Of all the oaks, it is the most sought after and valuable because of its strength and appearance. Large diameter White Oak trees have become an increasingly rare wood as most quality timber was harvested over a century ago. While Old Tjikko has come to be known as the “world’s oldest tree” it is not quite as old as the Jurupa Oak (over 13,000 years), which was discovered a year later. Old Tjikko When Old Tjikko was first discovered in Sweden in 2008, it was declared the world’s oldest tree and estimated to be about 10,000 years old. How old is the oldest oak tree in the world? Trees may live up to 400 years according to the US Forest Service. When they grow in the open, red oaks don’t get as tall but they can develop stouter trunks, up to six feet in diameter. You might be interested: Quick Answer: How To Transplant Live Oak Tree? How long do red oak trees live? For example, a Shumard oak with a trunk diameter of 20 inches is about 60 years old. Multiply the oak’s diameter in inches times the growth factor to get the approximate age of your oak. Measure the circumference of the oak’s trunk. Look in tree identification resources online or in your local library. Can you tell the age of an oak tree by its circumference? As trees mature at around 20 years, a 10 year old oak tree size, then could be anywhere between 10 feet and 20 feet tall, but this varies. How tall is a 10 year old oak tree?Ī white oak’s growth rate is considered “medium”, growing between 1 foot and 1 and 1/2 feet per year. The tree is valued for its deep root system, which makes it useful for planting near urban streets and sidewalks. Red oak is a hardy tree suitable for growing in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 8. Now you will have a rough age of the living tree! Is red oak A good tree? Next, calculate the diameter and then multiply the diameter by the species’ average growth factor. First, you measure the circumference of the trunk in inches. We won’t be able to say for sure until the tree is dead.To do this, you need to multiply the diameter of the tree by its species-specific growth factor. A 48” tree is about 23% larger than that, so we would calculate it to be 312 years old, and say the tree could be 300 years old! In the case of the 48” bur oak, again, we know that a 39” specimen is about 254 years old. To be a little conservative, we say the tree could be 400 years old. Our specimen is 40% larger than that, which would mean 417 years old if it grew in diameter at the same rate when it was 300 as it did when it was much younger. In the case of the 54½” white oak, we look at the table that tells us a 39” white oak is about 298 years old. So, for the really large trees – like the 54 ½” white oak at Gateway Park or the 48” bur oak at Hennen Conservation Area, one has to extrapolate. One important thing to notice, however, is that the table stops at 39” dbh. The various ages for the various diameters of the various species of trees were analyzed and a table showing the approximate age for different diameters of different species was created. The table was created using actual data from a large number of trees that were “aged” either after death or by using a coring tool that allows one to take a small core from the tree so that the rings can be counted without cutting the tree down. The short answer is that we look the size up on a table that Marlin Bowles at the Morton Arboretum created to help people estimate the age of various trees based on the tree’s diameter at breast height (dbh): When we say that we found an oak that is at least 400 years old, what do we base that conclusion on? Obviously, we would have to cut the tree down to count the rings, and unless it is already dead, we aren’t going to do that! Women Caring for the Land Learning Circles.
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