"Sheldon" wrote in message
...
J15ess wrote:

How, when and what is the best way to chop down Conifers?
We have several (rather overgrown) ones in our new garden.

If they're large conifers than they've been there many years, dropping
needles and taking soil nutrients...

Although I agree with most of what you said, trees do not uptake nutrients.
They do absorb, in a sense, water with elements dissolved in it. Trees are
autotrophs and manufacture their own food. Food is a substance that
provides and energy source, mostly. Nutrient is a substance that provides
an energy source, elements, and other substances essential for life, in
types and amounts that can provide a healthy life. Fertilizer is a
substance that provides elements, as salts mostly, or in bonded forms, that
require microorganisms to alter to forms that can be absorbed by plants.
The tree would actually add nutrients to the soil as woody and non-woody
parts are shed. Yes trees do take elements from the soil but if let go they
will put a little more back than they took out. Also trees provide the soil
with exudates which is a trees way of paying taxes.

Here is an example of how loose terms can add confusion.

If I said:
To start your car, you must first reach for keys --- energy out. The keys
must be turned in the starter --- energy out. The starter stimulates the
battery, to turn over the engine --- energy out. Finally, the engine pulls
in fuel and engine starts --- energy out. Once started, the engine returns
some of the energy out, back into the battery. Now, the engine is on a
different fuel system. Energy is the key for starting a car. Energy is
also the key for starting water up a tree. In phenology stage one, stored
starch begins to convert to sugars. This requires water to come in, mostly
from stored water, as bound water on cellulose. But, how does it start?
Sun energy and codes of genetics "Reach for the keys". Chemicals form that
increase enzymes that change starch to sugar. Sugar in water starts osmotic
and other pressures that pull more water off cellulose and from the soil.
It takes energy anytime matter moves. To pass through the casparian strip,
more energy is required. As sugar is "burned" ATP comes off. The tree is
still in the "battery" stage. In time new leaves form and the "fuel" stage
starts. But, what about trees that form flowers before leaves? With such
trees, the pressures formed as sugar goes into water, moves the water to the
flowers. The same type of actions go on for maple sap collection. (See
maple syrup) The living symplast maintains the pressures in the water -
moving (NUTRIENTS) by regulating their size. Now "the car is moving" and
energy starts to go back into the system. [WHEN I USED THE WORD NUTRIENT,
what am I referring too?]


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Forester & Tree Expert
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.