Wanna Play? How Big,? How Old?

ghues

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I have a number of trees that show age beyond their years....maybe that is......
First up:
Newly collected Shore Pine (Pinus Contorta Contorta).....how large?
image.jpeg
Cheers Graham
 

ghues

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image.jpeg Second up:
Another newly collected shore pine with really nice "corky" deeply fissured bark.....some say that conifers like this show such bark characteristics after 50.....same age as when I really noticed my aging wrinkles.
So any guesses on its age? How about its size?
G.
 

ghues

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About a foot away from the 4in trim, 5in siding, and 6in siding.....

I'll go with 10in.

Second one is a trick question!

Sorce
Thanks for playing......the first one is almost at the edge of my bench although it appears closer to the siding..... I'll see if I get any other guesses........the second one....no trick although guessing the age of a tree can be anyone's guess as there is only a few true ways to find out. Basically I was showing these trees to show how great the bark is. Generally speaking the bark on Lodgepole pine around here doesn't get "corky" bark instead it tends to be very "scaly" so these L. Pines are geographically isolated and some folks have suggested that the corky bark might be based on environmental conditions....for when you collect/grow smaller and younger ones they grow with the more traditional bark. I've seen lots of photos of Corky bark JBP's but haven't seen anything like that on North American Lodgepole Pines.....has anyone?
G
 

aml1014

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I'd say based off where you said it's placed on the bench, maybe 16" tall and a guess of maybe 40-60 years old.
That second one is OLD!
Aaron
 

ghues

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I'd say based off where you said it's placed on the bench, maybe 16" tall and a guess of maybe 40-60 years old.
That second one is OLD!
Aaron
Thanks Aaron,
I was trying to get folks hear discussing age (do we attain it from time only?) and size (bigger isn't always older) etc.......I'm a firm believer that environmental factors play a huge role influencing the character of trees especially if they are under "stressful" conditions. Look at ouselves.....put us under a lot of stress and we start to show age beyond our years.....same goes for trees.....
Cheers Graham
 

aml1014

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Thanks Aaron,
I was trying to get folks hear discussing age (do we attain it from time only?) and size (bigger isn't always older) etc.......I'm a firm believer that environmental factors play a huge role influencing the character of trees especially if they are under "stressful" conditions. Look at ouselves.....put us under a lot of stress and we start to show age beyond our years.....same goes for trees.....
Cheers Graham
I see, I'm not very good at estimating the age of yamadori yet. I have quite a few trees that show signs of quite a bit of age but Ive got no clue as to how old they may be because of environmental factors as you said.

Aaron
 

rockm

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It is impossible to tell the age of a tree just by looking at the exterior. There is no way to accurately estimate the age of any yamadori, really. From what I hear, some folks have worked out a way to tell the age of ponderosa pine yamadori by counting the growth fascicles at the ends of branches. Whether that is accurate is up for debate.

The only way to get an accurate measure of a tree's age is to cut it down to about a foot and count the growth rings in the trunk, which kind of makes it useless for bonsai.
 

Wilson

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Graham it is always a pleasure to see what you are pulling out of the wild west coast! I am seriously excited for my camper voyage out west next year.
 

jcrossett

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I'll guess a foot.

And that barking is great.

Maybe 50 years.

Can you cut it in half count the rings and glue it back together :).
 

ghues

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It is impossible to tell the age of a tree just by looking at the exterior. There is no way to accurately estimate the age of any yamadori, really. From what I hear, some folks have worked out a way to tell the age of ponderosa pine yamadori by counting the growth fascicles at the ends of branches. Whether that is accurate is up for debate.

The only way to get an accurate measure of a tree's age is to cut it down to about a foot and count the growth rings in the trunk, which kind of makes it useless for bonsai.

Thanks Rockm, Wilson and Jcrosset......yes age is difficult if not impossible to "accurately" determine........especially the age of yamadori but I do believe that some species and trees can attain a mature/aged look (characteristics) much beyond the actual age (or compared to other trees within the same species under different ecological environs- we have shore pine on the east coast of Vancouver Island but they portray a much different bark than these ones from the west coast). These pines are a delight to behold (just hope they makes it) with such nice bark, deadwood, twists, angles, etc

So......the first one is as tall as a tooth brush.......the second one is much shorter than that.....here are some photos.
I do have some other "trees" that I know the age .......as I've grown then from seedlings...I've applied some stress factors in the pursuit of the aged look and I'll share the technique and results.
Cheers G.
 

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ghues

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Next Up: How old do you think this tree is? More information on it with each guess. Species Western Hemlock.

image.jpeg
 

ghues

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Thanks.....initially grown as a forest seedling in a styroblock, the forest seedling nursery manager knew that I liked unusual trees of any form.......this is an anomaly in that it's leaves are formed very differently than normal. I learned quickly that one of the negatives on this tree is that the branches are very brittle especially considering that other hemlock branches are flexible, clip and grow with the use of guy wires only.
I've been in the forest industry 41 years.
 

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