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thoughts from the fall tree conference
Just got back from Round Rock where the TX Forest Service and the TX
ISA held a joint conference as part of their ongoing education efforts. I've been to enough of these things by now that I usually don't hear much new stuff, but it always helps to get reminders of the important stuff I already know. Here's what was ringing bells for me this week: There is very little, if anything, that an arborist can do to the aboveground part of a tree to make it healthier. Perhaps certain spraying can, but mostly it's treating a symptom, not a cause--e.g., insect problems can be controlled with spray, but healthy trees rarely get much insect damage. If you want healthy, happy trees, you need to have healthy, happy soil. This DOES NOT mean fertilizing with some granular product that basically amounts to dumping salt in the soil. First, you need to make sure your trees are at the right depth. If the tree was purchased and transplanted, or if your lawn had the grade changed when the house was built, the flares at the base of the tree are probably buried. It is extremely important to excavate the bole and keep it exposed to open air. If girdling roots have developed, they should be removed. Next, the soil in most suburban lawns (and many others) is highly compacted from construction and also from years of foot traffic (and vehicle traffic in some yards--I'm talking to you, Kelso-ites). This is a difficult problem to correct, but at a minimum compacted soil should get top-dressed with compost (especially look for humates) and maybe a product like medina soil activator. The compost will also serve as your fertilizer--unless you have a very strange situation, your soil has plenty of P and K, and only needs N to be happy. Too much N is worse than not enough. The slow release of decaying compost is the best way to make the soil and the trees happy. John Dromgoole described one of his products that he formulates just for trees (sylvan formula) and it includes composted wood chips, cornmeal, greensand, cottonseed meal, compost tea, and seaweed (I think I left a couple of things out, and might have mixed in one or two that he talked about as good stuff for soil, but maybe not as part of the above product). Any or all of these will likely improve soil, and none are likely to do any damage unless you grossly exceed recommended rates of application. The area inside the tree canopy should be mulched with wood chips to a depth of 3" (still keeping the base of the tree exposed to air). This helps to alleviate the compaction while also retaining moisture, invigorating the soil's micro-systems, and increasing root density. As most AG regulars know, these are just a few of the benefits gained by mulching. Finally, irrigation should be infrequent and deep. A soaker hose left on for several hours once a month is better for trees (and, only a little more frequently, like once a week or less, for grass) than a fifteen-minute burst from the sprinkler system every other day. A lot better. Most irrigation systems barely penetrate the first inch or two of soil, but to really water trees you need to soak your whole lawn to a depth of 6" to 12", or even more. If you doubt this, place a tuna can under your tree before the next irrigation cycle and see how much water is landing in the tree's root zone. If it isn't at least an inch, it's not enough. Another good test is to get a shovel and look at the soil profile after the sprinklers run. You may be surprised how little of the soil is wet. More intensive efforts are available for extreme situations, but the above steps will slowly turn things around for most trees in difficult soil conditions. Keep applying the compost once or twice a year and get on a good watering schedule; eventually, you will have much better soil conditions and much happier trees. good luck, keith |
#2
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thoughts from the fall tree conference
Great stuff--copied and saved for future reference.
Thanks! -- ie ride fast, take chances. "Treedweller" wrote in message ... Just got back from Round Rock where the TX Forest Service and the TX ISA held a joint conference as part of their ongoing education efforts. I've been to enough of these things by now that I usually don't hear much new stuff, but it always helps to get reminders of the important stuff I already know. Here's what was ringing bells for me this week: There is very little, if anything, that an arborist can do to the aboveground part of a tree to make it healthier. Perhaps certain spraying can, but mostly it's treating a symptom, not a cause--e.g., insect problems can be controlled with spray, but healthy trees rarely get much insect damage. If you want healthy, happy trees, you need to have healthy, happy soil. This DOES NOT mean fertilizing with some granular product that basically amounts to dumping salt in the soil. First, you need to make sure your trees are at the right depth. If the tree was purchased and transplanted, or if your lawn had the grade changed when the house was built, the flares at the base of the tree are probably buried. It is extremely important to excavate the bole and keep it exposed to open air. If girdling roots have developed, they should be removed. Next, the soil in most suburban lawns (and many others) is highly compacted from construction and also from years of foot traffic (and vehicle traffic in some yards--I'm talking to you, Kelso-ites). This is a difficult problem to correct, but at a minimum compacted soil should get top-dressed with compost (especially look for humates) and maybe a product like medina soil activator. The compost will also serve as your fertilizer--unless you have a very strange situation, your soil has plenty of P and K, and only needs N to be happy. Too much N is worse than not enough. The slow release of decaying compost is the best way to make the soil and the trees happy. John Dromgoole described one of his products that he formulates just for trees (sylvan formula) and it includes composted wood chips, cornmeal, greensand, cottonseed meal, compost tea, and seaweed (I think I left a couple of things out, and might have mixed in one or two that he talked about as good stuff for soil, but maybe not as part of the above product). Any or all of these will likely improve soil, and none are likely to do any damage unless you grossly exceed recommended rates of application. The area inside the tree canopy should be mulched with wood chips to a depth of 3" (still keeping the base of the tree exposed to air). This helps to alleviate the compaction while also retaining moisture, invigorating the soil's micro-systems, and increasing root density. As most AG regulars know, these are just a few of the benefits gained by mulching. Finally, irrigation should be infrequent and deep. A soaker hose left on for several hours once a month is better for trees (and, only a little more frequently, like once a week or less, for grass) than a fifteen-minute burst from the sprinkler system every other day. A lot better. Most irrigation systems barely penetrate the first inch or two of soil, but to really water trees you need to soak your whole lawn to a depth of 6" to 12", or even more. If you doubt this, place a tuna can under your tree before the next irrigation cycle and see how much water is landing in the tree's root zone. If it isn't at least an inch, it's not enough. Another good test is to get a shovel and look at the soil profile after the sprinklers run. You may be surprised how little of the soil is wet. More intensive efforts are available for extreme situations, but the above steps will slowly turn things around for most trees in difficult soil conditions. Keep applying the compost once or twice a year and get on a good watering schedule; eventually, you will have much better soil conditions and much happier trees. good luck, keith |
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