Losing a cherished old tree can be an emotional experience, especially in a land where it takes grit, luck and substantial time for a tree grow to maturity.
Trees don’t die of “old age,” but eventually the stresses of living become more than the tree has resources to deal with. Urban trees tend to have shorter life spans than trees in natural areas, and some species have shorter lifespans than others.
For example, birch trees seldom live longer than 40 or 50 years, even in a good setting. The character of many neighbourhoods built in the 1950s and ’60s is changing as the ubiquitous front yard birch falls slowly to the ravages of time.
Deciding when, or even if, to remove a tree that is clearly struggling can be tough.
Unlike animals, trees don’t suffer as they age. They merely carry on, shedding limbs that can’t be supported anymore and pushing out ever dwindling new growth each spring if they can.
You can opt to follow nature’s lead and allow an old tree to decline and die, slowly falling apart on its own. Dead and dying trees become animal condos. Chickadees and woodpeckers make their homes in hollow limbs. Of course, this strategy is only practical on large lots or in rural areas where the complete failure of the tree can be tolerated.
In urban settings, homeowners should make a retirement plan for their old trees. There is usually a target, such as a house or power line near the tree, and dying trees present a clear hazard.
Don’t dawdle when a dying or unstable tree needs to be removed. If you wait until it becomes good and dead, it is not only a hazard to you and your property, it is also hazardous for an arborist to remove.
Large tree removal is inherently dangerous work and dead trees are even more dangerous and unpredictable. If a tree can’t be safely climbed, the options for removal are fewer and may involve pricier equipment, such as a crane. Don’t expect such a job to be cheap.
The plan for your old trees is not necessarily to have it fall to the axe as soon as it looks a little tired and misshapen. Many declining trees can be removed gradually. It’s sometimes better for the landscape and the human soul to allow a tree to decline through the years, just removing hazardous limbs as they arise.
Many “topless” birches and the grand ,old poplars along Memorial Drive are maintained throughout their sunset years this way. Some people don’t like how they look, but these trees still have tremendous environmental value. Sadly, too many of these trees were lost in the recent floods. Nature does not always work slowly.
Trees which have become unstable or are afflicted with a fast-acting disease, or a contagious disease such as fire blight, should be removed quickly. If you are unsure about the prospects of a declining tree, have an arborist make an assessment, and work with him or her to make a plan for the tree.
If you are not ready to give up an old “family” tree, and it can be safely maintained as it declines, you might consider planting a young tree nearby. This small tree may grow more slowly than it otherwise would in the shade of its elder, but once the old tree is finally laid to rest, the young tree will take over and grow with vigour. This happens in forests. Young trees patiently wait in the understory until the large trees live out their lives or are knocked over by a storm or are zapped by lightning.
Just as humans cannot regain their youth, despite glossy magazine promises to the contrary, an old tree will never fully recover its youthful vigour. However, many stressors that may have accumulated around your faithful, old woody companion might be alleviated.
A tree that seems in decline might perk up some with some TLC. Give the old thing a spa day by improving the soil around the tree through aeration followed by generous dollops of compost, topped off with a fluffy thin layer of mulch. Make sure your old tree has adequate water during dry spells. And finally, except for dead and hazard limbs, don’t prune it. It needs all the live wood and leaves that it has left.
It may no longer be pretty in the usual sense, but an old tree has a dignity carved with age. We no longer resemble some manufactured image of human perfection once we get a little slow and wrinkly, either.