Comments for Taking Place In The Trees

Comment on Another species transplanted with air tools by Deborah Howe

Deborah Howe — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:37:41 +0000

It is beautiful, isn’t it? The Federal Reserve plantings are always so well put together, and their Hort staff does an incredible job of maintaining everything.

Cindy, I just looked at your blog, and am so looking forwarding to reading more! The lantern slides you posted are a treasure.

Comment on Another species transplanted with air tools by Cindy @ enclos*ure

Cindy @ enclos*ure — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:50:31 +0000

What a gorgeous form that tree has!

Comment on Another species transplanted with air tools by Carol Howe

Carol Howe — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:49:06 +0000

Astounding! Now – let’s see what happens to it. I would never have thought of moving a mature hornbeam, weeping or happy, this way and in this season.

Comment on How not to plant a tree by Robert Lesko

Robert Lesko — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:02:48 +0000

Very informative. I am also amazed at how often massed plantings on public, institutional and commercial properties using large and clearly costly specimens are never followed up with adequate watering. Within a year most are dead or nearly so. I am happy to have discovered this site through the New England Wildflower Society bulletin. I garden in northern CT where I’m trying to introduce more native trees and shrubs on my property.

Comment on Remarkable weeping hemlock by Mollyavalon

Mollyavalon — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:31:20 +0000

Wow, beautiful tree. You did an excellent job of photographing it. If you hadn’t used Carl for scale I wouldn’t have realized how big it is.

For your non-arborist readers, why are they called stems and not branches?

Comment on Remarkable weeping hemlock by SK

SK — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:06:38 +0000

Fantastic. Thank you for sharing. Of course, I’m trying to figure out if I’ve seen it driving around Boston suburbs. It looks like a great deal of care has been afforded the tree. Any information from the owners about the history of the tree?

Comment on Root flare by Steve

Steve — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:58:06 +0000

I’ve been extracting the buried root flares on our maples. I can only hope they will look as cool as your sugar maple when the recover! So far, so good!

Comment on Air spade transplanting by Deborah Howe

Deborah Howe — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:05:44 +0000

Hi, Mark — Birches are generally considered a fall digging hazard, as you know. If you saw the American Nurseryman or Lawn and Landscape articles, you will know that Matt Foti and Mike Furgal showed that moving a birch with air tools on a hot August day was possible, though a tree dug in the conventional way on the same day wilted almost immediately. In fact, Matt will tell you that the next spring he was stunned by the lush growth he saw on the birch they had blown out; in a block of 7 or 8 other birches, it was a real standout for good growth and deep green foliage. If you haven’t read the articles, it’s worth clicking on the links I’ve put in this blog post, so you can.

If you have done air tool transplanting, you may have your own methods. If not, be aware that a move like this may work best if you don’t blow all the soil off all the roots; try blowing off the outer third of the root diameter, and then blow underneath the remaining root mass to un-anchor it from the ground. Then lift the soil slug, with the inner 2/3 still encased in soil and the outer 1/2 freed from soil, to give yourself a bit of an insurance policy for the move. Matt and Mike have found that blowing all the soil off can be a tricky proposition, and until someone does a controlled and larger-scale by-species experiment, using this hybrid method will help insure that your trees move and reestablish well. Fibrous-rooted trees tend to do very well; trees with tender bark (magnolias, for example) can suffer from the high air pressure, as it’s easy to blow the root bark off with the soil unless you’re very careful.

If you do go ahead and move the river birch this fall, take photos and send them over; I’d be delighted to hear how it goes, and would be happy to write a post about the move. Best of luck.

Comment on Air spade transplanting by Mark Baldwin

Mark Baldwin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:35:52 +0000

I have a question regarding transplanting a Crimson Frost River Birch with an Air Spade. In our area, River Birch do not transplant B&B in the fall very sucessfully. What do you think the prognosis would be barerooting?

Comment on MAA Elm Bank workshop6 — air tool tree transplanting by Deborah Howe

Deborah Howe — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:15:50 +0000

Thanks very much for stopping by — I’m glad you like the blog. It sounds as if you’ve blown out plants in sand — it is pretty gritty work, for sure. Fortunately, the results can be great, and I hope whatever you have moved from sand has appreciated the effort!