Root size calculation from height?

mrdtr

Hello,

Can anyone advise, i understand there to be a forumla you can apply to estimate the root area / diamter of a tree by multiplier the height by a certain value. Can anyone advise what this might be and if it can be roughly applied to any species? Ideally a link to the source for this would be good as i'm trying to do some calculations with tree height data i have.

Also, i have read somewhere else that the tree crown span is approximately the same size as the root struture under the ground, again, can anyone advise?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jeffrey Lovstrom

Roughly one and a half times the height; or up to three times the drip line.
Jeff

mrdtr

Jeff

Thanks for the response.

I work in GIS (mapping systems) and are doing some work looking at deriving tree heights and crown size from aerial imagery, so a rough calulation to multiply the height by to form the estimated root size is very useful.

If anyone has any advice about any corelation between crown size + height and species type that would be really useful too. We are finding trying to determin species type from imagery alone to be very difficult, but if there is a rough formula between height and crown size then we could attemp to categorise using this method.

thanks again for the advice.

IW

Garry Brockley

Your biggest problem is that every tree is growing in a different media, therefore some will have a large spreading root system and others will be held back by stone ect, i worked in the peak district removing fraxinus excelsior the root zones were enormous due to the fact that they grew in peat, whereas in lincolnshire there are large areas of limestone 300mm below the surface and the roots there were generally held back.
just some thoughts for you

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