Opening up a can of roots (or worms as the case may be)

Blog reader Alan Haigh asked if we could start a discussion about tree planting recommendations.  He sent along these guidelines from the Colorado State Master Gardener Program.

While I’m glad to see that the consensus now seems to be that burlap, wire, twine etc. do not belong in the planting hole, there’s still plenty of issues to contest.  Here are just a few that I found on my first read:

1)  Not mulching over the root ball;

2)  Assuming that all B&B trees are “field grown,” which I *know* is incorrect for so very, very many B&B trees;

3)  Not including the root-washing technique for B&B, which is not only research-based but is actively promoted through the International Society for Arboriculture’s workshops (see this posting for instance).  This is the only way to find and correct circling and girdling woody roots, and the easiest way to find the root crown for planting at grade.


Without root washing you’d have to dig through 10″ of clay to find the root crown (the duct tape marks the top of the clay root ball prior to washing)

I’ve written about this topic before.  And many people argue that it would “take too much time” and “be too expensive” to root wash specimens.  But when you read this publication, note that it takes 13 pages to describe how to plant containerized and B&B trees.

It takes 1 page to describe how to plant a bare root tree.

Vote early and often!

In my last post I announced that we would be conducting the first landscape transplant experiment designed by social media.  We have about 100 ‘Bloodgood’ plane trees in 25 gallon containers that are leftover from a recent nursery trial.  The trees will be planted at our Hort station and receive minimal care after planting beyond an initial watering and a kiss for luck.  I asked for some suggestions for potential treatments and got some good suggestions.  Unfortunately, one thing I forgot to point out is that I have essentially no budget for this project. So trying to determine whether or not roots are mycorrhizal, or bringing in B&B trees for comparison, are beyond our capabilities at this juncture.

We did have some interest in determining the effects of manipulating rootballs for container-grown trees.  These trees have been in pots for 2 years and I absolutely guarantee they are pot bound.  Definitely a good opportunity to look at shaving or teasing rootballs.

There are a couple of other items that I am curious about.

One is crown reduction thinning.  In forest nurseries trees are often top-pruned to reduce shoot-root ratio and increase transplant success.  Obviously we would’t top landscape sized trees, but can selective pruning to reduce the ratio of crown area to root area reduce water stress and increase survival?

Along these lines, there is a lot of marketing of plant growth retardants to reduce transplanting stress.  The most common is probably paclabutrazole – sold under various trade names including Cambistat http://www.treecaredirect.com/Cambistat-Tree-Growth-Regulator-p/3101.htm  Does it work?

I’ve also been curious about hydrogels.  I’ve long been a skeptic but have had several arborists tell me they’ve used them successfully – of course they didn’t leave an untreated control.

Then, of course, there’s Bioplex.  http://www.bio-plex.com/pdfs/Bio-Plex2009Catalogue.pdf It might be easier to list what isn’t in Bioplex than what it contains. I suspect whatever effect it has is largely related to small amount of nutrients it contains.

Lastly, I still adhere to the notion that fertilizing trees at planting is not necessarily the source of all evil in the world and may even be a good thing.  Here I get a chance to provide myself wrong and apply a dose of Osmocote in the planting hole.

OK that’s the background – time to vote.  The link below should take you to a Survey Monkey survey.  You can vote for more than one item, but please vote for no more than three.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W3YGGSD

 

Wicked Good!

At the tail end of August, we (the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech) hosted our second-ever all-day symposium.  I christened it the Down ‘n’ Dirty Garden Symposium series – no stuffiness allowed! All fun, all useful info.  This year we lured the fab Amy Stewart in as our anchor speaker. Quite the coup for our little town!  My friend from grad school, Paula Gross, of the UNC-Charlotte Botanic Garden and co-author of "Bizarre Botanicals" brought her roadshow of wacky plants and action video.  Karen Rexrode, northern Virginia gardener, photographer and artist, inspired us to explore the Dark Side of gardening.

I love it when a plan comes together…these ladies played off each other perfectly and the topics meshed nicely (though decidedly different than the usual garden symposium).  The best part for me was I just had to M.C., thus got to enjoy each and every talk. Amy hit the nail on the head when she e-mailed after with "That has to be the most entertaining lineup of speakers I’ve ever been a part of — I just want to go on the road with them now!"  Maybe they could use an agent…

Amy, Karen, and Paula relax, post-symposia,at the (botanical) garden of Elissa Steeves.

(photo: Nancy Jurek)
Amy’s "Wicked Plants" talk included a tour of her marvelously creepy garden!

(photo: Nancy Jurek)
Paula’s Bizarre Botanicals roadshow. Did you know the pollen of Lycopodium (clubmoss) is highly flammable (and was, at one time, useful as a condom lubricant?).  

