When we want to have a tree, or several, in our garden it is interesting to know what life expectancy do you have. Although it is true that humans live for about 80 years, and that when we have the opportunity to grow our own plants we may have already reached our twenties, knowing that your plant that you have seen germinate will continue when you are not there ... it provides you with very nice feeling.
To find out how long does a tree live a series of factors that influence its growth and development must be taken into account. As we know, not all climates are the same and therefore conditions are also different. So, how can I know what life expectancy it has?
Olive trees (Olea europaea) are Mediterranean trees that can be over 300 years old.
In fact, it is very difficult to know exactly how long a tree will live until, after it has died, the trunk is cut so that the growth rings can be counted. Each ring represents one year of life, but they tell us much more than their age. In fact, the thinner rings indicate that the conditions of that season were very good and that therefore the growth was fast; On the other hand, the thickest ones tell us the opposite: perhaps there was a drought or the winter was very cold and long, preventing it from growing as fast as it used to.
And it is that the climate is what most influences the life of plants. So much so that trees that live in very cold or very hot climates are most likely to live for many years: even reaching 3 or 4 thousand years.
Tricks to know if the tree will have a long life expectancy
I must admit, until a few years ago I thought that the only way to know how long a tree lives was the one mentioned above. But as I grew trees I realized one thing: those species that the books said live longer have different characteristics than those that live less. They are as follows:
Very long-lived trees (more than a century)
Secuoia are among the oldest genera in the world: they can live for 3 years.
- Very slow growth (less than 10cm / year)
- Most species have evergreen leaves
- They do not bloom before the age of 20
- They usually have a thick trunk
- They live in very cold or very hot climates
Examples
Some examples are: Secuoia (3000 years), Adansonia (between 3 and 4 thousand years), Pinus longaeva (4000 years) or the Fitzroya cupressoides (4000 years).
Short-lived trees (a century or less)
Albizia are very ornamental trees that bloom very young.
- Very fast growth
- Normally deciduous leaves
- They can bloom from one year of age (or even earlier)
- Thin trunk
- They live in pleasant climates: warm temperatures, abundant rains
Examples
Some examples are: Leucaena leucocephala (40-50 years), Acacia (about 50-60 years), Albizia sp (60-70 years) or Eucalyptus (80 years).
Conifers, the longest in the world
To know how long a tree lives, the climate turns out to be decisive.
Of all the trees, conifers are the longest-lived of all. They were the first tree plants to appear, something they did in the Jurassic period neither more nor less than 200 million years ago. They have had to adapt and survive various climatic changes throughout their history: very hot periods, ice ages ... Their growth is very slow, but that does not matter. The motto of these plants seems to be: slowly but surely.
By having evergreen leaves, they have no need to renew them. They do, of course, but they drop a few throughout the year, and only if the weather conditions are good enough that they can afford that luxury. This is the reason why those that live in warm-temperate regions, such as the propagating through a pine forest (Pinus halepensis)., drop countless numbers of leaves each year.
So if you want to have a tree with a long life expectancy, a safe bet is the conifers.
Taxodium distichum in autumn.
By the way, did you know how to know how long a tree lives?