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Yew Growth Rate

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dmassphoto:

--- Quote from: Keenan on March 11, 2010, 12:10:53 pm --- Around this part of the country an eight inch high elevation tree (above 4500') would be around 300-400 years old. Even a small 3-4 inch tree at high elev. is quite old.

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Pretty interesting the Yews that are being cut today were just being planted during the time that the Warbow died out due to its unavailability.

Davepim:

--- Quote from: Marc St Louis on March 11, 2010, 12:09:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: Davepim on March 11, 2010, 05:26:17 am ---There may be a certain amount of leeway but I know that for high altitude Yew, trees about 80 years old are ideal for harvesting - trunk is about 6-8" in diameter at this stage.

Dave

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Doesn't sound quite right to me.  That would mean 30 rings/inch at best

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Yep! a lot of the Yew he sells is about that ring count. Some is higher, but not all, and there is variability. Some trunks are likely to be be older than 80, but this is what Celestino Poletti considers an ideal minimal age and a lot of he very best Yew is in any case no longer available. I haven't personally counted the rings on every stave that he harvests, but I have never seen a trunk wider than about 10 inches diameter and I have actually seen these staves in person since I actually do live here in Italy! No offence but, it's easy to comment on what you haven't seen in person. Also, these staves come from trees grown at around 800 m altitude and Yew grown at higher altitudes - 1000m or so, will have a much higher ring count, but Poletti tells me that the wood isn't as good.

Dave

Phil Rees:

--- Quote from: dmassphoto on March 10, 2010, 07:09:07 pm ---Just out of curiosity, I was wondering how long it took for an English or Italian Yew tree to grow to get to the point where medieval tradesmen judge it good enough to cut down?  I know they were supposed to grow straight and slow in high altitudes, but nothing I've seen specifies how old they were or how high they grew. 

-D

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There's a myriad of factors that determine the size, density characteristics and indeed the shape of any species of tree. The availability of nutrients, water and the length of the growing season are the primary factors that influence growth. The latitude of the geographical growing area is another factor as it has an influence on photosynthesis. Strangely enough, geographical locations of completely different climatic regions often display similar environmental growing conditions due to the similarity in availability or lack of availability of nutrients and water. For example trees growing at altitude in the central European alpine regions may display similar characteristics as the same species growing in the semi arid regions of North Africa.

Davepim:
You are absolutely correct there Horace Ford. I am sure that a lot of people out there are under the impression that high altitude Yew, by definition, must have a very high ring count - some undoubtedly has had - but as a rule the staves that have been made available to me don't. There is not an indefinite supply of this timber, it is protected by law, and most of the very best from this location has gone. The one thing that this Yew has in comparison with Yew grown at lower altitudes is a higher density. This may of course make the bow a little slower in comparison with those made from lowland timber, even when they have equivalent ring spacing.

Dave

Oberon:
 This interests me as well. I Have several yews on my property ranging from 10" or so up to over 20" in diameter. Was planning on harvesting some of them this year for staves.  I live in the  hills and small mountains of the Umpqua valley area of Oregon at about 1200 to 1300 foot elevation .

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