(photo: Nancy Jurek)
Karen Rexrode presented a very different and completely awesome take on terrariums, dish gardens, and planters.

(photo: Nancy Jurek)
Karen explained how to remove the top of the doll head with a Dremel saw. Good pal and frequent GP commenter Paul Westervelt turned to me and whispered "don’t you love how she just says that…so normally, like everyone does it…" 

I’m still smiling. And totally inspired. This symposium is going to be really, really hard to top.

p.s. Pardon the missed post, was in Hawaii.  I’ll probably post about that experience a little later on, when I’ve fully recovered.  I can’t speak for Bert and the mai tais – except they were $14 each at the wildly-overpriced Hilton resort hosting the conference. Doubt he had many…</d

Amazing water slices!

Here it’s already Wednesday and no GP postings!  My excuse is that I had a seminar to give yesterday before catching a late night flight to Pullman.  Bert (who should have posted Monday) must still be lost in a mai-tai fog somewhere in Hawaii.  Or maybe he’s looking for Holly, who’s been AWOL for a week.  They’re supposedly at the ASHS meetings.  Right.

I’m kind of liking the idea of finding fun new products for the busy gardener.  Much to my delight, after Goggling the phrase “best new garden product of 2011” I was introduced to amazing water slices.  Here’s the text of the announcement/sales information:

“WINNER OF BEST NEW GARDEN PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AT THE HORTICULTURE WEEK/HTA AWARDS & GARDEN RETAIL AWARDS

“A pack of four amazing water slices – so simple to use, they can retain enough water to keep your plants happy for up to 3 weeks.

“Simply soak each slice in water for 3 hours. Use inside or underneath pot plants, hanging baskets, flower pouches, etc.

“Use in layers, too: one slice=one week’s watering. So three slices will give up to 3 weeks watering.

“Cut to shape – one slice can fit two smaller pot plants.

“An extremely efficient and water-saving product – highly recommended.”

And here’s what a “water slice” looks like:

It’s a sponge.

A Challenge

As I was looking over the label on a bag of fertilizer this morning I was reminded of the time, a few years ago, when a friend of mine and I went to a local K-mart and decided to see what the people in the gardening section knew.  We started small—we went over to a bag of fertilizer and my friend asked what the three numbers on the bag meant.  Now, as most gardeners know, those numbers indicate the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the fertilizer.  Unfortunately the guy we asked told us that those numbers were actually a computer code…We never did find out exactly what this computer code was for.  I have no idea why the guy couldn’t just say “I don’t know”.  We had intended to ask more questions, but both of us were too stupefied to continue.

So I have a challenge for all of you this weekend—I’m curious to see who takes it up—go to a box store, or a garden center—your choice—and ask them what the three numbers on the bag of fertilizer are for.  You can list responses in the comments section below—or feel free to e-mail me directly at gillm003@umn.edu if the answers are too embarrassing!

They said to write about it, so I will…

Please tell me – am I crazy?  Or just not the gardening trend-setter that I should be?  Should I be spending $10 on this? Check out this excerpt from Garden Cuttings Newsletter, with the note “Please feel free to use this information in your stories and columns”:

“Instead of sending dried leaves and other yard waste to the landfill, compost it! DeComp-9 Organic Compost Booster speeds up the composting process with patented microorganisms that quickly break down leaves, grass clippings and other yard waste. When added to compost, the microorganisms in all-natural DeComp-9 will grow on organic material, feed on decaying and dead plant matter and convert this waste to nutrient-rich compost that helps build stronger and healthier plants. Just mix DeComp-9 with water according to the product label and apply on compost piles. Each 20-gram package of DeComp-9 makes 10 gallons of solution – enough to treat 27 cubic feet of compost material. DeComp-9 is available for about $10.”

 

High-end WOW (Why oh why)

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to speak to the Portland Garden Club and see some absolutely gorgeous private gardens.  But alas…even in the midst of such botanical riches I still managed to find something to make me shudder.

Now I have nothing against garden remodels – or boxwood hedges (though I generally find them unimaginative).  But here’s a good example of shrub salvaging gone horribly wrong:


Deadwood boxwood

And again

It will take a long time for these boxwoods to fill in.  If you’re going to spend the kind of money that’s going into this remodel, why get chintzy with the hedge plants?

Maybe green spray paint is in order?

Be a Part of History!

Here at the Garden Professors we pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of technology.  In fact, we’re so tech savvy we didn’t even whine when FaceBook foisted a new homepage format on us for no apparent reason.  So it’s only fitting that we offer you, Mr. and Ms. Garden Professor Blog reader, an opportunity to participate in the first ever landscape horticulture research project designed by social media.

