Age of trees

[clemsonfor]

So using wngsprd's attached photos, would you count the LIGHT and DARK rings as separate years? Across that cut, I see dark, light, dark, light, etc.,... or is each "dark, light" one year?

one light ring followed by one dark ring is ONE years of growth.

 

[Pilot]

Think of it this way. Each ring (light + dark wood = 1 ring) represents a layer of wood all the way up the tree to the height of the tree when that ring was put down. At year one and 4" tall it will put on one layer of wood up to the 4" height. Next year it might be 18" tall and will have 2 rings up to the 4" mark, one ring above 4" to it's 18" top and so on as the tree grows. The outermost ring is the latest year's growth and extends the full height up the tree, while the first ring will still only go up 4".

 

[jrclark]

I didn't have a chance to count the rings on this red oak I cut yesterday, but will be back today. Or as cold as is will be today, maybe I'll just count using these photos. My son gave me a book last year called Woodcut, by Bryan Nash Gill. He makes prints from cross sections of trees that he has sanded smooth after cutting. The book has some of the most incredible views of tree rings I have seen, some with burls, some double trunks, etc.

73 by my count. Don't take my word for it though, as I'm a bit amateurish in the area of ring counting.