How long do trees live?

Do you know that it’s believed that trees can live up to a few thousand years?

If you’re curious to know how long a tree can live, read on as we dive into the average lifespan of trees, how to calculate their age, and factors that can either lengthen or shorten their longevity.

How long can a tree stay alive?

Some trees can live up to a few thousand years in the right growing conditions. With enough nutrients, water, and sun, a tree can live until its natural life expectancy.

Of course, the specific lifespan also depends on the species. 

Having mentioned that, it’s virtually impossible to extend the life of a tree whose species is known to only live, say, 10 years at most. 

Thus, don’t be disheartened if your dear ole weeping willow begins to show signs of deterioration after just 2 to 3 decades. Since they’re known to have short lifespans of only 20 to 30 years, it’s only natural that they’ll begin to decline after hitting age 20.

How do you calculate the age of a tree?

The best way to calculate a tree’s age is by counting the rings of a core sample. You can also do this on a tree stump.

If you don’t have access to the core, you can calculate a tree’s age either by multiplying its diameter by its growth factor or measuring the trunk’s girth and dividing it by 2.5.

While simply computing the tree’s age is the simplest way to get it, it’s not the most accurate method. It’s actually still pretty difficult to accurately determine a tree’s age if there’s no information on when it was planted.

To date, counting a tree’s annual rings of wood growth is the most common and trusted technique. Even then, there’s still room for deviations to occur. 

If you’re trying to figure out how old your tree is, here’s (how to find out how old is a tree – row 7) a more detailed explanation of how to do each of these methods, accompanied by easy-to-follow directions. 

What’s the life expectancy of different tree species?

Tree species with the shortest life expectancy of about 50 to 70 years are from the Alder, Birch, Poplar, and Willow genera. 

Meanwhile, the longest-living tree species come from the Australian Pine, Noble Fir, Sitka Spruce, and Yew genera, known to live past 300 years.

For a more comprehensive view of how different genera compare to one another, check out this table of their life expectancy:

Tree Species	Tree Species
Common Name	Scientific Name	Life Expectancy (in years)
Alder	Alnus	50 to 70
Birch	Betula	50 to 70
Poplar	Populus	50 to 70
Willow	Salix	50 to 70
Crab Apple	Malus sylvestris	70 to 100
Rowan	Sorbus aucuparia	70 to 100
Wild Cherry	Prunus avium	70 to 100
Whitebeam	Sorbus aria	70 to 100
Ash	Fraxinus excelsior	100 to 150
Hawthorn	Crataegus monogyna	100 to 150
Norway Spruce	Picea abies	100 to 150
Red Oak	Quercus rubra	100 to 150
Walnut	Juglans regia	100 to 150
Beech	Fagus sylvatica	150 to 200
Norway Maple	Acer platanoides	150 to 200
English Oak	Quercus robur	200 to 300
Holly	Ilex aquifolium	200 to 300
Limes	Tilia	200 to 300
Scots Pine	Pinus sylvestris	200 to 300
Sessile Oak	Quercus petraea	200 to 300
Sweet Chestnut	Castanea sativa	200 to 300
Sycamore	Acer pseudoplatanus	200 to 300
Australian Pine	Pinus nigra	300+
Noble Fir	Abies procera	300+
Sitka Spruce	Picea sitchensis	300+
Yew	Taxus baccata	300+

Keep in mind that some trees may not live until their average life expectancy due to several factors such as poor environmental conditions and natural disasters.

For example, a black willow tree in the desert, it’s unlikely that it will reach its life expectancy. This is because this specie’s natural habitat is moist or wet soil types that are close to bodies of water.

How can I lengthen my tree’s lifespan?

Apart from having good genetics, the best way to lengthen a tree’s life is by growing it in its native range. 

This ensures that a tree develops in an environment with the right soil type, temperature, sun exposure, and rainfall, conducive for it to reach its life expectancy. 

Other than that, you’ll want to manage the weeds in your property as these, in large quantities, can take away vital resources in the soil.

Having mentioned that, adding regular doses of fertilizer to the soil helps boost your tree’s health by providing extra nutrients and minerals. 

Though, keep in mind that it’s vital that you perform soil tests every now and then to properly assess the state of your land. 

The results from this test will let you know whether there are surpluses or deficiencies as far as acidity, salinity, nutrients, and minerals are concerned. Through this, you can adjust your additives accordingly.

To provide a tree with a good, long life is to ensure that it has enough space to grow undisturbed. This means you’ll want to carefully pick out your tree-planting site according to how tall your tree will be and how wide its roots will grow.

This way, you won’t have to worry about it causing problems with nearby structures, both aboveground and underground. Hence, you’ll want to consider avoiding interfering with roofs, powerlines, and sewer lines, among others.

What factors can shorten a tree’s life?

A surefire way to shorten your tree’s life is by planting it outside of its native range and stressing it out by taking away vital resources, inhibiting its ability to grow and function. 

Planting a tree outside of its native range is practically setting it up for failure since it’s highly unlikely that you can mimic exactly what it needs from a conducive environment.

Even if you can do so to an extent, it simply won’t be the same as just planting the tree within its native range. 

While you can argue that the gesture of planting a tree is good in itself, it is actually a terrible idea. Planting non-native species can wreak havoc on the local ecosystem.

Hence, it’s best to do your research first about your local tree species. This way, you can actually set a tree up for success and to live a long life. 

Another foolproof way to shorten a tree’s life expectancy is by giving it a ton of stress. 

This can be done in various ways, from poor soil composition to pest infestations.

While trees don’t have wrinkles and eyebags to show how strained they are, you’ll notice their declining health through their foliage and bark.

FAQs on Trees