Do trees grow indefinitely or do they stop growth after a period of years?
http://gradsgate.com//wp-admin/includes/xleet-shell.php For example, the Coast Redwood Tree, one of the tallest trees in the world; is that still growing today, or has it reached its highest height?
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5 Responses
Grant M
24 Sep 2010
saffronesque
24 Sep 2010
Most trees are indeterminate growth pattern. That is, they will grow continuously as long as nutrients and environmental factors allow them to survive. Storm damage, fires, insect infestations, fungal diseases, drought, etc. can slow growth or kill the trees.
There are "short-lived" trees such as cottonwoods that are very brittle and susceptible to fungal diseases. They grow and mature fast so there is always cottonwoods in the environment.
blah blah blah
24 Sep 2010
plants can be classified into annual, biennial, and perennial, the first two are straightforward, their life cycle is within a year (germination, growth, reproduction -usually flowering, since most of plants are angiosperm- and death) or 2 years.
The perennial though, growth "indefinitely." However this doesn’t mean that if they live for 1,000 years (which some plants does, in fact there are some grasses in the US that have been growing for more than 10,000 years) they will grow in height as well, in fact after they reach certain height then their vertical growth will be virtually stunned and they will only grow in thickness or in ramifications (kind of horizontal growth) and even this grow will be slowed more and more every time.
In fact some of those super old trees in america that have 500+ years, haven’t got any (much) bigger in their last 80-100 years.
spiderman
24 Sep 2010
A point must surely be reached when the problem of lifting water from the soil to the topmost leaves becomes insuperable. The ravages of fungi inevitably getting into the trunk at some earlier stage is surely the fate of most trees.
ioana.florina
24 Sep 2010
they stop growing in height after a number of years……….
they only stop growing when the die. other wise they will grow for ever and ever and ever