Ageing trees??

French Creek hunter

Full Member
Dec 8, 2011
100
12
Charleston,WV
Detector(s) used
White's Classic 5id, Minelab E-Trac.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've been doing some research on dating trees, other than cutting down the actual tree and counting the rings. I usually measure the radius of the tree after measuring 5' from the base of the tree. Divide the inches by one and that should give you the age of the tree. Your now asking what this has to do with metal detecting, well, it has a lot to do with it. If you can age all the trees in the area you can get a clear date on when the area started to become either abandoned or when civilization started to come into the area. I wanted to learn how to do soil samples too, but I figure that takes a lot of scientific objects that I don't have or are too expensive to buy. I plan to get a E-Trac this winter, then I hope I can go to my civil war location once I have a good tree growth guide book and measure me some trees!:icon_thumright:


Another topic I wanted to ask y'all. If you contact Kellyco and ask for just the E-Trac,bag,and informational guide book. Do you think they would subtract the shovel,head-phones,etc, from the cost of the metal detector? Because all I want is the metal detector basically. I know it's like $1,500 for the whole thing but I hope to get it for $1,300 or so.
 

spartacus53

Banned
Jul 5, 2009
10,503
1,073
Whiting, NJ
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Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You do have to keep in mind that various trees do have different growth rates i.e. Hardwood vs. softwood trees. Another thing is the yearly environment, some years they may have a stunted growth due to drought etc.

Look at it this way, if the tree is sizable, it may be old :tongue3:
 

diggummup

Gold Member
Jul 15, 2004
17,815
10,120
Somewhere in the woods
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Whites M6
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Divide the inches by one
Why bother dividing by 1? It's the same number.:dontknow::icon_scratch: I'm with Spart, you have to take into account the tree's growth factor.

The formula is... Diameter (not radius) x's growth factor= "approx." tree age.

TreeGrowth Factor
American beech6
American beech6
American elm4
American sycamore4
Austrian pine4.5
Black cherry5
Black maple5
Black walnut4.5
Bradford pear (invasive non-native, not recommended)3
Common horsechestnut8
Colorado blue spruce4.5
Cottonwood2
Douglas fir5
European beech4
European white birch5
Green ash4
Ironwood7
Kentucky coffee tree3
Littleleaf linden3
Northern red oak4
Norway maple4.5
Norway spruce5
Pin oak3
Redbud7
Red maple4.5
Red pine5.5
River birch3.5
River birch3.5
Scarlet oak4
Scotch pine3.5
Shagbark hickory7.5
Shagbark hickory7.5
Shingle oak6
Shingle oak6
Shumard oak3
Silver maple3
Sugar maple5.5
Sweet gum4
Tulip tree3
White ash5
White fir7.5
White oak5
White pine5
Yellow buckeye5
 

Frankn

Gold Member
Mar 21, 2010
8,711
2,988
Maryland
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XLT , surfmaster PI , HAYS 2Box , VIBRA-TECTOR
I go along with the above posts. There are variables to tree growth. There is a core sample tool that removes a plug from a tree to get the annual ring count. It is as accurate as you can get. I personally think you are wasting your time with the tree research. Your time would be better spent looking at the actual history of the area. That gives you a meaningful date. Frank
 

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French Creek hunter

Full Member
Dec 8, 2011
100
12
Charleston,WV
Detector(s) used
White's Classic 5id, Minelab E-Trac.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Good points. I like to find out about the metal detector thing that I asked if anyone wants to reply to that. Thank you Diggumup for the chart, I've been looking for one of those.
 

Mainelypulltab

Full Member
Aug 26, 2011
233
79
New England
Detector(s) used
Excal II
diggummup and spart are correct, many variables involved in guestimating the age of a tree. There is a good book by Tom Wessels called Reading the Forested Landscape. Depending on where you live, this book gives you indicators to look for to help you determine if a certain patch of woods was once a field, a garden, has it been harvested, has there been a fire in the past, etc.... If your hunting the ocean and are wondering how old the palm trees are, this book is most likely not the book you are looking for. As far as Kellyco, I would recommend you call them and ask, the worst they can say is no. Best of luck to you and in my opinion, I think it is good to read about different things you have little knowledge on. As the saying goes, A man who can read and does not is no better than a man who can not read.
 

Frankn

Gold Member
Mar 21, 2010
8,711
2,988
Maryland
Detector(s) used
XLT , surfmaster PI , HAYS 2Box , VIBRA-TECTOR
Kellyco likes to bundle, but I have purchased jest the detector from them in the past.
I like the saying that goes something like this, You can fish and feed a man for a day, or you can teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Frank
 

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