How specifically can you reasonably determine tree age?

[openspaceman]

6 hours ago, Paul Barton said:

If you have a resistance drill (eg Resistograph) of high enough resolution the reading will show annual rings. As long as the drill bit can penetrate the entire radius that could give you useful information. 

During a faculty dinner at the university of West London's the Professor said experiments with ground penetrating radar were showing up annual rings when used to detect decay. From the little I understood the science was in the algorithm that processed the return signal rather than it being a breakthrough.

[daltontrees]

On 04/03/2018 at 01:34, Willow Warbler said:

Thanks for all your responses.  Anno, I will check out the Ancient Tree Forum.

 

Steve and Gary: I am a little confused as it sounds like using an increment borer is a really frowned upon.  I am aware you can get ones which are 20 inches long, so these would presumably deal with some species of tree which were planted about 70 years ago – as you have to twist them in just beyond the centre of the trunk before extracting the core.  

 

You don't need to go all the way to the centre. Hitting the centre would be lucky anyway. All that is really required is to know the average annual increment, and you'd probably get that from about 15 or 20 rings which will probably not exceed 120mm. Everything else can be done by extrapolation and application of the method published by the Forestry Commission. Can PM me if you need details.

Edited March 5, 2018 by daltontrees