How Much is Your Fruit Tree Worth?

You've probably heard the saying, "When is the best time to plant a tree? Answer: 30 years ago. When is the next best time to plant a tree? Today!"

If you purchase a new fruit tree today, you will probably spend somewhere between $50 and $250 US depending on the size and variety of tree. If it dies shortly after planting, you will have lost $50 to $250.

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What about a fruit tree that is well established, maintained, and consistently producing fruit!? 

If your fruit tree was a business, you could use the "Times Revenue Method".  Using this method, you would weigh the fruit that you harvested this year, multiply that by the average price per pound to get your "revenue", and then multiply that by 3, 4, or 5 years. 

For example, you harvest 100 lbs of apples from your tree, and organic, locally grown apples sell for $3.50 a pound at your local supermarket. You would say that your tree is worth $1,750 assuming you can use a 5 year multiplier. (100lbs X $3.50 X 5 yrs. = $1,750)

Another way to value your tree is to add the purchase price of your tree plus fuel cost to pick it up, plus mulch, stakes, etc. Then keep track of your time to plant it and all the other time you spend caring for and maintaining your tree. Once you have calculated the total hours, multiply your time by your current hourly rate. Don't forget to add the cost of tools and other products like sprays, wraps, and tree guards. Add all of those expenses to determine what your tree is worth.

For example, you purchased a tree for $95 and while you were at the nursery you bought 5 bags of shredded bark mulch, 2 stakes, 1 roll of tree wrap, a tree guard, and a bottle of neem oil concentrate for a total of $85. You estimate $10 for fuel to drive to a from the nursery. You get the tree planted before lunch and estimate 4 hours. The shovel, wheelbarrow, and post pounder cost $100, but you only use them 1/4 of the time for your fruit trees and the other 3/4 of the time you use them for the rest of your yard and gardener. You have a hand pruner and a folding pruning saw that cost a total of $40. These tools are only used to prune your fruit tree. Finally you estimate 4 hours a year for the next 5 years in pruning and maintenance time and your current hourly rate at work is $25 per hour

In this example your tree would be worth $855. (see chart below)

As you can see, both of these examples seem a bit ridiculous. I like to value a tree, not just fruit trees, but any tree, with it's replacement value. What would it cost to replace a tree with the exact same size, quality and variety and put it in the same place in your yard?

Let's use a 30 year old apple tree as an example. Remember, 30 years is young for an apple tree. It still has a lot of life left in it.

What would it cost to dig up that tree, with enough roots and soil so that it will survive the move? Add the cost to load it onto a truck, and ship it to you...I wonder if a thirty year old tree could navigate the interstate system.

Then what? You would have to off load it and move it to your backyard and fit it into a hole that is just the right size to receive it. Would it fit through your side gate? What about the tractor that is carrying it? OK, so you have to remove and replace the fence and redo your landscape where the tractor tore up your grass and sprinklers. At this point it's probably cheaper to rent a crane and a crane operator, or maybe a helicopter and a helicopter pilot?

I know, this example is also ridiculous. The point is: Old mature trees are irreplaceable! They are probably worth more than the land they are growing on. They might even be more valuable than your house. So don't you think you should treat them like the irreplaceable asset that they are? Don't let them get sick, and by all means don't cut them down! What if the death of your fruit tree is inevitable? Then don't wait for it to die. Plant it's replacement today!

Thanks for Reading! If you would like to learn more about the care and pruning of fruit trees, please browse our 100+ fruit tree articles here, join our Backyard Fruit Growers Facebook Group, and take our free Fruit Tree Pruning Course. Also, please subscribe to our Fruit Pruning YouTube Channel.