With this test you press your fingernail against a piece of wood or scratch it along the wood in a direction parallel to the edge of your fingernail.
Telling the difference between hardwood and softwood.
If your landscape consists primarily of softwood trees you won t have to worry about leaves blanketing your lawn and restricting your grass of sunlight.
Hardwoods shed their leaves over a period of time in autumn and winter.
Softwoods tend to keep their needles throughout the year.
Hardwood has a slower growth rate.
These coatings can either take the shape of a fruit or a shell.
A wood will be classified as a softwood if the seeds don t have any type of coating and are instead dropped to the ground and left to the elements.
Softwood is typically less expensive compared to hardwood.
Softwoods are conifers which have needles rather than traditional leaves and retain them through the winter.
More specifically the type of seeds produced by a tree determines whether it is hardwood or softwood.
Softwood has a faster rate of growth.
How to tell the difference between hardwood and softwood the general rule for distinguishing whether a wood is hardwood or softwood is to use the fingernail test.
The primary difference between hardwood and softwood trees in a landscape is that hardwoods shed their leaves once a year whereas softwood trees retain their leaves throughout the year.
The primary distinction between hardwood and softwood is based on the reproductive biology of the tree species.
A wood will be classified as a hardwood if the seeds that the tree produces have a coating.
Hardwood is typically more expensive than softwood.
In contrast trees with seeds that are not enclosed are softwood.