Monday, June 18, 2007 - 1:25 PM
Inexpensive Band and Point Dendrometers and Their Comparisons.
Junming Wang and Ted Sammis. New Mexico State University Plant and Environmental Department, Corner of Knox and College, MSC3Q, BOX30003, las cruces, NM 88003
This study designed and compared new, inexpensive (below $40) automatic point and band dendrometers with fast response (that is, operate at an hourly frequency or less, e.g., 1 second). Eighteen point and five band dendrometers were installed and compared on pecan tree trunks and branches during the 2005 growing season through the winter of 2005. Point dendrometers were found to be suitable for large-scale tree growth measurements and for water and fertilizer stress monitoring due to their high accuracy, fast response, ease of building and installation , and low expense. Multiple point dendrometers are recommended for branch/trunk diameter growth measurement, because the radial change of each point is different. Band dendrometers underestimated tree growth (average measured value by a band dendrometer was half the point dendrometers’ measurement) and they may not be able to measure the hourly diameter change of small-diameter branch (e.g., 10.1 cm in this study for pecan trees) during a several-day period. Researchers should be careful when using growth data in the literature that was measured by band dendrometers. These automatic dendrometers can be connected to local telephone lines or wireless phone lines through a datalogger so that remote access will be available.