A short follow up to last weeks post on girdling roots. Just to reiterate, the point of the post was that we need to be careful not to jump to conclusions when assessing tree problems. It’s important to look beyond the first defect we see and consider additional causes. And to also reiterate, girdling roots can be a serious problem and can lead to tree failures. The photo below shows an example of tree that was both planted too deep and had stem girdling roots. … Continue reading this article “Trees can be good plumbers”
Tag: roots
Girdling roots: The source of all evil in the world?
One of the most widely discussed topics in arboriculture and tree care these days is the problem of girdling roots. Virtually every conference or workshop on tree care has a speaker or speakers on how poor planting technique or poor nursery practices lead to girdling roots and their subsequent correlation with poor tree performance, tree failures, global warming, the soaring Federal budget deficit, and the batting average of the Seattle Mariners. Before we go any further let me state categorically that I do not think girdling roots are a good thing; nor do I think any of the consequences mentioned are a laughing matter – especially the Mariners’ batting average. … Continue reading this article “Girdling roots: The source of all evil in the world?”
Big Trees for Crime Reduction
Like Linda, I believe that we don’t plant enough bare-root trees. Trees that are harvested and sold bare root tend to establish better and recover faster from transplant shock than trees sold in containers or as B&B (balled and burlapped) stock. But, in general, trees that are purchased in as bare-root stock are smaller than the other two styles, with B&B generally being the production method which yields the largest trees.
I disagree with Linda that, as a general rule, B&B stock should have its roots washed off prior to transplanting — I’ve done it and I’ve lost trees. … Continue reading this article “Big Trees for Crime Reduction”
Newsflash: trees will die if their roots can’t establish
I’ve blogged before about the importance of getting tree roots in contact with the landscape soil during transplanting (you can find those posts here, here, here, here, and here). My advice to bareroot woody species upon installation is often ignored in favor of the quick-n-easy methods so often showcased on HGTV (“A complete landscape makeover in a weekend!”). And of course everything looks great…for a while. Let’s see what happens after a few years.… Continue reading this article “Newsflash: trees will die if their roots can’t establish”
Dig it up and give it another chance!
Too often I’ve come across relatively young trees, shrubs, and vines that are surviving, but not thriving. Every year they struggle gamely to put on a few new leaves, grow a few more inches, but something’s fishy and it’s not fertilizer. Today I’m going to try to convince you to give these languishing woody species a second lease on life.
Long-time readers of this blog will remember some of the root horrors I’ve (literally) uncovered in containerized and balled-and-burlapped plants. … Continue reading this article “Dig it up and give it another chance!”
Five little lavenders – an update
Long-time readers of our blog might remember my August 12 column (linked here for your convenience). You saw my giant lavender plant devolve into 5 small plants with tiny spiraled root systems that put Marge Simpson’s beehive to shame. In any case, I promised to keep you up-to-date with their progress.
Transplanting in August is a risky proposition, especially when you prune out root defects. Nevertheless, all but one of the five survived the summer and here they are earlier this spring:
The one that didn’t make it was in the upper left corner of this south-facing landscape, where there is a lot of reflected heat from the nearby bricks and concrete. … Continue reading this article “Five little lavenders – an update”
Building a Better Container, Part Deux: The Ellepot
I enjoyed Jeff’s post on the RootTrapper and thought I’d share another interesting and [relatively] new development in the world of greenhouse growing containers.
Take a tube full of growing media, wrap a paper sleeve around it, and voila – the Ellepot!
It’s bottomless, root permeable, and degradable. Each Ellepot sits in its own cell in a re-usable tray. The great aeration and drainage makes for a happy, healthy root system. Another plus is that after transplanting, there are no pots or packs to throw away
I’d say the bulk of Elle Pots are utilized at the propagation end of things – starting seeds and rooting vegetative cuttings – either for greenhouses to “grow on” themselves or as plug/liner products sold to finishing growers (see student Paul Hutcheson holding a geranium liner above).… Continue reading this article “Building a Better Container, Part Deux: The Ellepot”
Building a Better Container
As most of you know, roots circling around a container isn’t considered a good thing. And so people try various things to control circling roots. One of the more creative horticultural minds out there, Carl Whitcomb, a guy why basically got sick of academia and went into private industry (and, as far as I can tell, loathes peer review and the whole process of publication), decided to see what he could do about making containers that don’t encourage circling roots. … Continue reading this article “Building a Better Container”
“Being wrong” counterpoint
I haven’t finished with the water droplets story yet – but I just had to add some more evidence to the tree planting discussion from last week.
Consider this series of photos below. This is a street tree in Kennewick, WA (in the southeastern part of the state, where summers can be intensely hot and dry). Every spring, this tree leafs out just fine – and every summer the leaves suffer marginal and tip scorch. This is a classic symptom of chronic drought:
As an amenity, the tree fails. … Continue reading this article ““Being wrong” counterpoint”
Let It Snow!
Here in Minnesota one of the things that we need to worry about is the cold. Over the winter we can see temperatures down into the -30s (even the -40s in the Northern part of the state) and it can damage many of the plants that we grow. The tops of the trees are usually able to handle these types of temperatures — though a good heavy snowfall can cause a limb to collapse now and again.… Continue reading this article “Let It Snow!”