The Mighty Oak

Runner · 2025-10-25T12:01:53-0400

A work associate gave me this Shumard oak in a coffee cup in 2013.

This photo is from today and it is around 25 feet tall.

Here is one of its offspring that volunteered on the property and is now in the nursery waiting to be transplanted.

And here is another of its offspring that I transplanted into the pasture this summer.

It is about 4' tall.
The largest tree we have on the property is probably this cottonwood which is about 75' or so.

EddieWalker · 2025-10-25T12:33:59-0400

We have a Loblolly Pine tree on our place that we believe is the biggest in Texas, and also the biggest in the country. I've submitted the paperwork to the Texas Big Tree Registry to have them come and officially measure it, but they never replied. I need to send it again but keep forgetting. Maybe I'll do it this weekend.

In the second picture, it almost looks like it's two trees, but when you see it in person, it's obvious that it's one tree. We have wondered if that's why they didn't contact us. I'll have to make a special note about that since it's come up from others that have looked at the pictures.

Texas Big Tree Registry

texasforestinfo.tamu.edu

It measures 17ft 1in around the trunk for a score of 205, which is in inches.

Height is 127 ft

Crown Spread is 83 feet and 90 Degree Angle of Spread is 78 feet, which is added together and then divided by half for a score of 80.5 feet.

Add up the numbers for the three categories gives it a score of 412.

The current number one Loblolly Pine in Texas scored 324

Texas Big Tree Registry

texasforestinfo.tamu.edu

The biggest in the country is in Virginia, and it scores 341

National Champion Tree Program

nationalchampiontree.org

With the total of our tree being so much higher than the current number one tree in Texas, we have wondered if they think we're full of it and ignoring us for that reason too.

ponytug · 2025-10-25T15:38:40-0400

@EddieWalker please resubmit! That would be fun.

Hmmm...redwoods and sequoias would appear not to be included in that registry. I guess that they are just in a different league.

Some of the smaller redwoods trees have drive through for cars.

We have some large California Bay trees here, but they frequently regrow from the base in a ring that can often merge into a single as the tree(s) grow. It is a single clone, and ends up as a single trunk, but it doesn't seem quite fair to compare it to oaks. At our old place, an old bay needed to be removed that was 8'x11' DBH, though on a slope so a bit debatable. The tree rings looked like a single tree. The arborist was concerned about a tree that large overhanging a house as being to great a risk to life.

Redwoods also resprout from the roots, but almost always a single sprout wins out. The current thinking seems to be that redwood trees may be the same individual that has resprouted from the same roots for tens to hundreds of thousand years.

All the best,

Peter