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I'm writing a fantasy with trees which are extremely wide, and fairly tall. Their width would be about 40-50 metres.

So I was wondering if the climate needed to be similar to that of a rainforest, or something that's instead colder, for these trees to fit the environment they're in.

However, you have to take into account that there are people living in treehouses that are situated on these trees, so human factors come into play too (eg farming etc).

If anyone has an idea on what climate would be most suitable for this type of scenario, that would be greatly appreciated!

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    $\begingroup$ It matters a lot. Red Wood trees (100 meters) are at the limit of how tall trees can become. Taller than that and they are unable to draw water from their roots up to their leaves. If your fantasy trees are to be taller they would need to be able to absorb water from the air somehow, which implies a very wet biome is now required. Instead of the drier climate that redwoods come from. $\endgroup$
    – Questor
    Commented Feb 16, 2023 at 19:59
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    $\begingroup$ Also, what farming? You there have trees of unending fruit up there, so no need to care about farmlands, just trees. $\endgroup$
    – Vesper
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 6:05
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    $\begingroup$ Redwood trees do pull water from the air. scientificamerican.com/article/… This is part of how they survive in a drier climate or one with fog. $\endgroup$
    – David R
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 15:35
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    $\begingroup$ @Questor what is the mechanism for the limit of drawing water for trees? Was there a phenomena that prevents it? $\endgroup$
    – Harry Mu
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 16:43
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    $\begingroup$ @HarryMu Gravity. Water is heavy, and trees need a lot of it. Trees pull water up to their leaves by evaporation which creates a vacuum that pulls more water from the ground up to the tree's leaves... More then 90% of the water that a tree uses is evaporated to up more water up. $\endgroup$
    – Questor
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 17:14

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This is warping things a bit but you could say that the trees were specifically domesticated by those living in them via iron-sided tradition to farm the fruits and grafted plants that were added to the trees over time.

Over time these modifications and additions grew into Yggdrasil-like trees that naturally provided shelter and food for the villagers and in return, the villagers grafted plants that drank humidity and watered the trees top-down via bucket transport by domesticated goats or by hand. the altitude of the trees naturally isolated the villagers providing good defense but also served to help preserve the tradition. If trees get too crowded, the best botanist from each tree village starts a new village on unmodified trees proactively to create more living spaces. Elder trees could signify status, and thus serve as pseudo metropolises.

In this system, the people becomes the climate, though a humid climate would be better suited.

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    $\begingroup$ I love this idea, thank you! So what you're saying, is that the people domesticated these trees to their advantage, but also helped the trees themselves grow and evolve? Then the trees grew in a way which provides natural shelter and food? $\endgroup$
    – Faeology
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 21:27
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    $\begingroup$ @Faeology Yes, Exactly that. $\endgroup$
    – Harry Mu
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 21:28
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    $\begingroup$ One thing to keep in mind for this idea though is that these trees would need to take hundreds of years to grow. Redwoods average between 500-750 years old at the largest. You also can't just modify a tree on the fly. Grafting doesn't produce a hybrid tree, it produces a tree with hybrid fruit. That fruit once planted would still need to go through an entire life cycle to produce said hybrid tree, and then a new cycle for each change. This would be a project thousands of years in the making for a single tree. $\endgroup$
    – TitaniumTurtle
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 23:26
  • $\begingroup$ @TitaniumTurtle The furious handwaving on my part is that this is an ironcladded tradition for the community, that they've been doing that for some insane amount of time to be able to domesticate the trees and have great information transfer from generation to generation. While possible, its very hard to do as a community. $\endgroup$
    – Harry Mu
    Commented Feb 18, 2023 at 0:24

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