They usually use a coring device. In theory it should survive just fine although I don’t know that long term effects are well-studied.
But I mean this is one reason some big old trees have such bogus ages reported. Either they’re too big to reasonably core or they don’t want to risk any damage. Or sometimes the middle of the tree is too rotten to count the rings. It’s OK to say we don’t know the age rather than making something up.
They usually use a coring device. In theory it should survive just fine although I don’t know that long term effects are well-studied.
But I mean this is one reason some big old trees have such bogus ages reported. Either they’re too big to reasonably core or they don’t want to risk any damage. Or sometimes the middle of the tree is too rotten to count the rings. It’s OK to say we don’t know the age rather than making something up.