How do you determine the age of a beech tree?
Determining the age of a tree is fairly easy. It involves simply counting the growth rings that can be seen on the surface of a log or on an increment core from the trunk of a tree. Each ring represents the growth produced during one growing season but contains two parts that can be distinguished on the basis of colour: the early wood, less dense, is whitish in colour; and the late wood, more dense, is darker in colour and forms during the summer. Counting the growth rings tells us the number of growing seasons the tree has been through, and hence the age of the tree.
