# Natural Fork Harvesting Question



## Lacumo (Aug 18, 2013)

I'm in the NE US, about 150 miles south of the Canadian border and I've got my eye on a couple forks on nearby Red Oak trees. The trees are alive and well and have just recently shed their leaves. I know it's best to harvest the forks when there's minimal moisture in the wood, so it's best to cut them when the leaves are off the tree.

My question is this&#8230; Is there any significant difference in moisture content of the wood between right now (leaves dried up, turned brown, dead and already fallen off of the tree) and mid-winter, when the trees will be frozen solid and at their annual absolute lowest moisture content?


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## lightnin (Nov 19, 2013)

In the fall or winter there will be less mosture in the tree than the summer


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

I've always heard to prune the oaks on the coldest day of the year when possible.


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Btoon84 said:


> I've always heard to prune the oaks on the coldest day of the year when possible.


B-b-b-but Brandon... how do you know when it *is* the coldest day of the year? Has nothing in our findings about the concept of time influenced your thinking? **sigh**


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

Dayhiker said:


> Btoon84 said:
> 
> 
> > I've always heard to prune the oaks on the coldest day of the year when possible.
> ...


I thought that question may come up. Should've known it would be posed by the great Dayhiker  I thought our findings found that we found time only in the present and that the coldest day would be Feb 9th.


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Btoon84 said:


> Dayhiker said:
> 
> 
> > Btoon84 said:
> ...


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

In all seriousness, it isn't the dryness of the wood that is the biggest issue here. It's the damage you can do to the tree. In spring when the sap is rising, you can cause the tree to lose a lot of its vitality. Yes, there will be more moisture in the fork in the spring, but since the tree was alive when you cut it there will still be a lot of moisture in it. I have found that forks cut in the spring are harder to dry properly without warping and twisting, and they do take longer, probably because of the sap -- as opposed to water-- content.

Best thing is to look for deadfalls, especially those that have lain for long enough to be dry already.


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## DecoyOctopus96 (Nov 16, 2013)

Dayhiker presents an excellent point  also i'm now glad that it's the fall/winter

Nattys all dayyyyyyyy

-Anthony


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## Lacumo (Aug 18, 2013)

While the debate about how to tell when the coldest day of the year is actually happening was raging, I decided to drop my inquiry back a step and get back to basics -- so I Googled it. Duh. What a concept, huh? Unsurprisingly, I immediately ran into a mountain of information and learned more in fifteen minutes about pruning tree branches than I'd learned in the past half a century. Duh again! I won't bother with links here because that would detract from the thrill of the hunt, and besides -- it'll only take any interested parties about fifteen minutes anyhow. Happy reading!


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## amm1266 (Mar 27, 2013)

here in Florida the coldest day is always the one last week ... just wait for a storm then you get the whole tree


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