Bulgaria's oldest tree

[Dodgy Loner]

Sounds like fun!  We woodn't have to look too hard to find trees we don't recognize, wood we?   

[tonich]

As soon as the Georgia’s crew is ready to take off, please let me know in other to be able to build the stay schedule, as well as the menu. 
Orderings on Bulgarian traditional meals are accepted online.  

[WDH]

Don't tell the Wiscinsin Chapter.  They would want to go over and saw up that Quercus robur .

[tonich]

Update:

Being encouraged by SwampDonkey, finally I hit the road for a small excursion, which included seeing the oak.
Here is the current situation with the tree: 









As you see, the oak is not in a good shape. We were lucky to have the Mayer of the village for our guide. He told us, that the drying out the nearest river in 1983-84 worsened much the growing conditions, and the tree started to slowly dry. However, the municipality have made some improvements to stabilize it by iron and even concrete.







The tree has a big hollow in the middle like Dodgy Loner said earlier. We’d been told, that the age estimation had been made by a system of interpolations (the Mayer turn out to be an engineer). Look inside:









More to come shortly. Have to gather my thoughts. 

[SwampDonkey]

Well, we sure waited long enough.   

What I wanna know  is who was the brave one to pose along side of the tree and later climb inside, and were there bats found roosting? Notice the camera man was well back.  Tell your tree models they did well risking life and limb.

Yeah, the tree does look like it's suffering. I hope no one starts a grass fire this next spring. 

[Dodgy Loner]

Nice pictures, looks like the old tree is just hanging on by a thread.  Unfortunately, all trees must die eventually, just like dogs and cats and people .  I'm glad you got to see it while it was still alive.

[tonich]

@Tom,

I’ve been told some acorns were collected. The Mayer said, that some scientists have collected enough seeds for unknown purposes. The next day (probably about 3 weeks ago) I phoned the local State Forestry Unit, asking about ANY information about seed collection/conservation of this particular tree – i.e. nurseries, seedling production, planting, grafting etc. The deputy director in chief (apparently an young guy) hadn’t got a clue about the situation. However, he promised me to do some research and call me back.
Still nothing.

The locals appeared to be enthusiastic enough to collect some acorn, trying to sow them. Luckily, some attempts were successful. The most famous reproductive is an Oak, sawn back in 1986. It is as far as about 30 meters away of the specimen.



Here is the slate, in front of the young tree:

[Dodgy Loner]

Could you translate

[tonich]

Certainly!: 

“A precious inheritor of the Granit’s millenary specimen”
May, 1986

[SwampDonkey]

The only word I knew was 'May' because there was a date beside it and the fact it was a dedication plaque. 

[tonich]

The only word I knew was 'May' because there was a date beside it and the fact it was a dedication plaque. 

And what about the year?   



PS. 

[SwampDonkey]

That's a number, not a word. 

[tonich]

Not your kind of joke, eh? 



Sorry!
 
Best regards!!! 

[SwampDonkey]

The joke was fine, well maybe not. 

Your wrecking your landmark thread though.

[Roxie]

Tonich, thank you so much for sharing the pictures!   It is espicially heartwarming  to see the "precious inheriter". 

Awesome!   

[murzila]

Hey guys,

I am more than surprised and excited to hear how many people are involved of trying to preserve the Granite Oak. This is how we called it when we were growing up there in Granit Village. My grant parents lived their good 2/3 part of their lives and my mom and her brother were born there. I was always proud to be associated with the village, because of the oak. I do live far now (US) but memories and your treat melted my heart today.

Thank you,

Magdalena

[SwampDonkey]

Welcome aboard murzila. I'm sure Toni and his wife will be pleased to read it. He has been working toward getting employment and citizenship over the pond as well.  Slow process as you know.

[tonich]

Hi Magdalena,

Since I live in The Rhodope mountains, I might be missing something important about the Granite Oak. Furthermore, all the efforts to gather more actual information from the State Forestry Unit in Chirpan failed.
Maybe you could share with us some firsthand facts or impressions about the tree.

Cheers!

Toni


PS. I’m curious, how did you find this thread. 

[SwampDonkey]

Toni, I think you put her in a hard spot with your questions. She's never been back.

[tonich]

Well, it seems so... 


I'm terribly sorry!