because they just can't take it any more?(pops)

Much more interesting is the NPR story about how maple trees are exploding due to fewer trees being tapped for syrup.

If they just stayed up there, it would get to be quite a fire hazard after a few years.

Oh, Robert Krulwich, is there anything you can't make awesome?

The best part about NPR is the "boring" little stories about disparate happenstances.

For the relief.

bugdog: Much more interesting is the NPR story about how maple trees are exploding due to fewer trees being tapped for syrup.

what an exploding tree might look like

Peanuts explained it best. When you hang a map on the wall, South is down. So the leaves are going south for the winter.

Done in one.

there are acorns under the trees everywhere here! we are being invaded, glenn beck where are you!?

I would have said "gravity."

Sneakytoes: because they just can't take it any more?(pops)

Which is what I came here for. Done in one.

i always thought leaves fell from the tree once the nutrients stored in them were absorbed into the tree for the upcoming harsh climate

chlorophyll, more like BOROPHYLL!

Temporal zone?

ZAZ

I would have said "gravity."

That was my first thought.

inkblot



Indeed.

Be composed-be at ease with me-I am Walt Whitman, liberal and lusty as Nature;
Not till the sun excludes you, do I exclude you;
Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you, and the leaves to rustle for you, do my words refuse to glisten and rustle for you.

My girl, I appoint with you an appointment-and I charge you that you make preparation to be worthy to meet me,
And I charge you that you be patient and perfect till I come.

Till then, I salute you with a significant look, that you do not forget me.

mavrick45

what an exploding tree might look like

Dammit! These Christmas tree lightings get earlier every year!

They missed a very important point: if the leaves stayed on the trees, any time there was a wet, heavy snowfall, the weight of the snow collecting on the leaves would pull/tear the branches/limbs off the trees. We had an early heavy snowfall/icestorm in Michigan 11 years ago before the leaves had fallen off the trees. It was like an enchanted forest. The yard was piled full of snow-packed tree limbs that crashed to the ground, to the point that the piles towered over our heads. The snow-encrusted limbs/trunks of the more elastic trees were stretched to the point that they were touching the ground. It was perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever encountered. But devestating to the trees. Lost probably a quarter of their limbs/branches and the trees that could bend only sprang back to half their prior height/angle.

So, deciduous trees also get rid of their leaves because snow/freezing rain would collect on the leaves and all that weight would tear the branches/limbs off of the trees.

DrGunsforHands: They missed a very important point: if the leaves stayed on the trees, any time there was a wet, heavy snowfall, the weight of the snow collecting on the leaves would pull/tear the branches/limbs off the trees. We had an early heavy snowfall/icestorm in Michigan 11 years ago before the leaves had fallen off the trees. It was like an enchanted forest. The yard was piled full of snow-packed tree limbs that crashed to the ground, to the point that the piles towered over our heads. The snow-encrusted limbs/trunks of the more elastic trees were stretched to the point that they were touching the ground. It was perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever encountered. But devestating to the trees. Lost probably a quarter of their limbs/branches and the trees that could bend only sprang back to half their prior height/angle.

So, deciduous trees also get rid of their leaves because snow/freezing rain would collect on the leaves and all that weight would tear the branches/limbs off of the trees.


This happened in Buffalo a few years ago. A foot of snow in mid-October is no fun.

I knew a girl like that once...

/sigh

mrpurple: DrGunsforHands: They missed a very important point: if the leaves stayed on the trees, any time there was a wet, heavy snowfall, the weight of the snow collecting on the leaves would pull/tear the branches/limbs off the trees. We had an early heavy snowfall/icestorm in Michigan 11 years ago before the leaves had fallen off the trees. It was like an enchanted forest. The yard was piled full of snow-packed tree limbs that crashed to the ground, to the point that the piles towered over our heads. The snow-encrusted limbs/trunks of the more elastic trees were stretched to the point that they were touching the ground. It was perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever encountered. But devestating to the trees. Lost probably a quarter of their limbs/branches and the trees that could bend only sprang back to half their prior height/angle.

So, deciduous trees also get rid of their leaves because snow/freezing rain would collect on the leaves and all that weight would tear the branches/limbs off of the trees.


This happened in Buffalo a few years ago. A foot of snow in mid-October is no fun.

Didn't have power for almost a week for the storm I was talking about. No school, but no power, so board games were the primary means of entertainment. Spent most of the time helping cut up fallen tree limbs. Not much fun at all.

DrGunsforHands: They missed a very important point: if the leaves stayed on the trees, any time there was a wet, heavy snowfall, the weight of the snow collecting on the leaves would pull/tear the branches/limbs off the trees. We had an early heavy snowfall/icestorm in Michigan 11 years ago before the leaves had fallen off the trees. It was like an enchanted forest. The yard was piled full of snow-packed tree limbs that crashed to the ground, to the point that the piles towered over our heads. The snow-encrusted limbs/trunks of the more elastic trees were stretched to the point that they were touching the ground. It was perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever encountered. But devastating to the trees. Lost probably a quarter of their limbs/branches and the trees that could bend only sprang back to half their prior height/angle.

