Recently in Tree Physique! Category

If you cannot plant a favorite tree with aggressive roots, such as a willow, because your sewer lines are old and  could be damaged roots...what are your options?

SOLUTION:  Plant the willow tree in a  large tub of earth -- 2-3 feet across and high enough for a good root ball.  Get a book on bonsai and use the same basic technique to grow trees in pots or tubs.  The care of bonsai trees entails pruning, wiring, fertilizing, repotting and watering properly, and of course -- proper seasonal timing!

• Junipers and Maples, are hardy enough for growing outside
• Ficus and Norfolk Island pine make good indoor bonsai or plants for moderate climates (like Southern California)

I've heard from one gardener that she has a 20 year old redwood that is only 6' tall that she's been bonsai-ing for years.

Some sources of basic bonsai information:

www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Bonsai-Tree

www.bonsaigardener.org/

www.bonsaiforbeginners.com

Here's your chance to take part in the "growing" TreeVitalize movement,
a program designed by Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources (DCNR) to increase Southeast Pennsylvania's tree cover
and the benefits that trees offer us all. Join us for 9 hours of
hands-on training that will cover tree biology, identification,
planting, proper care and working within your community.

The course is being offered on weekday evenings at five different
locations, and is designed for lay people and experts alike. The course
is free but registration is required. Pennsylvania Landscape
Architecture, PLNA, ISA Certified Arborist, and Act 48 CEUS are offered.

There are several ways to register. See below for a registration form
which could be faxed to 215-988-8810 or mailed in. You can also register
online, by going to www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org, and
choosing "Tree Tenders Training".

Tree Awareness:
* Tree Biology
* Urban Stresses on Trees
* Tree Identification
* Basic Tree Pruning and Root Care
* Tree Planting

Community Organizing:
* Fundraising and Identifying Resources
* Working with Local Government
* Organization Building

The three-part series is FREE

For more information contact:
* Julianne Schieffer, 610-489-4315 or jxs51@psu.edu
* Mindy Maslin, 215-988-8844 or mmaslin@pennhort.org

Whether shearing a tree like a poodle or sawing branches down to stumps, topping causes a tree to panic and overcompensate, quickly producing hundreds of spindly branches loosely bonded to the tree's main structure. These fragile limbs are far more vulnerable to disease-bearing interlopers such as fungi and insects.

"Topping is the second worst thing that can happen to a tree, after chopping it down," Alex Shigo said in a phone interview. "But if you have to make a choice, I'd say cut the bottom and start over. At least you maintain the dignity of the tree."

Alex Shigo is considered the father of modern arboriculture.

Alex Shigo, a New Hampshire-­based plant pathologist  made his name in the 1970s by dissecting an estimated 15,000 trees and debunking the myth of "topping" -- hacking off the tops of branches -- which he believes is at the root of all bad tree care. He is widely considered the father of modern arboriculture.

In the early 1990s he helped persuade the City of Los Angeles to take tree  topping off its list of accepted trimming practices. Dr. Shigo served 15 years as the Chief Scientist in the US Forest Service.

Dr. Alex Shigo wrote:

Tree Pruning: A Worldwide Photo Guide
A Tree Hurts Too
A New Tree Biology: Facts , Photos and
A New Tree Biology and Dictionary
Tree Pruning Basics
Tree Pithy Points
100 Tree Myths
Tree Pruning
Tree Anatomy


More information is available at www.shigoandtrees.com

Defective trees can cause personal injury and property damage. Hazard tree management has increased in recent years due to safety and liability concerns resulting from preventable accidents. A “hazard tree” is a tree with structural defects likely to cause failure of all or part of the tree, which could strike a “target.” A target can be a vehicle, building, or a place where people gather such as a park bench, picnic table, street, or backyard.

Inspecting Trees

Consider the items on this checklist when inspecting your trees:

• Tree Condition: Poor conditions include many dead twigs, dead branches or small, off-color leaves. Good conditions include full crowns, vigorous branches, and healthy, full-sized leaves. But you need to look further...for the health of branches and trunks.
• Tree Species can affect hazards because come tree species are prone to specific types of defects. For example aspen are prone to youthful breaks due to decay; some species of maple and ash can form weak branch unions.
• Tree Age and Size are affected by constant stress. Older trees that have accumulated multiple defecs and extensive decay can be especially prone to damage.

Inspect your trees every year. A thorough inspection is easiest after leaf drop in the fall, and after leaf-out in spring. It's important to routinely inspect trees after every severe storm.

Look for dead wood, cracks, weak branch unions, decay, cankers, root problems, and poor tree architecture.

Corrective action provides some choices, depending on the problems. You can move the tree to a better location; prune the tree or remove the tree.

For more thorough guidelines on "Recognizing Hazardous Defects in Trees," check out this helpful and estensive on-line guidebook by the USDA Forest Service.

SOURCE: Forest Service: Recognize Hazardous Defects in Trees

PROBLEM: Danger and liability

SOLUTION: Regular inspection and care of your trees with pruning, cabling, bracing or tranpanting, or removal of the tree.

Trees are the muscles of our  habitat.  They do some pretty heavy work -- they anchor the soil, convert humidity into  moisture for the soil, break rocks into smaller pebbles, and after all that work, they convert their leaves into humus, their limbs and trunks into humble soil.  And they are home and shelter for thousands of different kinds of insects, birds, mammals, worms and microbes. And they store carbon.

“It’s probably a nice thing to do, but planting trees is not a quantitative solution to the real problem. If you plant a tree (CO2 reductions are) only temporary for the life of the tree. If you don’t emit in the first place, then that permanently reduces CO2.” Dr. Philip Duffy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

And trees aren't permanent!  Surprise! :-)  But some, like the giant sequoias are closer to permanent than many buildings and energy reduction schemes.

But forests as a whole are permanent -- one generation feeding the next.  Carbon is the stuff of life...and trees are the staff of carbon.

PROBLEM: Carbon emissions are creating stress on natural systems that recycle CO2.

SOLUTION: Planting and maintaining trees through MATURITY adds filtration, water retention, shade for hot urban centers, soil replenishment, habitat for wildlife, as well as windbreaks for homes, shade to reduce utility usage, and adds to the livability and value of a building -- whether a home or commercial building.  Trees work hard for us!