California Surveyors Forums

I'm doing some retracement work in the Santa Cruz Mountains and an old sub. map dated 1906 notes bearing trees from every angle point along a road. I measured to some trees at some of the spots. Does anyone know what is the average annual diameter growth of a coastal redwood? Thanks.

I was curious about this too, and one site I googled had this to say:

Young-growth redwood is often as spectacular in size and yield as old growth. Dominant young growth trees on good sites are 100 to 150 feet tall at 50 years, and 165 to 220 feet at 100 years (4). Height growth is most rapid up to the 35th year (35).

Diameter growth of individual young trees can be rapid or very slow. In dense stands where competition is severe, annual radial increment is commonly as little as 1/30-inch. Occasionally there are 100 rings per inch. At the other extreme, radial growth is as much as 1 inch a year. One redwood growing with little competition was 84 inches in diameter at 108 years of age (22).

http://www.askmar.com/Redwoods/Coastal_Redwoods.html

There is no average Mike. They are weeds, opportunists, competing for light and of course water.

I have seen one swallow up a 10" spike set at the base 40 years ago, the spike is about 6" inside the tree now.

Truth is, using redwoods to witness corners was a bad idea, based on my local experience.

Where are you working?

Mount Hermon. The Herman Bros. did the subdivision map--pretty impressive map compared to others I've seen from that era. The lots have some minor mathematical discrepancies, but not too bad. They set pipes at the street centerlines and 2x2's at the lot corners. I found one of the pipes and tied into other surveys that found originals. I measured to a 32" Rwd. that may have been the 12" called out on the map. That's the one I'm trying to analyze.

Mt. Hermon is ugly. If you are finding agreement then you must be in a pocket of niceness.

A 12" redwood in 1906 could easily be a 32" redwood by 2013, if not larger. Easily. I wouldn't hang my hat on it unless absolutely necessary.

Not hanging my hat on that. I was only looking at it as supportive evidence of a road angle point some distance away.

I might be in a pocket of niceness. I did see an ROS across Conference Drive where there are significant discrepancies. Fortunately, that's a little far from my area of concern.

Woodcutter,

Thanks for the info., but I don't need to go to that extent. It's not a GLO related area and I've got enough evidence elsewhere.

I've seen coastal redwoods up near the northerly limit of their range that grew to over 3 feet in diameter, at only 30 to 40 years of age. Probably very favorable conditions though. As others have said, tree growth depends a lot on the conditions that exist at the specific location of the tree in question.

Woodcutter and Mark are 100% right. I am a Forester and Land Surveyor and work in redwood county and mark and find a lot of redwood BTs. They are good BTs second only to Douglas-fir in my area. The growth is highly variable depending on site. An increment borer is a good way to see if the tree was the diameter called for at a given time. I prefer to bore out the face with a chainsaw if I am trying to reset a corner from a BT. That way I can verify that the scar is actually a face and then tie it.

Here's a couple documents regarding bearing trees and durability that are pretty interesting; you may have all ready seen these but thought I'd share.

good references mfarrauto

on point see attached clip on redwoods:

I spent the first 23 years of my career in Humboldt County and agree completely with PLS8153's assessment which is quite succinct. Lacking a visible grown over face I would not accept a tree without at least putting an increment bore to it. Keep in mind there are a lot of trees out there with scars from blow down or scrapes that can look like a grown over face with a seam.

{QUOTE=PLS8153;30486]Woodcutter and Mark are 100% right. I am a Forester and Land Surveyor and work in redwood county and mark and find a lot of redwood BTs. They are good BTs second only to Douglas-fir in my area. The growth is highly variable depending on site. An increment borer is a good way to see if the tree was the diameter called for at a given time. I prefer to bore out the face with a chainsaw if I am trying to reset a corner from a BT. That way I can verify that the scar is actually a face and then tie it.[/QUOTE]