It is common behavior to count tree rings whenever you come across an old tree stump. The question is, are you counting them for fun or are you counting them to determine their age?

Yes, the rings on a tree can tell you its age and a lot more. So if you want to get some exciting information on tree age rings, then keep reading!

Tree Age Rings: What They Represent

As we all know, some trees can live for thousands of years, with each year bringing its own experiences. The tree rings record the age and experiences of a tree.

Dendrochronology is known as the science of studying such experiences. It works to date happenings and environmental changes through the study of tree rings.

For many centuries, scientists have worked tirelessly studying tree rings and all it signifies. They use the information collected from these studies to better understand climate, atmospheric changes, and the geography of a specific area.

READ: How To Know A Tree’s Gender

Apart from telling us the age of a tree, growth rings also help us understand the climate conditions that the tree has experienced throughout its lifetime.

What Is A Tree Ring?

When you look at the surface of a tree stump, you will observe a series of ring patterns.

It all begins with a small ring in the middle and is surrounded by other larger rings that spread across the full span of the surface. You will also find that the larger circles encompass the smaller ones before them.

The ring in the center indicates the tree’s first growth year. The following rings indicate the following years and the climate conditions at the time.

The rings grow right under the bark, and as they do, the bark is pushed out.

The reason tree rings are produced is as a result of the tree manufacturing new cells each year. The growth layers function as a timeline that carries a detailed account of its growth and its growing conditions throughout its life.

Trees struggle to adapt to several climatic conditions, and with tree rings, we can understand to an extent, how they manage to do so.

Do Tree Rings Tell Age?

In America, a tree growing season usually kicks off in the spring. Taking a look at a tree sample, this season is identified by lightly colored pale wood.

Growth is slower at Summer’s end, and this creates smaller walls and wood with dark colors.

For a one-year cycle, you will find a light pale wood that grew at the beginning of the year, as well as a dark wood that grew at the end of the year.

When you cut a tree, you may notice alternating light as well as dark wood rings. When you count the dark rings, you will arrive at the age of the tree.

Luckily, a tree doesn’t have to be cut down to study its growth rings. You can use a boring tool to collect a tree sample and analyze the rings.

By drilling into the tree, it will shoot out sections of wood, and you get an uncompromised sample of the core.

A professional tree service company will have this tool. The arborist can take the sample and will know exactly how to cover up the hole to stop the sample excretion. If the hole is not covered up and the sample keeps spilling out, the tree will die.

A professional arborist will also be able to select the dead trees to collect samples from. They will avoid working with healthy trees as much as they can.

If you count the rings on a tree, you’d be shocked to find thousands of rings on the tree. If you take a closer look, you will find that the rings have different shapes and sizes. They also have different space lengths between them, which tell you the type of conditions they have lived through.

Tree Rings And Climate

Commonly, tree rings have different variations that show their history and experiences throughout their life. The layered growth shows the climatic conditions it has passed through. These conditions include fire, drought, pest attack, and flooding. Without these layered growths, we would not be able to trace these events.

Tree ring variations occur thanks to the different conditions each tree passes through.

Trees are climate-sensitive, and this is why they record environmental conditions at specific times. To be sure of the history, it is better to take samples from more than one tree. This will give you comparable options and allow you to analyze free of individual variations alone.

If it was a tough year, the tree will produce a thin ring, and this indicates slow growth for that year. A thick ring on the other hand signifies a good growing condition for that particular year. The reason the ring would be thick is that their id added tissue is produced during fast growth.

A thick ring means a warmer, but wet year, characterized by a lot of rainfall. When there is a consistency between several tree rings, it means the weather conditions at these times were consistent.

Tree rings could also appear when trees are overcrowded since overcrowding can hinder the tree’s growth.

As for trees that have lots of pf space to grow, their rings will be wide and evenly spaced out. Drought over long periods could also cause a tree’s rings to be narrow. This is thanks to a lack of adequate amounts of water for such a long period.

Insect defoliation can also cause the occurrence of narrow tree rings. Different types of insects will leave behind several pieces of evidence of their presence. This will of course help us determine the insects’ productivity and infestation levels.

Narrow tree rings can also indicate damages caused by forest fires. When a tree is wounded, they naturally build boundaries around the injured tissue to prevent infestation.

If the tree survives the injury, the injured tissue will transform into a new layer of wood around its trunk. A forest scar is known to be a damaged bark or exterior.

If a tree ring is wider on one side, it means there was a forceful object pushed against the tree during its growing stages. The tree begins to lean since it produces wood that reacts to other subjects.

Scientists capitalize on long-living trees to determine several past climatic events. Of course, there are new trees planted every day, but it is the old trees scientists use to determine the events of the past.

By studying the tree rings, we can determine the past occurrences of natural events, which can help us further understand the repetition of such events in the future.

How To Count Tree Rings

How many years is a ring on a tree? Age equals the number of black rings you find.

Counting a tree ring is one of the most effective ways to find out the age of a tree. For you to do this, you have to take a look at the top of a cut tree stump.

Once you figure out how to count the pattern of the tree rings, then you can easily call the age of the tree.

You can also learn how to analyze the rings, and use them to find out what climate experiences the tree has passed through.

Here’s how to do it.

Locate the center of a tree stump or cross-section of a tree that has been cut

Look for a stump that has been cut or find a circular piece of a tree taken from the bottom area.

Be sure that the stump has a straight horizontal cut so the top is flat.

Don’t use a rotten tree stump for this, as it is already falling apart and your calculations may not be accurate.

Look for alternating dark-colored rings and light-colored rings in the trunk

The light rings are formed during the beginning part of the growing season and the dark rings are formed at the end.

Every single pair of light and dark rings make up to a year of growth for a tree. The light rings are formed in the spring season and early in the summer. The dark rings are formed during the late summer or the fall season.

Count the dark rings to calculate the age of the tree

Begin at the middle of the stump or the cross-section of the piece of wood, then start counting from the first dark ring you come across. Keep on counting away from the center until you get to the last dark ring.

The age of the tree is the total number of dark rings you count.

Do not count the bark of the tree as a dark ring because it is not. It has no valid representation of a year of growth. It only gets pushed out as the tree expands from inside.

You may find that many of these age rings are very small so they might be tough to count using the ordinary human eye. If this is the case, as I expect it will be, then you can use a magnifying glass to count the rings.

Conclusion

I’m glad I could use this tree age rings article to enlighten you.

Take care!

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