Month: October 2009

Support your local arborist

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for the local paper about this year’s fall color.  It’s pretty standard fare around these parts; newspapers, AAA, and so on want to know if we’re going to have good fall color, will it be early, will it last long.  I mentioned to the reporter that we’re seeing a lot of early fall color in the maples around mid-Michigan, in contrast to the northern part of the state, which appears to be running a little late.  The question of course, is why.  I noted even though this summer was relatively cool, trees have been stressed the past several years and some pests, such as clearwing borers, that might not normally be major problems may be taking advantage of the situation.  After the article appeared in the Lansing paper, it was picked up by the Chicago Tribune and USA Today (must’ve been a slow news day).  Since then my volume of “What’s wrong with my tree?”calls and e-mails has skyrocketed.  Depending on how busy I am I usually make an effort try to respond to homeowner calls.  A few issues, such as tar spot on maple, can be diagnosed sight unseen; “My maple has little black blotches on the leaves that look like tar spots”.  Most serious tree problems, however, require a site inspection in order to fully evaluate and diagnose the problem.

If callers and e-mailers really want to get to the bottom of their tree problems I usually tell them to contact a professional, certified arborist in their area.  The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) provides training and certification for professional arborists.  In order to be certified, arborists must meet certification standards and take continuing training to maintain their certification.  Being an arborist is a tough job.  And the business of being an arborist is made tougher by the low barriers to entry.  Anyone can buy a chainsaw, slap a magnetic sign on the side a pickup, and advertise himself or herself as a tree service.  Quality, professional arborists have to pay for training, insurance, bonding, up to date equipment, and proper safety gear for all employees.  It’s not a very level playing field.  But for the client that is looking to save the oak tree that Grandpa planted when he moved into the house after the war, the knowledge and expertise of a professional is far preferable to the chainsaw of Joe’s Fly-by-night tree service.

To find a professional arborist in your area look in the Yellow pages under Tree Services and look for arborists that are ISA certified and insured.  Also the ISA has a search feature on it’s website that enables homeowners to find an arborist based on their zip code.

Old Books

It’s a rainy day in the upper Midwest.  My favorite time to read.  Of course, I should be writing papers, grading papers, or setting up seminars for next semester.  But instead I’m drawn to my bookshelves.  In most professors offices that I visit the shelves are an odd mix of old and new books that focus on the particular subject which that professor works on, along with the scientific journals that relate to that discipline.  It’s no different in my office, except that I tend towards older books and my tastes are just a little bit more eclectic than most.  I have a particular fondness for old entomology texts and I also like books on garden remedies — whether old or new, academic or not.

In a future post, maybe next week or so, I’m going to go down a rogues gallery of books that I don’t care for, old or new.  But today I’m going to do something a little different, I’m going to tell you the three books that I think are must reads for any gardener or horticulturist.  But the catch is that none of these books are currently in print and so you’ll need to search for them or go to Amazon.com where you can often find dealers who have used copies.  These books aren’t listed in any particular order, except the order in which they came to my mind when I put this post together.

Best Reading Book — The World was my Garden, written by David Fairchild, is one of the best horticultural reads of all time.  I’ve heard Fairchild called the last of the great plant explorers as well as the father of modern plant exploration.  Either title works.  I wouldn’t call him the greatest plant explorer of all time (though it’s no stretch to say that he was one of the best), but he is certainly the most skilled writer (at least in my mind).

Best Informational Book(s) — The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture edited by L. H. Bailey is a series of three (or more depending on the edition you get) books which is basically a humongous encyclopedia of everything horticultural.  The beauty of these books is the amount of information they deliver along with the appreciation that the writers (and especially the editor who many consider the father of modern horticulture) had for the art and science of horticulture.  So often we, as professors, want to explain things “scientifically.”  Sometimes gardeners just want to talk about horticulture as an “art”.  This cyclopedia does a great job of appreciating horticulture from both sides.  My favorite section is one called “horticulturists” where an overview of some of the greatest horticulturists of all time is offered, one of the saddest being E. G. Lodeman who died young, but not before writing another of my favorite books of all time, “The Spraying of Plants” — which I won’t include here because it’s a book that will only appeal to a very small audience (those who want to know about pesticides used before1900).

Best Book on Insect Control — Destructive and Useful Insects is a classic text on insect control which has seen many editions dating back to the 1920s.  The best edition, at least in my mind, is the 2nd edition.  The second edition of this book was out before the widespread use of DDT and so, while lead arsenate is recommended a little more than I’d like, there are lots of cultural remedies for controlling insect pests listed also.

I’d love to hear about some of your favorite out-of-print books also — anything from general horticulture to plant pathology and entomology — Let me know what your must-haves are!