Clearing a Path

[quicksandfarmer]

Without cutting it down and counting the rings, I think you might be off on how old that tree is. My land was cleared by the US Army in 1942 to build a Training Base for soldiers going to WW2. Every tree was removed.

Since closing the base in 1945, the trees have been cleared for farming, but not all of them, and some are probably from 1945. None are any older than that, and I have quite a few oak trees that are as big as yours, with a couple that are quite a bit bigger.

I own a piece of land that was cleared by the US Army in the Civil War for an artillery battery. It's wooded now so I figured the trees were all about 150 years old. A 48" white oak fell in a storm and when I counted the rings it had about 100.

 

[Jaybr]

I'll take some measurements when I get back over there, but based on this I'll stick with my "200 years" estimate.

I estimate the diameter at 5+ feet, even if I'm off by a foot and the Diameter is only 4' that puts the circumference at 12' 6".

 

[quicksandfarmer]

There's no way you can estimate the age of a tree from its diameter. Trees grow at varying rates depending on conditions. I think we've all seen wood of the same species where new growth has rings 1/4" apart and old growth might have 50 rings to the inch.

I just posted about a 100-year-old white oak -- I counted the rings -- that was 4' at chest level. A black cherry that was 32"+ at chest was 52 years old. Maybe I'm OCD, but when I cut up a tree I try to count the rings, just to learn more about my property. I recently cut up a tree where the early rings were quite tight, but the recent ones were 1/4" or more. I counted the new rings and there were 18 of them. Eighteen years ago I had cleared around that tree and it had taken off.

This is a piece of wood from my old barn, about 150 years old (See This Old Barn ). Those rings are about the size of my fingerprints. That's white pine. If you were to buy a piece today at Home Depot the rings would be 3/8" apart.

 

[Axing]

Sir, I feel that your tractors will come with a loader bucket, how does this work, we rarely have this configuration on our side

 

[Jaybr]

There's no way you can estimate the age of a tree from its diameter.

I guess that depends on how accurate you expect your estimate to be

How To Determine Age Of White Oak Tree? (A Guide To Estimating) | Tree Pursuits

Have you ever wondered how to determine the age of a white oak tree? It can be a difficult process, but it’s not impossible. In…

treepursuits.com

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I guess that depends on how accurate you expect your estimate to be

How To Determine Age Of White Oak Tree? (A Guide To Estimating) | Tree Pursuits

Have you ever wondered how to determine the age of a white oak tree? It can be a difficult process, but it’s not impossible. In…

treepursuits.com

That piece reads like it was written by AI.

 

[Jaybr]

That piece reads like it was written by AI.

There is a calculator here

 

[MossRoad]

Around here, trees age like this.... An oak tree sitting out in the middle of a field with no competition for sunlight will grow short and stout, like the FAT oaks you see along country roads next to fields. You put that same oak tree in a forest with other trees where it has to compete for sunlight, and it will grow tall and straight, but not nearly as FAT.

We have a section in our forest that we planted in 1989 with alternating rows of pines and mixed hardwoods. The pines grow fast to stress the hardwoods to reach for sunlight between them. Eventually, the hardwoods peak out over the pines and start putting on girth.

After 35 years, the largest hardwoods are only about 12-16" in diameter at chest height in that section.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

There is a calculator here

Let's see, what should I believe, some clickbait content farm Internet site, or my own eyes counting rings in trees I cut with my own hands? Hmm, boy, that's a tough one...

 

[Jstpssng]

Around here, trees age like this.... An oak tree sitting out in the middle of a field with no competition for sunlight will grow short and stout, like the FAT oaks you see along country roads next to fields. You put that same oak tree in a forest with other trees where it has to compete for sunlight, and it will grow tall and straight, but not nearly as FAT.

The link in the post just above yours states that very thing. Yet I have looked at enough growth rings and counted enough branch whorls to take any other method of aging them with a grain of salt.
You can have two trees side by side the same age; one will be big and tall, the other will be short and scrawny because it lost the fight for sunlight and nutrients.

Kinda like the song by Rush...