"Larry Harrell" wrote in message
om...
kate wrote in message ...
See if you can borrow a nice sharp "increment borer". It's a device
for taking a small core sample of the tree. Boring into hardwoods
isn't very fun and counting the rings can also be difficult on an old
tree. It leaves a tiny hole, which some foresters plug back up with
the core when they're done. How bout it, guys? Any thoughts of that
practice? I worked with a former FIA plotter who claimed that it
wasn't necessarily the best thing to do, possibly inviting fungi and
diseases into the wood of the tree. I know that pines are very well
adapted to plugging the hole on their own.

Larry

Given that she stated that the tree was 60" in dia., she would need at least a 30" long increment
borer - not too many of those around. And I certainly wouldn't want to be the one who had to core a
maple that big.
I fall in the camp of those who believe that the tree will heal better if you don't put the core back
in.

Bob Weinberger