0:05

Hello, leafers Thank

0:05

you for tuning in. I really

0:08

appreciate it. I know there are

0:08

a few of you because I check the

0:12

download statistics every day.

0:12

This is going to be a little bit

0:16

shorter than a normal episode,

0:16

Rebecca took a trip to LA, I

0:21

took a trip to the emergency

0:21

room because of food poisoning.

0:24

But the show must go on. I'm

0:24

going to do a short segment in

0:30

response to our first review on

0:30

Apple podcasts, which I really

0:34

appreciate that you reviewed us

0:34

pG WISN. I don't know if that's

0:39

an acronym, or if I was supposed

0:39

to pronounce that somehow. But

0:43

anyone else out there listening,

0:43

if you want to review us, please

0:46

do. So review asked in part, how

0:46

old is the red oak in our

0:49

backyard. And so this segment is

0:49

about my attempt to figure that

0:52

out and why it's a little more

0:52

complicated than some online

0:55

resources would have you believe. Okay, so right here in the

1:03

backyard, feeling a little

1:10

strange talking to myself. And

1:10

I've got my tools here, a tape

1:16

measure, and some rope. And what

1:16

I'm going to try to do without

1:24

crushing too many of our

1:24

plantings is get this rope

1:28

around the tree at four and a

1:28

half feet off the ground. The

1:35

first step in this process of

1:35

trying to determine the red oak

1:40

Ah, so, tape measure four and a

1:40

half feet, right there. And then

1:50

here's the real trick, trying to

1:50

whip this thing around. Wow,

1:59

that was very lucky. Okay, got

1:59

the rope around. And now, four

2:06

and a half feet off the ground.

2:06

Just about here. Alright, so now

2:15

I'm taking my rope back, and I'm

2:15

going to lay it out on the lawn

2:22

measuring Okay, so we have 133

2:22

inches heading back inside. So I

2:37

got my measurement 133 inches.

2:37

actually doing this math right

2:44

now, it's not just for show.

2:44

Going to tree hugger dot coms

2:51

article about estimating your

2:51

trees age from its diameter,

2:58

diameter equals circumference

2:58

divided by pi. So 133 divided by

3:06

3.14 is 42 inches, so 42 inch

3:06

diameter. And then diameter

3:20

times four, which is a growth

3:20

factor for Reto equals artvin

3:30

68. So, according to

3:30

treehugger.com, the red oak is

3:36

168 years old. You say 168. I'll

3:36

go over there. Did you say 168?

3:44

I did say 168. So it's very old.

3:44

So Rebecca, Rebecca's training

3:49

the podcast now from bed?

3:51

bed, but I just heard

3:51

him say 168. I just heard you

3:54

say 168. Well, full age how like

3:54

confirmed is that?

3:59

So? That's a great question. I'm glad you asked. You're the perfect foil for this

4:01

moment in the podcast. Because

4:06

if you're a normal person, you'd

4:06

go out and you would measure the

4:10

circumference of your trunk. You

4:10

say 168 That sounds great. I

4:12

love that number. Okay, by

4:12

normal person, you're

4:15

a weird person. So

4:17

what do you I'm a

4:17

weird person. So I read about

4:21

these growth factor

4:21

calculations. And I read that

4:24

they're not super accurate. And

4:24

I said, well, it's not good

4:28

enough to know that it's not

4:28

super accurate. I need to know

4:32

how inaccurate it is right?

4:32

Because if it's off by like 10

4:35

years, like great, that's,

4:35

that's wonderful. If it's off by

4:37

like 40%, then like, that number

4:37

doesn't really mean a lot to me.

4:44

So I started digging deeper and

4:44

it turns out that the growth

4:47

factors are based on forest land

4:47

trees is the term used by the

4:54

International Society of

4:54

arboriculture tourists. Arbor

4:59

culture Who came up with this

4:59

methodology. And obviously, in a

5:05

forest, the growing conditions

5:05

are completely different than in

5:08

a backyard, there's less access

5:08

to water, but the soil isn't as

5:12

disturbed. So it's like

5:12

extremely variable. And nobody

5:16

seemingly can tell you by what

5:16

percentage off you might be. So

5:22

what I decided to do is, rather

5:22

than just using that single

5:25

number, I would do a little more

5:25

digging, and I would look at

5:29

some other factors that might

5:29

help me narrow down How old is

5:33

this tree. So the first thing

5:33

that I came across is, red oaks

5:37

Do not hit their peak, a corn

5:37

production until they're about

5:42

50 years old. So it's at least

5:42

50 years old,

5:45

or 50 years old or more.

