Making Burls

[Burt Alcantara]

We have a lot of young trees: willows, poplars, black walnut and catalpa. I was wondering what would I need to do to make burls on these trees. All of the trees are healthy. Last year we had a tree aphid infestation on the oldest willow but, so far, it's looking great.

Probably, by the time a decent burl grew, I'd be fertilizer for the next generation.

Burt

[Tony Kahn]

I have heard the you can take a piece of rope (or wire but to remember it is there years down the road might be hard) and tye it around the tree, this will cause the tree to grow around it and may or may not continue the burl process. I forgot where i read this but they said it worked better with certain species but for the life of me i cant remember which ones.

[Joe Pelonio]

Just be careful, if you leave it too long the tree will grow real thick at that point, below the rope, and thin above, and eventually tip over.

This is from the U.S. Department of Energy Science Office:
"They are basically benign tree tumors. They occur when a twig bud fails to
grow normally, differentiating into the tissues needed for forming a limb,
and instead just multiplies and multiplies and multiplies its bud cells.
That's how you get the round growth with an irregular grain structure."

[Jeff Nicol]

Burt, I am not sure how long it would take to get a burl ,ut I would have to think many years. So if you want one in a few it may be easier to find someone who has one to buy or barter for. But if you come up with a fast way to get one grown please let us all know!!

Good luck with the burls,

Jeff

[Curt Fuller]

Actually, I think men are incapable of making burls. It's a womanly thing, a one woman thing, Mother Nature. Besides, most of the burls I've found are on trees that are at least my age. And I don't know if you'd live long enough to harvest your bounty, even if you could.

[Nathan Hawkes]

We have a lot of young trees: willows, poplars, black walnut and catalpa. I was wondering what would I need to do to make burls on these trees. All of the trees are healthy. Last year we had a tree aphid infestation on the oldest willow but, so far, it's looking great.

Probably, by the time a decent burl grew, I'd be fertilizer for the next generation.

Burt


You're probably right about that. I think most of them are going to be pretty slow growing. I've seen some pretty amazing pictures of burls on walnut trees where the graft is--when the english walnut is grafted onto either black walnut or california walnut trees, it often forms a huge burl--you might ask this question of a horticulturist or an orchard grower. I think most of the orchard trees are pretty young-a few decades old when they're culled for newer trees to fill their spot. I've driven through PA orchard country enough to see the piles of apple trees pushed over every fall.

[jim carter]

there are 2 types of burls that i know of. 1 is the rootball that you see in redwood, black walnut and buckeye to name a few. most trees and bushes have these. some are very nice some are not. the other is a cancerous growth caused by some type of damage or disease to the plant. these could be anywhere. attached is a picture of a huge black oak cancererous growth, at least 500 pounds. its on a friends property but he said i could have it. i cant wait to cut into it. the other picture of a clock i made with a black oak cancer. very nice wood. it would take way too long to make one. if you have any black walut over 8" diameter, the rootball might be big enough to turn. usually the rootball on black walnut is larger than the tre diameter. the best way is to cut the tree at least 1 foot above ground so you have 1 foot of walnut merging in the root burl to turn.

[Burt Alcantara]

I'm no spring chicken and I have no kids. I thought I'd try to "burl" a few trees with the hope that years from now some wood worker/turner would find this and be very happy.

On the other hand, most of the trees are hybrids. They grow about 4', on average, every year. They also have short lifespans so it's possible I may get one before I expire.

Mostly, a question of curiosity.

Burl, I mean, Burt.