One of my ‘other duties as assigned’ this time of year involves serving as The Christmas tree Guy and responding to various media inquiries about Christmas trees. Last week I posted a link to a media story about Christmas trees on the Garden Professor Facebook page. That post drew a response from Kyle Fletcher Baker who derided cut Christmas trees as “murder of the innocent.” My initial reaction was, “Jeez, Kyle we’re talking about fir trees here not lamb chops or veal.”… Continue reading this article “Silence of the lamb chops”
Author: Bert Cregg
It was a dark and stormy night
A wild and wooly night for many of us last night. A powerful line of storms moved through the Midwest yesterday afternoon and evening, spawning numerous tornadoes, primarily in Illinois and Indiana. Here in Michigan we were spared the tornadoes but had to cope with a long night of high winds, gusting up to 70 mph along the Lake Michigan lakeshore.
The high winds and heavy rains lead to widespread tree damage and power outages. Dealing with a yard full of damaged trees can be an overwhelming and sickening feeling for homeowners.… Continue reading this article “It was a dark and stormy night”
My favorite on-line conifer resources
Posted by Bert Cregg
I just wrapped up putting together a species profile on grand fir (Abies grandis) for Great Lakes Christmas Tree Journal, which is the professional trade publication of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association. I do a lot of articles and presentations on conifers and while I draw on my personal experience and background as much as possible, invariably I’ll need to consult some references. Here are some resources that may come in handy if you need to develop a presentation or article or just want to know more about conifers.… Continue reading this article “My favorite on-line conifer resources”
For Mulch
Posted by Bert Cregg
Just a quick note up front that today’s post is a little data heavy, so if you’re still adjusting to this weekend’s time change; be advised.
A few weeks back Jim Urban wrote a post entitled ‘Against mulch’ on the Deep Root blog. The principle reasons he cited for his position were: 1) Mulch floats and can clog drains and releases “lots of phosphorus” as it breaks down, and 2) work by Gilman et al.… Continue reading this article “For Mulch”
R U nuts?
One of the things that comes along with having an extension appointment at a major university is I get lots of calls and e-mails from homeowners on a never-ending list of sometimes bizarre tree topics. Technically, my extension responsibilities are related dealing with professionals; such as arborists and nursery and Christmas tree growers, but the ‘consumer horticulture’ calls still find me. Last week I received a voice-mail message from an excited gentleman speaking at a decibel level somewhere between rock concert and jet plane take-off. … Continue reading this article “R U nuts?”
Let’s get (soil) physical…
We’ve had quite a bit of discussion this past week on the FaceBook page regarding Kelly Norris’s article in Fine Gardening on dealing with clay soils. While Kelly’s article mainly addressed selecting plants for heavy soils, there was a side-bar on cultural approaches to dealing with clays; including the standard advice to avoid adding sand to clays. This advice has been around for years. The first time I recall hearing it was from Dr. Carl Whitcomb when I took his Arboriculture class nearly 30 years ago (Fall 1984 to be exact). … Continue reading this article “Let’s get (soil) physical…”
A Tree Story
Given my line of work, it’s probably no surprise I’m a sap for tree stories (no pun intended). Last week I was in Nova Scotia for the biennial International Christmas Tree Research and Extension conference. The conference and associated tours provided an opportunity to learn about Christmas tree production in Nova Scotia, one of the leading Christmas tree producing regions of North America. During the conference I also learned about the annual tradition of Nova Scotia’s Tree for Boston.… Continue reading this article “A Tree Story”
How to lie with statistics
I’m attending the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) meeting this week in sunny (and hot) Palm Desert, CA. Tomorrow I will be presenting some of the early results from the SOME-DED-TREES study. For those that are new to the blog, SOME-DED-TREES is the acronym for the Social Media DesigneD TREe Establishment Study. Last year, my students and I established a landscape tree study in which the treatments were suggested by Garden Professor’s blog readers. Actually, we ended up installing two studies: one to look at fertilization at planting and one to look at impacts of mulching at planting. … Continue reading this article “How to lie with statistics”
Brace yourself
The photo below (graciously sent to me by former MSU Extension Educator Jennie Stanger) graphically illustrates the importance of removing ALL staking and supporting materials from trees once they are established.
Just a matter of time (Photo: Jennie Stanger)
In this case the stakes were removed but the strapping material was left around the tree. Since this is a spruce, Jennie supposes no one wanted the prickly job of wading into the center of the tree to take off the strap. … Continue reading this article “Brace yourself”
The heartbreak of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome
The perk of participating in a blog is you get a platform to vent on your pet peeves. Recently I’ve seen several classic examples of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome. No, I’m not talking about the red-headed comic; though he tends to annoy me too.
Annoying Carrot-top #1.
The ‘Carrot-top’ I’m referring to occurs when white pine trees are sheared as Christmas trees but then planted as landscape trees. The typical result is that the side and lower branches remain suppressed while the terminals go crazy. … Continue reading this article “The heartbreak of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome”