Average longevity for trees depends upon the species or cultivar. Some fruit trees, such as the pear, is fairly long lived, 50 to 75 years. For apples the range is 40 years to a century.

On the other hand, there’s the peach, which has a short average life of 8 to 12 years. The plum is slightly better with an average of 20 to 25 years.

For persimmon, the range is 25 to 40 years. Citrus is relatively long lived with 50 to 60 years.

The olive average life is 300 to 600 years. Yet, the record for olive trees is 1500 years.

A number of ornamental trees are fairly long lived. For beech, it is 200 to 400 years. The white oak is fairly long lived with an average of 300 to 700 years. The champion ornamental tree is the yew with an average of 200 to 800 years. For cryptomeria, the average life span is 300 to 700 years.

Bear in mind that this is historic data collected prior to global warming. For that reason, it is likely that tree longevity could be shortened in the future by climate change.

Help Your Trees Enjoy a Long Life

Take the following steps to ensure your trees enjoy a long life span. One of the most important steps towards tree longevity is choosing appropriate species or cultivars for your growing conditions.

Likewise, the second step is knowing your tree’s expected mature size and giving each tree the space it needs. Avoid crowding plants together as this is bad for their health.

When possible, choose trees that are resistant to diseases and pests

Give your trees proper care. This means knowing what kind of fertilizer is needed and the recommended amount at the appropriate time of year.

If your area is experiencing drought, don’t use fertilizer unless you plan to water on a regular basis. Otherwise, the fertilizer can kill the plant.

This brings us to another issue-watering. A lot of trees need a moist soil in order to do well, which means watering will likely be needed.

Sprinklers aren’t a good method of watering trees. In-ground Irrigation systems are a more reliable source.

For your trees sake, avoid illuminating your landscape. Artificial lighting can be detrimental to the health of some plants.

Go easy on the mulching as too much can be harmful. Piling a foot or so of mulch around a tree trunk is known as volcano mulching. and should be avoided.

Pruning should be done carefully and properly at the right time of year and only when it is needed. Assuming the right sized tree is selected for the landscape, there should be no need to prune in order to control a tree’s height.

Topping of trees is to be avoided at all times because this does permanent harm to the tree. Take care when using mowers and trimmers around trees. Avoid damaging the tree bark.

One of the best things that gardeners can do for their plants is to keep dogs and cats away from their plants. Animal waste is quite harmful to plants.