Hot topic I know.... but I don't want to clutter the other threads with my long winded take :)
There is a balance to be struck to have a healthy environment. On one side of the fence, you have the people who, once a tree is planted believe that it should never ever come down again... and the other side who believe it's perfectly healthy for the world to have no trees at all. Both sides are emotionally attached to their position... but I think the answer is somewhere in the middle.
Players need patches... not just for projects but for other goals. Digging has achievements, and that means patches.... new players have quests to plant, and planting has achievements, and that means patches.... but players need resources, and that means trees! Not just trees, but a variety of trees : )
I said it elsewhere but we've been given a lot of room to build the world, rearrange, and have a good time doing it. Not everyone is going to have the same definition of 'good time', and that is wonderful! Experience tells me, those who participate in collaborative efforts are the ones who have a) the most fun and b) the most success with Glitch. Within the Glitch world, I see both sides of the fence having an amazing time once a few tweaks are made. My thoughts on tweaks?
1) Part of the problem is the design of the trees themselves. They only die naturally when they haven't been petted and watered in a while. Our trees get so much love they stay fully mature all the time. Answer: Give the trees natural life span (linked to a skill perhaps, higher the skill at planting the longer the start value potential) and the trees naturally die regardless of how much love they get. Perhaps if the tree gets loads of love it can obtain an extra 'elder tree' stage that allows it to live 50% longer when planted on the care of an expert tree person (and is maybe immune to poison or takes 3 poisons and 30 minutes to kill)? Could make for some seriously interesting social interaction as a seasoned planter encourages a group to make sure the tree gets love. Keeping track of all those trees is a Group unto itself.
2) Extending the duration of poison. Ever tried killing a tree in life? It takes hours. Equal to the trees living longer, perhaps the time for poison is shortened when applied by a skilled gardener. Going from the example set during the test.... 10 minutes sounds like a healthy time. It's long enough for a player to react, and ensures a commitment if someone wants to hang around and make sure the trees die. It's also about the amount of time it takes to repair the damage and get the tree growing again... so the energy/time commitment on both halves is balanced.
3) Setting a cap on the volume you can purchase from vendors in a given Glitch Day. This will also help with the complaints within the Street Projects, Cooking and Market/Economy camps... no more putting 500 Hooch up on auction, or 100 Sandwiches. A quick review of what's required to achieve a quest + a little bit should set a cap that people can learn to live with. It will also get more people converting materials into various things. (I know the intent is for vendors to be reworked/go away entirely, but we're not at a point where the community is ready for that.)
4) Giving us a new option... a 'safe potion'... something that could be purchased to protect the tree up to a certain point. I think stage 6 or 7 is a good spot... this means the tree will make it to a mature and producing state for a good while before it can be killed, but it can still be killed on an almost Glitch Day basis. If capped like the poison and antidote, it also means a planned effort has to be made.
Socially, there is a lot both sides of the fence can do here. If it were me, I'd be spending my energy on forming a Group (Public or Private, you have some control settings) and enlisting like minded people. Start taking advantage of the in-game social features... the Chat Channels and whatnot... both sides will make a bigger difference if they move efforts out of Help and into a Group.
In your planting efforts, try to make sure you give a thought to the types of tree you are planting (perhaps that ability is also linked to a skill and given a per day cap. 5 per type is 25 trees a day... it would solve the brewing bean/cherry problem). Kind hearted as it is to plant whatever you are able... if the whole world is bean and cherry, the world will grind to a halt. Also... if every single patch is planted, there is no choice but to kill a few trees. Consider leaving a patch behind. Perhaps there's a bunch of people who want to form a Group to balance the world...
See, that's the beauty of the world the developers have created for us. The more you take advantage of the social aspects, collaborate with others, and join in shared Personal Missions... the more you are going to enjoy it, and the easier the world is.