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Green thumbs down
to letting a tree or shrub stagnate, decline and die because you
assumed it was simply slow growing.
People often say to us about ginkgo trees:
"They're very slow growing, you know."
No, we don't know that. In our experience and that of many
others, Ginkgo trees are not slow growing.
24' feet in 25 years... -
Harrison L. Flint - Landscape Plants for Eastern North America
10 to 15' over a 10 to 12 year period
although with adequate water and fertilizer this tree wll grow
reasonably fast... -Michael Dirr - Manual of Woody Landscape
Plants
When young -- before beginning to flower -- a ginkgo may add 18
inches per year.
This is important to know because if a tree grows slowly but has
the potential to do more, something is wrong and it should be
corrected.
Basics of growth rate measurement on a ginkgo, below.
Much more about tree and shrub growth rate in What's
Coming Up 50: How to measure it, how to use the
information.
Above: First, look for the terminal bud scar -- the scar
that goes clear 'round the twig, marking where the bud was that was
the tip of the branch when it began to grow in spring.
Many trees bear their bud scars for many years, until the
bark becomes thick enough to conceal them. So you can "read back"
to see if the tree is growing as well or better than in previous
years. Here's that branch, with two yars growth - from tip to first
bud scar, then from bud scar to next lower bud scar. It grew about
the same amount for two years in a row.
