Remember, if your tree died, ... you killed it. They don't commit suicide. - Hec DeBrabant -
Dan Robinson tells the story of a visit he made years ago to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. They had a diorama featuring a mature red alder, a local tree, and the sign said that of the hundreds of thousands of seedlings that had been spawned over the tree's lifetime, only TWO had survived to 20 years of age.
This solidified for him his previous advice to beginners that to improve the odds of survival, one should start with mature trees that have already proven themselves survivors.
In a stable population of trees, for any tree surviving to maturity, the average number of offspring also surviving to maturity would have to be one - otherwise the population would grow or decline. In other words, most trees die young in nature.
If we are not entirely working with very mature survivors of hardy species, the odds a tree would have died anyway at some point is very high. This does not entirely negate the negative effects we may have on their life span, but I think it argues against our efforts being the sole cause of death. Much of our collections die, not from our poor care, but because of the vagaries of weather, or diseases, or infestations/pests - the exact same reasons they die in nature. Our care may even, for all we know, result in prolonging the life of a tree that would have easily died earlier in nature, especially some of the less hardy varieties that have been bred for their bonsai characteristics, rather than for their hardiness.
If your child dies, does that mean you killed it? If your dog dies, does that mean you killed it
G52