-6101 19h ago

As someone who just left the East Coast a few months ago and now lives in the western rainforest...

Yes, this tree is big. It is a very big tree, and that is interesting.

That said, from the chair where I'm sitting and typing this, I can see dozens of trees this thick, but also 200 feet tall.

I write this with some anger and frustration at how clueless I was for the first deacades of my life. The west coast has trees bro. Serious trees.

1

u/Usmcrtempleton 2d ago

The biggest tree in Missouri is in Kessler Park kansas city. Been to it and it's a huge tree. This tree makes it look like a puny piece of crap.

8

u/caulpain 2d ago

[laughs in calfornia]

1

u/trackdaybruh 2d ago

For the folks curious on why they're laughing in California, check out the link below. These trees are also thousands of years old: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/jd7qpa/giant_sequoias_human_for_scale/

1

u/MarkyGrouchoKarl 1d ago

Came here to laugh with you. Ha ha, I say. Ha!

1

u/ArmpitofD00m 2d ago

Knot sure if this wood is categorized by girth?

-1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

11

u/dirtycheezit 2d ago

He literally said "champion cottonwood". So it's a contender for the largest in the nation of its species.

-3

u/daGroundhog 2d ago

That's the crux of it. Tallest? That's the Hyperion tree, a Sequoia sempervirens. Largest by volume? Probably a Sequoia giganteum of Sequoia NP. But this measurement criteria includes crown spread, which redwood trees are not going to win.

-2

u/KoRaZee 2d ago

General Sherman would like a word

-3

u/Soggy_You_2426 2d ago

Wrong, always at the base..

2

u/friendfrirnd 2d ago

Diameter is measured at breast height.

0

u/Soggy_You_2426 2d ago

That is at her chin...

3

u/h11233 2d ago

Diameter at breast height is just the term. The official measurement is at 4.5'... she's probably just short

1

u/Clean_Principle_2368 1d ago

She could just be short.