Another silly question from me...

Wulfskaar

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Just curious... If a very old, dead bonsai tree were to be cut right through the trunk, would you be able to count rings to accurately age the tree as you could in a normal sized tree?
 

ShadyStump

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Thanks! That's pretty cool to know.

I was recently watching "The Curse of Oak Island" and they use dendrochonology to find ages of old timbers and it got me wondering about bonsai trees.
Wow, we haven't watched that in a WHILE. Need to get back to it.

On the original question, Yes you could, but once you've gotten them into pots, they slow down growth in the trunk so much that it would take a very fine saw making a very smooth cut to see the rings with rather good magnifying glass. But those rings are still being added every year. They're just very, very thin.

I recall seeing a special as a kid on how doctors and engineers had built a computerized machine that would take a frozen human body (donated to science) and millimeter by millimeter sand it down and take a digital picture of each layer in between. This allowed for them to develop a complete 3D digital model of human anatomy for the first time.
I've often wondered what it might look like with some of the trees I've seen if they did a similar procedure.
 

sorce

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F that show! I was overhearing a new? Episode the other day.

So suspenseful...yet...damn so stupid!

I'd a had that shit out already!

Sorce
 

penumbra

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F that show! I was overhearing a new? Episode the other day.

So suspenseful...yet...damn so stupid!

I'd a had that shit out already!

Sorce
I don't see much tv as we only stream NF and Amazon. But I watched it when out of town almost two episodes, and like Ancient Aliens, it is the same boring crap every show.
 

Wulfskaar

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@sorce @penumbra
I kinda like the show because they now have several archaeologist there and they find a lot of neat old stuff, some of it buried 100 ft deep! They have found things that are hard to explain, so that makes it interesting for me. But hey, I love archaeology and history, so it makes it interesting for me. As far as Ancient Aliens... well... I guess I'm more interested in current aliens with all these new Navy videos coming out! 👽🛸

@ShadyStump
I've seen what you're talking about! So crazy! I've also seen where they somehow pulled out only the nervous system of a person. I'd also LOVE to see more things like this, except with trees.
 

penumbra

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@sorce @penumbra
I kinda like the show because they now have several archaeologist there and they find a lot of neat old stuff, some of it buried 100 ft deep! They have found things that are hard to explain, so that makes it interesting for me. But hey, I love archaeology and history, so it makes it interesting for me. As far as Ancient Aliens... well... I guess I'm more interested in current aliens with all these new Navy videos coming out! 👽🛸

@ShadyStump
I've seen what you're talking about! So crazy! I've also seen where they somehow pulled out only the nervous system of a person. I'd also LOVE to see more things like this, except with trees.
They are TV people. They couldn't survive on their archeological skills.
Ancient archeology has been a passion of mine for nearly 60 years.
This doesn't qualify in my book.
 

sorce

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The more "Alien" Videos I see, the more sure I am that's a load too!

Flat Earth!

Sorce
 

atlarsenal

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I have some "oldish" stuff I keep around to remind me how much dead trees cost. Next week I'll take a saw-zall to 'em and we'll find out! Then a funeral pyre-n-cocktails!!
That’s funny, I keep dead ones around for a while just to remind me not to do that again.
 

Paradox

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Thanks! That's pretty cool to know.

I was recently watching "The Curse of Oak Island" and they use dendrochonology to find ages of old timbers and it got me wondering about bonsai trees.

I love that show, its pretty cool and pretty nuts all the things they are doing to try and figure out the secrets of that island.
They have made some interesting finds too.

As for questions, there are no silly questions. Asking questions is one of the ways we can learn

I took the trees I lost in the sprinkler mishap a couple of years ago and burned them in the fire place as tribute to the bonsai gods while drinking a good adult beverage and vowing not to repeat the circumstances that caused their deaths.
 

Wulfskaar

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They are TV people. They couldn't survive on their archeological skills.
Ancient archeology has been a passion of mine for nearly 60 years.
This doesn't qualify in my book.
This last season or two, they have a couple archaeologists and a geologist from a local university in Nova Scotia.

The TV production does a very good job of sensationalizing and speculating, but the scientists on the ground there are real. At least that's my take on it.
 

Carol 83

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Ancient Aliens,
Lol, that show has caused quite a few spirited arguments between my husband and my son. My son trying to convince his dad that aliens did not build the pyramids! My only thought about the show is if they want it to be credible, why do they have the guy with the crazy hair? :D
 

ShadyStump

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Lol, that show has caused quite a few spirited arguments between my husband and my son. My son trying to convince his dad that aliens did not build the pyramids! My only thought about the show is if they want it to be credible, why do they have the guy with the crazy hair? :D
Dead on with the crazy hair thing! Lol
Though, I have seen almost every episode except the last couple seasons. It's the guy with the crazy hair I think. He's fun.

My whole argument against alien pyramids is very simple.
You've obviously never overcome something big via ingenuity and sheer physical labor if you can't imagine how a few thousand people working together could do something like that. Go do more work; you'll figure it out.
 

Carol 83

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Dead on with the crazy hair thing! Lol
Though, I have seen almost every episode except the last couple seasons. It's the guy with the crazy hair I think. He's fun.

My whole argument against alien pyramids is very simple.
You've obviously never overcome something big via ingenuity and sheer physical labor if you can't imagine how a few thousand people working together could do something like that. Go do more work; you'll figure it out.
My son has tried this argument to no avail, lol. I'm staying out of it. I have more important things to do, like sneaking in new trees.
 

Shibui

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Just curious... If a very old, dead bonsai tree were to be cut right through the trunk, would you be able to count rings to accurately age the tree as you could in a normal sized tree?
You can count rings in any tree small or larger, As mentioned even bonsai go through growth spurts and dormancy.
The trouble with growth rings is that some years trees growth gets interrupted by dry, by fire, by a cold snap, etc. They sometimes add a couple of different growth rings in a single year. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between annual and seasonal growth rings. Dendrochronology is not exact and counting rings is really only an estimate unless you have a reference to match the piece to.
 
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