Thanks to all that have replied on this!
Jerry, I hadn’t seen that neat little calculator based on John White’s
system, thanks! Thanks Simon for the Mitchell’s extracts too.
Of course my post would raise questions and debate on the point of the
exercise - my fault for giving some limited context. Suffice to say we have
been asked to carry out this preliminary work but it’s not actually a proper
review of the TPOs.
I am also not trying to claim a high degree of accuracy through this work -
it’s merely a broad-brush approach to inform further assessment later.
Enjoy your weekends all!
Paul
On 12 Jan 2022, 08:55 +0000, Paul Barton <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.co.uk>, wrote:
Dear collective,
I wonder if you can help me? I am looking for a simple method to estimate
tree ages as part of a preliminary review of some area TPOs - i.e. to
assess whether trees that are present now were most likely present (or not)
on the year the area TPO was served.
I have come across various apps that claim to give an age based on trunk
girth but after a brief test they seem to overestimate age (based on my
experience only) as I suspect they are based on forestry plantation trees
which tend to be more slender over time than open grown trees.
I came across this document from Newport council
(https://www.newport.gov.uk/documents/Leisure-and-Tourism/Countryside/Measuring-Trees.pdf)
which suggests that tree growth rates could be split out in to slow,
moderate and fast - each with a corresponding ‘average’ annual girth
increase. These are given as: • Slow - 1.88 cm per year • Average - 2.5 cm
per year • Fast - 3.13 cm per yearUsing such values would allow me to
classify species by growth rate category and therefore have a ready
reckoner to estimate tree ages based on their girth. It can never be
claimed to be very accurate but for the purpose of quickly assessing
hundreds of trees a repeatable documented method would be useful.
BUT I don’t know if the above growth rate values are based on good data,
ideally in the UK.
Finally to the point (congratulations if you lasted this long)…can anyone
point me to a reliable source of UK tree growth rate data so that I could
verify or amend the above suggested rates of growth?
Kind regards,
Paul Barton
www.barton-hyett.co.uk | Barton Hyett Associates Ltd | Arboricultural
Experts
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