In general, a healthy tree wants to grow taller. New growth means new leaves, and new leaves mean new sugar. But the taller a tree grows, the harder it is to transport water and nutrients from the roots all the way up to the leaves. Eventually, these two tensions can no longer be reconciled, and the tree dies of old age.
That’s what happens to the lucky ones.
When I started this book, I expected to find a lot of information about trees being harvested for lumber, or about trees dying due to climate change. Horticulturalist Jeff Gillman does touch on these topics, but the in-depth discussion focuses on other aspects of the life and death of trees, including managed deaths in fruit orchards, widespread deaths from insect plagues, and unintentional deaths from well-intentioned but deadly care.
Peppering his chapters with personal anecdotes and lots of photographs (including a photo of an Asian longhorned beetle; I do not recommend studying this one too closely), Gillman examines the life cycle of many different trees, from peach trees in Georgia (which is actually a bad climate for peach trees) to the ill-fated American elm (most elms have been killed off by a fungus that is carried by a beetle) to plants that aren’t trees at all, such as the potato, whose story illustrates the dangers of limiting the diversity in a crop’s gene pool. Gillman speaks about whole species of trees, of course, but he also focuses on a few individual specimens, guiding the reader through their unique lives from seed and growth through maturity and death.
The entire book is written in an easygoing style, with the science rendered into understandable language. I found the “Loved to Death” chapter to be particularly engaging; most of us will never have to worry about managing acid levels in an apple orchard, but many of us will find ourselves caring for a tree in our yards or at work. Gillman exposes a number 0f practices that can harm or kill a tree. Planting it deep? That can kill it. Mulching? That can kill it. Adding potting soil, pruning, topping, overwatering? It’s amazing any trees manage to survive at all.
One final tip: don’t beat your tree with a baseball bat. Though this used to be a fashionable practice, and though it’s true that excessive damage will cause a tree to send out new buds, guess what happens the following season? You’re left feeling foolish and guilty because you clubbed your tree to death with a Louisville Slugger.
Check the WRL catalog for How Trees Die
Leave a Reply