how tall is the tree

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we have 4 trees , one at easc corner of our house 3 are norway mapels 1 is a norway spruce. the maples are about 3 stories high the spruce much taller. i remember being told how to measure the height of a tree using a stick and walking backwards until the stick in your hand eyed up to the top of the tree. how long should the stick be and what is the height measurement compared to the steps backwards? anyone else know of a different way?

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), July 24, 2000

Answers

Make a large protractor out of some rigid material.Measure off a couple hundred feet from the tree. Lay on the ground and take the angle subtended by the tree top and the line of sight across the protractor then solve for the right triangle. I have measured trees that way,but with a sextant(nautical Instrument)and it's very accurate.

-- W.A.Harris (wah@tnweb.com), July 24, 2000.

W.A. is right. An easy way to do this without having to solve would be to make a large 45 degree angle of some material, backoff from the tree until your line of sight to the top is 45 degrees, and measure your distance from the trunk of the tree. The triangle formed will be an isoceles, so the distance from your feet to the tree trunk will be the same as the height of the tree.

-- Jim (catchthesun@yahoo.com), July 24, 2000.

Even easier, measure the trees shadow, then measure your own shadow, or something like a fencepost you can measure. Then just put the numbers in simple algebra with x the height of the tree. Good Luck, Jill schreiber@alaska.com

-- Jill Schreiber (schreiber@alaska.com), July 25, 2000.

Another quick and dirty method is to have someone of known height -- say, 6 feet -- stand next to the tree. Then back away until you can see the entire tree against a foot ruler held at arm's length. Note the height of the person against the ruler at the same time, then solve for the tree. For example, if the person is an inch high on the ruler and the tree is ten inches high, then the tree is about 60 feet tall. (10 X 6 feet). The shadow method already mentioned is also very effective, but this saves having to use a tape measure stretching across the yard and down the road :-)

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), July 25, 2000.

One more easy method: Hold a ruler at arm's length and measure the distance between your eye and the ruler. For me it's 28". Now step back that many feet from the tree. Measure the apparent height in inches with the ruler at arm's length and that is the height in feet. If you are too close to the tree to measure it with your ruler, double or triple (or what-ever) how far you are from the tree and multiply the number of inches by that amount.

It's easy to show people how to do this, I hope I explained it clear enough.

==>paul, Ava, MO

-- paul (MO) (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), July 28, 2000.



Better yet...

Cut down tree, use tape measure.

(sorry it's Friday night and after a long week in front of the tube at work forced me to say this.... )

j

-- j (jw_hsv@yahoo.com), July 28, 2000.


Cash, thats the Boy Scout way! A scout? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), July 29, 2000.

What I do is basically a variation of what has been said here, but you don't need any tools as it were. I back myself up against the tree and make a mark on the tree at the level of my head with whatever is handy. Then I back away from the tree until my fist covers the area from the ground to the mark. Then I do a hand over hand and multiply the number of fists by my height(approx. 6 feet) so if you have 5 fists X 6 feet you have a 30 foot tree give or take a bit. Of course this isn't perfectly accurate but is close enough for most purposes. Funny thing is I try to explain this to some folks and they just look at me funny scratch their heads and say "I guess so" and walk away!! Suburban TVoholics, what can I really expect?!

-- Bob Johnson (backwoods_bob_2000@yahoo.com), July 30, 2000.

take the stick u started with and hold it at arms length; with the base of the tree at the top of your fist, move the stick through your fist till the top of tree is at the top of the stick; pivot the top of the stick to the ground, note the place it falls and walk it off!!

-- Paul Hamilton (Prhamil@aol.com), July 30, 2000.

Vicki: Not a Scout, but I read the handbook years ago. That tree-measuring method stuck with me :-)

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), July 31, 2000.


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