Ancient Trees.

[Wayne]

Here is an interesting insight into the work of a good friend of mine Andy.

When not chasing orcs at Oakraven he can be found in academic circles.

https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-e...BCyXXbhyJNFQxuE1ulZJsDFjAtlyXr2dasd5BUoQkyeP8

 

[Toddy]

Interesting Thank you for the link.

I wonder about Yew trees though, (and some other very long lived trees like oaks) because their core dies off (or is burnt out in Beltane rituals like the one at Fortingall) because there is no longer a 'core' to bore out, there is no dendrochronology beyond the surviving outer layers. How does he deal with that when working out a true age for the tree?

M

 

[Wayne]

Interesting Thank you for the link.

I wonder about Yew trees though, (and some other very long lived trees like oaks) because their core dies off (or is burnt out in Beltane rituals like the one at Fortingall) because there is no longer a 'core' to bore out, there is no dendrochronology beyond the surviving outer layers. How does he deal with that when working out a true age for the tree?

M

I’ll ask him.

 

[Stew]

Interesting!

I've logged some trees on the ancient tree project. I wonder if they get classified younger now!

 

[Broch]

There was a bit in the RFS news a couple of weeks back about this. I have personal experience of it; an 'old' oak on our land was estimated at about 250 years old by its girth but when it was blown over two years ago we found it was only 150 years old - still a lovely tree though

 

[petrochemicals]

I Find your friends claims questionable as newtons apple tree is still present and that is 400 years ago. I do know what he means about Yews, I had always thought they replaced there trunks.

 

[Janne]

Newton’s apple tree might be a myth. Many trees in Europe had famous people ( born, died, relaxed) in their shade, but science show they are much younger.

Still, I do not think those ‘myths’ about age should be investigated. They are very old, beautiful trees, and should be protected and taken care of!
It matter not if they are 150 or 1500 years old!

 

[Robson Valley]

A "true age" for any tree is a difficult thing to establish. A good approximation can be derived from the ring count rings per inch.
Some, aspens and creosote bush, it's a pure estimate in the thousands of years for the colony.
Pinus aristata = P. longaeva in the mountains of Utah has been cored to 7,500 yrs.

Do you have a natural fire cycle at all? Here it runs 70-100 years so any old trees are really peculiarities.

In my avatar, I'm standing in front of slabs of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) of approx 350 years in age.
The tree had died, the wood was full of rot-pockets everywhere.

In a rough judgement, I don't think that any of the western red cedar that I carve is more than 400 years old.