I cored western hemlock, sitka spruce and shore pine down to 4.1 cm last summer near Juneau. They had pretty hard wood so I needed an extremely sharp corer. The poison ivy and trumpet creeper vines I cored also were just over 4 cm but had extremely soft wood but I still needed a sharp corer to get started. Below 4 cm I would have needed a smaller than standard corer (.37cm), the vines would tend to shatter. Pawpaw, also a soft wood, is difficult to core with out spliting below 4 cm.
Bruce On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 8:48 AM, Lee Frelich <[email protected]> wrote: > Don: > > I cored quite a few trees in the 2.5-3.0 cm dbh size class while working on > my Ph.D., mostly sugar maples and hemlocks. For the maples, I had to have > someone stand on the opposite side of the tree and push towards me, > otherwise the tree just bent and pushed away when I tried to core it. It is > really hard to get the corer started in small trees with hard wood. > > A few of the small tree developed a split, but most fared OK, and are still > alive 25 years later. > > Lee > > DON BERTOLETTE wrote: >> >> Will/Ryan- >> I'm too old to be intuitive on metric/standard conversion, but wouldn't >> 50mm be about 2 inches? I'm not sure I'd be comfortable coring 2 inch >> diameter trees...wouldn't the corer with threads approach 1/2" in diameter? >> With little wood left on each side to 'strengthen' the coring point, I'd >> think that it would have all the elegance of an exit wound left by a 38 >> caliber S&W...;>) >> -Don >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: RE: [ENTS] age of small trees. techniques? >> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 20:05:05 -0500 >> >> Ryan, >> >> >> A small borer should work. They are available in sizes as short as 6 >> inches. >> >> >> Will F. Blozan >> >> President, Eastern Native Tree Society >> >> President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. >> >> >> //"No sympathy for apathy"// >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On >> Behalf Of *Ryan McEwan >> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 06, 2010 7:27 PM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* [ENTS] age of small trees. techniques? >> >> >> Hi all, >> A former advisee of mine has moved on and is now working on a study of >> forest dynamics on Mount St. Helens. He is working right at tree-line. He >> would like to age the trees, but he is not allowed to destructively sample >> (cut) them. The diameter of many of these trees is 50mm. YIKES!! That is >> small. He asked me for advice on how to do this and I dont have a the >> foggiest clue. ENTS to the rescue? >> Best, >> Ryan >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. >> <http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/196390707/direct/01/> >
