Seeing is believing, rings don’t lie!!

[fourteener]

I acquired a couple of cross-sections from some old trees. Mostly for the purpose of education and having some proof to show skeptics that some of these trees from the dry western United States are as old as we say they are.

I finally got my hands on the right kind of microscope to count these rings at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

420 year old RMJ to the widest live vein that grew. About 5 inches from center to edge.


760 years old on just a little of 4 inches...



Here is a picture of a needle laying on the cross section and then the view through the microscope up on the monitor.




Just for reference the needle is very small, equal to the size of a push pin used in sewing. You can see a decade worth of rings the width of a needle.

No more disbelief at shows or in classes!!

 

[GGB]

Totally rad! Im skeptical of everything I hear. I love it when someone blows my mind AND has the proof to back it up

 

[Soldano666]

I like it

 

[j evans]

That's something, you wouldn't believe it without seeing it.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[queenofsheba52]

Incredible!

 

[just.wing.it]

Gangsta!

 

[Rid]

I acquired a couple of cross-sections from some old trees. Mostly for the purpose of education and having some proof to show skeptics that some of these trees from the dry western United States are as old as we say they are.

I finally got my hands on the right kind of microscope to count these rings at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

420 year old RMJ to the widest live vein that grew. About 5 inches from center to edge.
View attachment 208809

760 years old on just a little of 4 inches...

View attachment 208810

Here is a picture of a needle laying on the cross section and then the view through the microscope up on the monitor.

View attachment 208811
View attachment 208812

Just for reference the needle is very small, equal to the size of a push pin used in sewing. You can see a decade worth of rings the width of a needle.

No more disbelief at shows or in classes!!

Where did you get these? I'm already anticipating an interior decorating argument with the wife!

 

[River's Edge]

I acquired a couple of cross-sections from some old trees. Mostly for the purpose of education and having some proof to show skeptics that some of these trees from the dry western United States are as old as we say they are.

I finally got my hands on the right kind of microscope to count these rings at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

420 year old RMJ to the widest live vein that grew. About 5 inches from center to edge.
View attachment 208809

760 years old on just a little of 4 inches...

View attachment 208810

Here is a picture of a needle laying on the cross section and then the view through the microscope up on the monitor.

View attachment 208811
View attachment 208812

Just for reference the needle is very small, equal to the size of a push pin used in sewing. You can see a decade worth of rings the width of a needle.

No more disbelief at shows or in classes!!

Thank you, the facts are often stranger than fiction!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

It's fun to even see this. It's awesome to relate these rings to weather patterns in the past. From this picture alone, we could extrapolate a curve even! One that shows a few consecutive good years, followed by some bad years, followed by some good years again.
I don't know where this juniper is from, but the close-to-3-or-7-year patterns make me think it was close to areas influenced by Il Nino.

For the people loving this kind of stuff: you can get cheap USB microscopes from Ebay for roughly 15 bucks. It's not top notch stuff, but it's better than I expected it to be for that price.

 

[cmeg1]

Wow!

 

[Lonefrog]

That is so cool

 

[Lazylightningny]

Very educational! Juniper are becoming my favorite species to work.

 

[W3rk]

Super cool information, thanks for sharing. And that first slab is spectacular, I bet it was a heck of a tree before it died.

 

[Stormwater]

Wicked, thanks for posting.;