 


Here’s the deal.  My current research project on water and nutrient management of trees in container production has left us with over 100 ‘Bloodgood’ London planetrees in 25 gallon containers.  What I need from you are ideas for a study plan on what to do with the trees next.

 

Of course, as with any major research project, the first step in the rigorous scientific process is to come up with catchy acronym for the study.  I propose “the SOcial MEdia DEsigneD TRansplant ExpErimental Study” or SOME-DED-TREES for short.  Needless to say, I am willing to consider alternatives.  In any event, we have a unique opportunity to investigate post-transplanting growth, development and physiology of landscape trees.

 

So here’s what we have: Approximately one hundred,  2” caliper trees, grown in containers in a standard mix of 80% pine bark and 20% peat moss.  Trees have been grown for two years in essentially standard nursery culture – daily irrigation and 60 grams of Nitrogen per container.  The subject of the original study was fertilizer source; half the trees were fertilized with Osmocote and half received the same amount of nutrients from organic fertilizers. After two years we have not seen any difference in growth or foliar nutrients between the treatments. Nevertheless, I will need to include the prior treatment as a blocking variable to eliminate any potential confounding effects.  Beyond that it’s wide open.  We could have 6 treatments x 2 blocks x 8 trees = 96 trees.  I strongly suspect in the final analysis the block effect will be non-significant and we can consider there to be 16 replicates, but life is full of surprises.

 

So, what tree establishment or tree care question is burning a hole in your brain?  “Shaving” or “butterflying” container rootballs?  Fertilizing at time of transplant?  The latest biostimulant?  Crown thinning at time of transplant?  Frequency of post-planting irrigation?  Width of the planting hole – how wide is wide enough?  Send me your suggestions and we will set up a poll to vote for the top choices.

Beer and 1984

1984.  That’s the year that the last professor here at the University of Minnesota published a paper about peanuts.  He had tested a number of different varieties, some of which we’re testing now, and found that they do quite well in Minnesota.  Then for the next 26 years there was a lull.  And now?  We have peanuts!  Boiled peanuts and man are they good.  But…will we end up in 1984 again?  How do we make sure that our peanuts don’t disappear into academic oblivion?  We’ve got to find a restaurant, a bar, a gas station, something, who wants to try something new – we need demand.  Maybe the state fair?  We’ll see.

I give a lot of talks throughout the US.  It’s something that I enjoy, but, honestly, a year or two after I give a talk in a location I usually forget many of the specifics – they bleed together.  Sure, I remember that I gave a talk in Green Bay (for example) – and I remember the people and the botanical garden (both of which were great) – but I don’t really remember the talk itself.  Well, this past Tuesday night I gave a talk that I’ll remember forever.  There’s a bar in Minneapolis called Bryant Lake Bowl which is connected to a bowling alley and a theatre.  Our University Museum, called the Bell Museum, hosts a monthly scientific talk there called Café Scientifique.  The audience, about 90, is waited on by the bar staff during the talk and so everyone is quite comfortable.  The speaker may also partake if he or she so desires (how could I resist – after all, it was the only compensation I received).  So I had a pint of Surly – on an empty stomach – during the talk!  I’m a lightweight, so let’s just say I was relaxed.  It was about an hour presentation followed by almost an hour of questions.  I don’t think it was my best talk ever, but I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better time giving a talk (The title, by the way, was The Truth About Organics).  It was an audience largely composed of a demographic I rarely get to talk to out side of my classes – young (20-30 yr old) people who were very curious about where food comes from and who really hadn’t spent much time thinking about it before.

 

An unusual company

This week I’m in Charlotte, NC as a guest of Bartlett Tree Experts.  In addition to providing tree services, this company also maintains the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories and Arboretum. The latter includes over 300 acres of tree collections and ongoing research trials.  Here’s a sampling of the tree research we had a chance to observe:


Demonstration espalier pruning…


…and pleaching


Comparison of root barrier materials.  This area was covered with a sidewalk for a number of years and then exposed to observe tree rooting patterns.  The purpose of the research was to find which barriers were most likely to prevent sidewalk lifting and cracking.


A control – no barrier, lots of roots!


Black plastic – lack of rigidity allows roots to grow over (and through) the plastic, then under the sidewalk.


18″ rigid root barrier.  One of the more effective means of keeping roots out.


Removing circling roots before planting


A tree whose roots had been corrected before planting.  I think this had been planted in 2007, then lifted a few weeks ago.


A tree without root correction.  It didn’t grow any better than the corrected tree, and those circling roots are well on their way to becoming girdling roots.

This company employs a number of PhDs whose research is routinely published in arboricultural and horticultural journals.  It was fun to finally meet these researchers whose work I’ve been following for years.

Wouldn’t it be great if more companies put this much effort towards research?