How does one assign a 300 year age to a collected spruce like that? I'm curious what method yields the most accurate results.
http://www.coloradobonsai.com/0502Front.jpg
This is a problem I have with age setting as well. It is almost impossible to know how old a tree is without killing it and counting the rings. Some claim to have autopsied some dead trees in the same area of the same size and come up with that answer. Sometimes the character of the bark can give you a clue. In the example of White Bark Pine, in my readings about this tree it has been said that it has to be 200 years old before it produces cones. Assuming this figure to be correct, and I question it too if you are not, if you encounter one of these trees with cones on it, it must be 200 years old.
I have a collected Larch that I estimate to be about 150 years old. I dug it from Northern Michigan in the 80's. It was a root sucker that had sprung up from an older tree cut down when most of the Northern forests were harvested 125 years earlier. So I have a time line that is more or less confirmed by history and location. Is this figure accurate? Probably pretty close but again without destroying the tree it is impossible to tell for sure.
However; in the case of Yamadori you have to consider the conditions that cause them to form in the first place; poor soil, high altitude, severe winters, avalanches, animal browsing, lightning strikes, limited seasons, and so on, the list can be as long as your ability to come up with things to put on it. I do not mean to be criticizing Colorado Bonsai, their methods are probably pretty accurate but it is at best an educated guess. Even tree rings are not totally accurate. In good years a tree can produce two sets of rings, in bad years they can produce none that are discernible short of a microscopic inspection. Here again I do not wish to call Colorado Bonsai into question. When dealing with people who are in this as a business you will find that sometimes, some dealers tend to inflate age estimates because Americans tend to spend more money for older trees. You will find this a lot on Ebay, local bonsai nurseries, and road side vendors.
From what I understand Colorado Bonsai has a good reputation and I am certain that they would not purposely inflate the age of their material just to sell it and charge more money. Harvesting trees is a difficult and demanding process and they deserve credit for making a career of it. They have to deal with bad roads, long climbs up mountain sides, rattle snakes, bears, Big Foot??, and pesky rangers with attitude. Then they have to hump out their harvest by hand. This is not easy at 5000 ft or better, and the older I get the more aware of this I become.