So, deciduous trees also get rid of their leaves because snow/freezing rain would collect on the leaves and all that weight would tear the branches/limbs off of the trees.

That happened last week where I live. It was a few inches, but enough to knock down a lot of branches.

God forces them off!

Here comes the awesome

These heartless trees laying off kitchen staff at the first hint of trouble.

The leaves need a union.

I suggest they for the United Autumn Workers and go on strike until their demands are met.

I found that interesting, but my current radio choice defaults to NPR instead of country, Clear Channel, or Fox News, so I may be biased.

Kierkegaard's Pseudonym: I found that interesting, but my current radio choice defaults to NPR instead of country, Clear Channel, or Fox News, so I may be biased.

At least your aren't a smug littler fark stick.

I thought it was a very zen answer. That the tree chooses discards the leaves not the wind simply taking the leaves away.

Good Behavior Day: DrGunsforHands: They missed a very important point: if the leaves stayed on the trees, any time there was a wet, heavy snowfall, the weight of the snow collecting on the leaves would pull/tear the branches/limbs off the trees. We had an early heavy snowfall/icestorm in Michigan 11 years ago before the leaves had fallen off the trees. It was like an enchanted forest. The yard was piled full of snow-packed tree limbs that crashed to the ground, to the point that the piles towered over our heads. The snow-encrusted limbs/trunks of the more elastic trees were stretched to the point that they were touching the ground. It was perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever encountered. But devastating to the trees. Lost probably a quarter of their limbs/branches and the trees that could bend only sprang back to half their prior height/angle.

So, deciduous trees also get rid of their leaves because snow/freezing rain would collect on the leaves and all that weight would tear the branches/limbs off of the trees.

That happened last week where I live. It was a few inches, but enough to knock down a lot of branches.

You are all obviously lying. Global warming means warmer winters so there could not POSSIBLY be a foot of snow in October. Please limit your lying to things that are actually possible to prove by liberal science.

You do not call "All Things Considered" boring.

I'd give up TV if I had to just to keep listening to that show.

Plenty of trees in Los Angeles stay green all year. Then again, we don't have snow.

Because the glue only lasts so long?

this whole hubbub about falling leaves reminded me of Behrman's masterpiece...

/obscure?

nobody learned this in school?

SfK: i always thought leaves fell from the tree once the nutrients stored in them were absorbed into the tree for the upcoming harsh climate

I remember reading about this too - the green chlorophyll is broken down and absorbed, which is why the leaves change color.

DrGunsforHands: They missed a very important point: if the leaves stayed on the trees, any time there was a wet, heavy snowfall, the weight of the snow collecting on the leaves would pull/tear the branches/limbs off the trees. We had an early heavy snowfall/icestorm in Michigan 11 years ago before the leaves had fallen off the trees. It was like an enchanted forest. The yard was piled full of snow-packed tree limbs that crashed to the ground, to the point that the piles towered over our heads. The snow-encrusted limbs/trunks of the more elastic trees were stretched to the point that they were touching the ground. It was perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever encountered. But devestating to the trees. Lost probably a quarter of their limbs/branches and the trees that could bend only sprang back to half their prior height/angle.

So, deciduous trees also get rid of their leaves because snow/freezing rain would collect on the leaves and all that weight would tear the branches/limbs off of the trees.

Similarly, I guess high winds can damage limbs with leaves.

Imagine if you were designing the leaves on a tree the number of factors you would have to take into account, and you'd still never know if there's something you forgot to think of... I love how the evolved solution is always* the way it is for a multitude of very good reasons, and we just need to figure them out.

*except in the case of a shift in environment, but then the reason can be explained in the context of the old environment.

I was going to read that... but then I remembered that I actually payed attention in school 30 years ago.

I guess in some places in Manhattan, where they have steam pipes for heating buildings, the ground near the pipes will heat up and trees close to them will think it's spring and start sprouting leaves in the winter. usually this has the effect of killing the trees.

yeesh, that is kinda boring.

good times, good times

bugdog: Much more interesting is the NPR story about how maple trees are exploding due to fewer trees being tapped for syrup.

Heh, love those April stories from NPR

Franco: I thought it was a very zen answer. That the tree chooses discards the leaves not the wind simply taking the leaves away.

Even better: The tree discards the leaves in a manner to make it appear the wind is simply taking the leaves away.

vicejay: Franco: I thought it was a very zen answer. That the tree chooses discards the leaves not the wind simply taking the leaves away.

Even better: The tree discards the leaves in a manner to make it appear the wind is simply taking the leaves away.

What about the leaves deciding they are done with being anchored to the trees? Don't the leaves have any say in this matter?