Russ, are you having the same extremely wet weather as New England? This is probably the wettest June plus July in a very long time. I await to see what the totals are and how they compare to past years. Joe ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 4:25 PM Subject: [ENTS] Re: rain and growth rates?
Joe: Like you, I've probably looked at more that my share of stumps over the years but the topic brought up with your post is something I have pondered ad nauseam. In terms of moisture, we have had growing seasons that have been all over the place during the past fifteen years in WV and I have been gathering information on a series of individual trees here at Crummies Creek that have given me a pretty good idea of how much growth rates can fluctuate from one year to another. In productive woodland where the dominant trees are vigorous and in a "free to grow" state, it is possible to see as much as a 50% increase in diameter growth for a single growing season but usually 25-30% is all that can be expected. The only major caveats are timing of the wet weather and whether the trees in the forest ever reached their slowing point in growth for the year...due to drought conditions or soil moisture depletion. I seem to remember that a general rule of thumb in New England was that nearly all pine growth was done by late June or mid July when the glaciated soils were finally being depleted of their moisture that was replenished by previous winters' snow. In this neck of the woods the same pretty much takes place. If the weather is very dry in June all the rain you can't use in July probably won't increase growth. However, with regular rain in May and June and well placed moisture in early July you might be able to see good growth well into August. I love seeing yellow poplar trees on bright sunny days in July and early August that follow a good soaking rain...the color of the leaves as they point toward the sky and shoot out new growth is an indication that they are happily growing. The later in the season that this type of growth takes place the longer rapid diameter growth is likely to continue. I think that in general terms it would be unlikely to expect more than a 15-25% increase in growth because of a single wet growing season for an individual tree or average woodland. However, if two wet years were to occur in succession it is extremely likely that the growth rate will increase again and could probably show an additional small increase with with three moist years in a row. Russ -----Original Message----- From: Joseph Zorzin <[email protected]> To: ENTS <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, Jul 31, 2009 2:41 pm Subject: [ENTS] rain and growth rates? Now that this is year is one of the wettest on record, at least in the northeast, just how much can we expect tree growth rings to reflect this fact? That is- if it rains twice as much as typical, during the growing season, will that result in a ring twice as wide? Probably not, but I wonder what sort of relationship there is between these 2 variables. I started thinking about this as I notice the trees in my backyard showing what appear to be greater growth at the top than previous years- especially noticeable on white and pitch pine leaders. Joe --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