5:47

We know that buck

5:47

Tommy corn, here, we get

5:50

approximately a fuck ton of

5:50

acorns every year. Rain, rain,

5:56

rain, hail,

5:58

rain here, baby when

5:58

you're standing under it and

6:01

fall. So

6:02

you can do that

6:02

Google, I'll leave that one to

6:04

you. We also know that this

6:04

house was built in 1870. So that

6:11

was only with the math here. How

6:11

many years ago was that? 1970.

6:20

warranty that we're not

6:20

experts. In fact, we

6:23

cannot dig our phones

6:23

out of our pockets to use the

6:25

calculator app. Our house is 151

6:25

years old. The neighborhood in

6:31

general was built around that

6:31

time. That oak tree is right on

6:35

the property line. So I've

6:35

always thought like, oh, that

6:39

would be interesting. If they

6:39

didn't have, you know, large

6:43

fences. Maybe they had a hedge

6:43

dividing the properties or maybe

6:47

they had a row of trees. And

6:47

maybe that tree was planted

6:52

around the time that the house

6:52

was built. So that's 151 years,

6:59

and maybe it wasn't planted from

6:59

an acorn. Maybe it was planted

7:02

as a small sapling. It was

7:02

already five years old or

7:04

something like that.

7:05

Wow. I had never

7:05

thought of that, that like when

7:08

this house was built. Maybe they

7:08

planted trees in the backyards

7:13

intentionally. I never thought

7:13

that that would be how that tree

7:17

got there. I just assumed it was

7:17

their first.

7:21

It also could be that

7:21

I mean, I'm making a total guess

7:24

it just the fact that it's right

7:24

on the property line has always

7:28

indicated to me that by the time

7:28

people were building fences, it

7:34

was already big enough that they

7:34

were like, Oh, we shouldn't cut

7:36

down this tree

7:37

when they would have

7:37

built this whole neighborhood.

7:39

Would they have clear cut the

7:39

whole thing in order to build

7:42

all the houses?

7:44

What was farmland?

7:44

Who was Ebenezer Dexter's

7:46

farmland so he would have clear cut it

7:48

so it was pretty clear

7:48

cut. So I wonder if all the

7:50

oldest trees were planted right

7:50

around when all the houses were

7:54

built?

7:55

Right? Presumably

7:55

unless he left a couple of trees

7:57

for his cows to graze under

7:57

which I feel like such a

8:00

detective right? We are getting

8:00

further and further from

8:04

anything interesting for you,

8:04

our dear listener,

8:09

very micro interesting

8:09

only to us because we live here

8:12

kind of thing.

8:14

But But I think the

8:14

lesson maybe to take away is

8:18

that it can be interesting road

8:18

to go down thinking about the

8:22

history of trees and the way

8:22

that people interact with trees.

8:25

I will say one of the things

8:25

that made me think that maybe

8:28

that tree was planted on the

8:28

property line is that I know

8:33

that these backyards were used

8:33

as gardens for the house. So

8:38

people were cultivating them

8:38

people were paying attention to

8:40

what was growing there. Anything

8:40

else you're curious about what

8:44

the trees

8:45

very cool. I love

8:45

thinking about the history. It

8:48

feels very spooky to me sort of

8:48

Is there any way for you to next

8:53

do it another mini app about how

8:53

to find out are trees,

8:58

astrological sign the sun sign

8:58

the moon sign maybe that's maybe

9:03

we need to call in some bigger experts

9:05

for that. That's not

9:05

covered by the International

9:07

Society of arboriculture lists.

9:07

But in the age of the internet,

9:12

If you can dream it, somebody is

9:12

already doing it and charging

9:15

$45 an hour for

9:17

are saying they're

9:17

doing it and ready to take your

9:19

money for it.

9:20

That's right. One

9:20

other thing I will add, to give

9:28

a little bit of legitimacy to

9:28

this seemingly extremely

9:32

amateurish process is that our

9:32

breasts and other people who

9:36

actually do this for a living do

9:36

often use this kind of very

9:40

local specific knowledge and the

9:40

comparison of sizes of a given

9:46

tree to the size of a tree that

9:46

has a known age in order to try

9:52

and estimate tree age because

9:52

it's a inexact science and

9:57

without taking a core sample and

9:57

counting the ring. It's

10:00

extremely difficult to really

10:00

accurately estimate the age of a

10:04

tree. So, you know, even if

10:04

you're not perfectly accurate,

10:08

you're only as inaccurate as the

10:08

professionals. We hope you've

10:17

enjoyed leafing out and if you

10:17

ever have a gardening question

10:20

that you want us to weigh in on,

10:20

you can send us an email or

10:23

better yet, email us a voice

10:23

memo at leafing out

10:27

[email protected] and please follow

10:27

us on Instagram at leafing out

10:32

pot