Many people require Austin tree service to maintain or remove trees on their property. If you are having a tree removed, you may be curious about the tree’s age. Dendrochronology uses trees rings to figure out the tree’s age. If you would like to know more about dendrochronology, read on!

Many people have heard that you can count the rings of a cut tree and determine its age. But why is this true? Does each ring actually represent a year of the tree’s life? Not exactly. The sun has different levels of activity that affects weather patterns here on earth. The climate fluctuations change the color of the rings, thus making it possible for scientists to pinpoint the exact year of the trees birth.

The rings can sometimes indicate one full year if the climate changes enough between summer and winter to cause a ring to form. This happens when a tree has a rapid growth season followed by a slow growth season. If the tree is growing in a climate that consistently changes with the seasons, then the rings will actually represent one year each.

Sometimes there will be multiple rings for one year. If there is a lot of rain, then the tree will grow a wide ring. If there is a drought, then the ring may be very slender. If conditions alternate between wet and dry in one year, then many rings can form during that time period. This is how scientists can use tree rings to see what past weather patterns must have looked like.

Trees do not necessarily need to be cut down to be dated. Samples can be drilled out of the tree and the sample can be used to measure growth. If multiple rings for one year are suspected, scientists will sometimes use an average size of the rings to get an approximate age. Core samples from other trees can help determine the exact age of another tree. If they can pinpoint a certain climatic event and narrow down a tree sample’s ring to a precise year, then they can use it to help date another tree that may not have such a defined pattern.

If you live in a mostly arid climate, such as Austin, TX, you should be able to fairly accurately date your own trees. Humidity and moisture surges can make it harder to accurately determine a tree’s age without many regional samples. So, if you live in Austin, you can count the tree rings from your tree and be fairly confident that you have an accurate age for your tree.