How old is this tree?

azrael

This tree was first inspected in 2004 ... I went past today to get a photo ...

HOW OLD IS THIS TREE????? (I know .... whats your guess ....???)

The specimen is a massive Eucalyptus botryoides x saligna, located quite prominently a property in Mt Kembla, Wollongong, NSW Australia.
The tree is an impressive 38.5m tall specimen, with a canopy radius of 12 metres and girth diameter of 1.4metres.



This specimen is purported to be transplanted a seedling from local bushland, planted here by the Rutty Family about 84 years ago. (Mt Kembla was then a mining village ... the tree is in the grounds of the Heritage Listed Post Office).

I was not so happy to see all the "new landscaping" around the tree ... although the cubby has been there a very long time.

The exact age of the tree... 84 years in 2008.

Eric Frei

I was gonna guess 100 years.

Now, here's the funny part.

Most of where I drive around etc I guess most trees to be max 100 years or less.

In some further out towns I guess some to be perhaps 150 years old and max 200 years old.

So where's all the 500 year old ones i wonder?

Went to Lamington National Park rain forest and WOW, some huge trees that would be 500 years old.

I think for the better part most around cities is regrowth due to clearing and logging way back. Only when you get right out of the cities into the boondocks to you get real big old trees.

Where's some 500 year old+ eucs? What do they look like?

__________________

Sean Freeman

Great picture Azreal, I was loathed to guess after my attempt on the regrowth pics Eric put up but would have said around 75yrs mark, they can be so variable up here, when a water and in good conditions reach that size (diff species!) in 40-50yrs but in unfavourable conditions yes 100yrs plus!
Some of the best guides you can get come from the Botanic gardens if you're lucky enough to have one in your locality...where you know when trees were planted, and can judge the growth rate.

I'd also say that that you'd prpobably find the really old trees heading towards the 500yrs range further south, every other aspect of the ecosystem is so pumped up here that as the trees age even without our "helpful" interventions they rapidly fall into the spiral of "recycling" through many thousands of little organisms living out their life cycles on and in the wood tissues.

treevet

There is a 500 year old Bur oak down the hill at the end of my block I have worked on for years. I know it is that old as HO had it increment bored in 1980 and it was 480 plus old. If I was involved then I probably wouldn't have been a party to that due to invasiveness and spread of decay.

Do they do this in Oz Azrael?

azrael

Age determination ... definately not me ... but I cant speak for others.

My (co-owned) increment borer is hardly used ... and when it has its been for determing the depth of decay. (They go thru corrupt wood quite easily...Im not sure it would survive a bore thru our big healthy hardwood Eucs ... even with vaseline). They get jammed pretty easily .... and Ive heard of breakage too.

treevet

That sounded somewhat erotic....until the breakage part

Sean Freeman

They sure can break and the density of the wood in some of our Eucs would be too much I reckon...remember the Bistlecomb pine fiasco? At least this was one version of how the oldest living single organism on the planet ended up being cut down to read the rings!!!! Anyway rather than have my coloured version read this its well written and pretty fair, and interesting.

Oldest Living Tree Tells All, by Michael P. Cohen : Essays : Terrain.org

treevet

Great (great) read Sean, Thanks!

treevet

PS You know the only one that s going to have a good night's sleep at the end of the day besides Lambert is the l5$ hour park employee that refused to put a saw in that tree. I want to be that guy.

Probably make a nice little made for tv movie.