Author: Bert Cregg

Ok, ‘Hot’ might not be exactly the right word, but winter in the Midwest has certainly been warmer than average this year.  I did a little trolling around on Michigan State University’s Automated Weather Network website, which has been logging temperatures and other weather variables around the state for the past 15 years and compared our current winter here in East Lansing to recent years.  Since the middle of December our average daily temperatures are 5.2 deg.… Continue reading this article “Hot enough for ya?!”

I ‘like’ American Forests page on Facebook so I receive their periodic updates.  One item that caught my eye recently was a profile article on Dr. Greg McPherson, who is an urban forestry researcher with the USDA Forest Service in Davis, CA.  Even if you don’t recognize the name, if you have even seen any statistics on the economic and environmental benefits of trees in cities (energy conservation, carbon sequestration, etc), they probably cited information for McPhereon’s studies, either directly on indirectly,

http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/forest-frontiers-greg-mcpherson/… Continue reading this article “Moving from tree planting to tree performance”

As part of my ‘other duties as assigned’, I have taken on an assignment to develop fertilizer prescriptions for landscape trees and shrubs based on soil samples submitted by homeowners to the MSU soils lab.  This has gotten me immersed in two sets of conflicting literature. 

On one hand is a raft of extension bulletins and ISA guidelines on tree fertilization, which typically suggest adding 2-4 lbs of nitrogen (N) per 1,000 sq ft of ground area – in some cases up to 6 lbs of N per 1,000 sq ft (Rose 1999). … Continue reading this article “Why don’t landscape trees respond to fertilization?”

A follow-up to Linda’s post about a recent study in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry that indicated mulch may not reduce evaporation of water from soil as we generally assume and which suggested that landscapers may want to re-evaluate their mulching practices.  As Linda noted, we have some real concerns about this conclusion and believe that proper mulching of landscape trees and shrubs has well-established benefits.

First, I don’t question the results present in AUF article.  As my grad students frequently hear me say, the data are the data. … Continue reading this article “Mulch: Just Do It”

Lots of people around the country seemed to take perverse pleasure in the snow and ice storm that paralyzed much of the Pacific Northwest recently.  From Boulder to Boston, northern residents that deal with snowstorms on a regular basis chortled at video clips of cars and buses slip-sliding away in western Washington.  Perhaps it’s just the Northwesterner in me getting a little defensive, but I’ve never understood why people feel the need to gloat over other people’s inability to cope with weather. … Continue reading this article “Does anyone really know how to handle weather?”

I probably shouldn’t admit this but one of my all-time favorite movies is Steve Martin’s classic “The Jerk”.  Part of the appeal is that I have an affinity for low-brow humor in general but also because the movie contains some great lines; “I was born a poor black child”, and the classic scene when Martin’s character finds his name in the phonebook for the first time and runs around yelling, “The new phonebook’s here! The new phonebook’s here!”… Continue reading this article “The new Hardiness map’s here! The new Hardiness map’s here!”

Like many, I was interested last week by the announcement that a University of Connecticut professor responsible for some of the research on resveratrol, a plant-based phenolic compound linked to various health benefits, had been accused of falsifying and fabricating data.  According to published reports, UConn officials found 145 cases of faked data that turned up in 26 published research articles by Dr. Depak Das.  Resveratrol occurs in many plants but most notably in grape skins and seeds, and one of the compounds associated with health benefits of red wine. … Continue reading this article “A dirty little secret”

Just a quick post today.  Today is the second Monday in January which means: 1) classes resume here at MSU and 2) it’s the first day of the Great lakes Trade EXPO in Grand Rapids, which is sponsored by the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association and Michigan Turf Foundation.  I’m on tap for two presentations this afternoon.  

The first one is a bit of post-mortem on the Imprelis issue that dominated some of our lives back in the summer.… Continue reading this article “The fun and the not so fun”

NOTE: Linda and I switched places this week so we could get the Garden Professors survey up on Monday – See Linda’s post for the link – please take a minute to give us your feedback!

I recently received a copy of a newsletter from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station that included a summary of an article recently co-authored by one of the Station’s scientists on the effect of urban tree cover on pregnancy outcomes of new mothers in Portland, OR http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi137.pdf… Continue reading this article “Want healthier babies? Plant trees!”

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about living in Michigan is that we are virtually guaranteed to have a white Christmas each year.  This is in stark contrast to western Washington where I grew up where a white Christmas was a relatively rare event.  In fact, to make the locals feel better, one of the popular songs on the radio play lists during the holidays is “Christmas in the Northwest is a gift God wrapped in green.”… Continue reading this article “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”