determining approximate age of an oak

[von hatley]

Hi, I've got an oak tree in my yard, the variety is quecius virginianus (excuse spelling!). It has a circumference 4 feet from the ground of seventeen feet, and a spread of 130 feet. It is in South Louisiana, and I'd like to know an approximate age (+/- fifty to 100 years).

Thanks in advance.

 

[treeclimber165]

Sounds like a beautiful specimen of live oak! At that size, I'd say it could be anywhere from 100 to 300 years old. These people have examined prize specimens of all types of trees and might be able to give you a closer answer. You can see how your tree compares to their best specimen of live oak, also.
http://www.championtrees.org/

Biggest one I was ever in had a spread of 120 feet, towered over a two story house, and took me 2 days to trim. I used 2 tanks of gas in my saw and had about 1 1/2 pickup loads of moss and deadwood.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Tke the mesurment for C at 4.5 ft and divide by pi (3.14....) to find Dia. Them multiply D by 3 and 4.

One rule of thumb used is that a tree grows between .33 and .25 inces (on average) per year.

Some would say to take 4 inches off of D for bark, but this varies with the species.

17x12=204

204/3.14=64.97

65x4=206

65x3=195