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  • From: <tloallergyfree@earthlink.net>
  • To: "gardenwriters-on-gardening" <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Trees planted in landscape--life-span???
  • Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 16:24:17 -0800

Maryann,
 
   The last time I saw this was in a rather big online discussion on the listserver : "Urban Forestry Listserver"    urbanforestry@urbanfor.cagr.calpoly.edu   There might be something on that website on this....not sure. At any rate, there was much discussion of just this, this past year, with many figures tossed around, and most commonly quoted was 7 years.
  The ISA (International Arborists Assn. lists 7 years as the lifespan: "ISA Research Trust data shows that the average lifespan of a center city street tree is only seven to eleven ... and is the result of over ten years of review" ... www.fufc.org/info_part1.html  
  The US Frest Service also lists this at 7 years...as do a number of published articles about Los Angeles urban forestry : "Now the average lifespan for a tree in Los Angeles stands at just seven years," ...
www.westsidetoday.com/articles/ 2004/11/26/brentwood_news/top_story/02btrees.txt  
  The young, newly planted street tree mortality is highest where summers are hot and dry, and the most common cause of death is lack of water. In inner city, high crime areas, many new trees are snapped off by vandals. Cars jump the curb and run over plenty more. Poor drainage, excessive smog, lousy selection, lack of fertility kill many more new trees. Bare root trees are often planted by unskilled labor, and may be left to dry out...thus no doubt, many newly planted deciduous trees are actually dead before they ever go in the ground.
    What I've seen in most areas is that once planted, any watering, fertilizing, weeding, anything of this sort is left up to whomever lives in the house where the tree was planted in front of...or if a business...left up to the business. Often the city does not offer the homeowner or business owner...a choice of what sort of tree they'd prefer. If folks don't like the city's choice, they probably would not water it when it was dry, much less ever fertilize it.
Tom Ogren
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 4:42 PM
Subject: RE: [gwl-g] Trees planted in landscape--life-span???

 

Tom

Do you have a reference for that? I’d appreciate it. My Google searches have not been fruitful.

Maryann


From: gwl-g-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:gwl-g-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of tloallergyfree@earthlink.net
Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 11:48 PM
To: gardenwriters-on-gardening
Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Trees planted in landscape--life-span???

 

The most commonly quoted "lifespan" of street trees that I've heard and read, many times, mostly on urban forest sites and listservers, is 7 years. Of course, some planted street trees live twenty times that, while others, probably never watered after being planted....I see this all the time...never make a full year after planting.

    I use this  7 year "statistic" on occasion to point out that considering the very high turnover of urban trees, that there is always considerable opportunity for replacing these dead trees with pollen-free trees.

 

Tom Ogren

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 8:00 PM

Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Trees planted in landscape--life-span???

 

I agree. What I have heard is that street trees have an average life of 10 years, but there you have very specific adverse conditions--restricted space for roots in planting wells, too much or too little water, excessive heat generated by sidewalks, vandalism.

The term "landscape-planted" seems very broad. Was the writer possibly referring to trees planted by landscape contractors?
I could imagine that some contractors do a poor job of tree planting, but again one shouldn't generalize from the shortcomings of some guys out there with a pickup and a shovel. In some states, including Illinois, there is now a rigorous certification program for contractors, and individuals who pass the written and practical tests have quite a high level of expertise.
Carolyn Ulrich

On Saturday, January 1, 2005, at 08:31 PM, Nan Sterman wrote:

Hi folks

 

I recently had one of my list-servs come across with this information: landscape-planted trees have a survival average of 8 years. Does anyone recognize this and can give me a reference?

 

Thanks for your thoughtful efforts.

 

Maryann Whitman, Editor-in-Chief

Wild Ones Journal

www.for-wild.org






Seems like a pretty far fetched statistic.  Did they specify type of tree, climate, care, public or private planting, anything specific?    To me this sounds like a gross overgeneralization...

N

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Nan Sterman                  Plant Soup (TM)
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