Have you ever wondered how much the trees in your yard are worth?  You may have if you have ever had to try and replace one.  It is an easy question to answer if you just recently purchased your tree and planted it.  But what if you have to replace a tree that has been around for years?  We receive several calls from lawyers, insurance agents, and others that are trying to figure out the worth of a mature tree. 

This is an impossible question to answer.  Trees are sold in a variety of ways.  You can purchase trees bareroot, containerized, or ball and bur-lapped.  The sizes on these trees will vary.  Root systems and the caliper will vary on the age of the tree.  Who ever is selling the tree has to take into account the transportation of the tree, so will only sell items that they have the capability to move.  A tree farm will probably have the capability of moving a lot bigger tree then an online or mail order nursery (but chances are the bigger trees will only be able to be moved short distances).  You could pay under $50 for small (or young) bareroot tree and several hundreds of dollars on the same species that is a lot larger. 

In short, a tree is generally worth more the larger that it is.  With that being said, we have never seen a full size tree for sale(if anyone has, or knows of a way to price trees at maturity, please let us know).  As a nursery, we would have no way of putting a price tag on a tree that is full grown.  In a sense, your tree is priceless. Take that for what it is worth.  If you lose a 40 year old tree, about the only thing you can do is plant a younger version in its place.