Comments for Taking Place In The Trees

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!

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

ethanstreecare — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:54:20 +0000

Real neat stuff… I hate it with sandy conditions. The water might help a little but….Cool blog you have, great stuff!

Comment on Herbie — what remains by Herbie: the next phase « Taking Place In The Trees

Herbie: the next phase « Taking Place In The Trees — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:51:55 +0000

[...] June 21, 2010 by Deborah Howe Yesterday I swung by the site where Herbie, the American Elm in Yarmouth, Maine, had stood for over two centuries. Herbie was taken down last January; to read the tale see this post, and to see photos of Herbie’s stump, click on this link. [...]

Comment on Herbie — what remains by Deborah Howe

Deborah Howe — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:47:38 +0000

Joe, thanks very much for your kind words. I had a delightful visit to your website (especially liked the articles about your educational tree plantings, and the quotes), and hope we have a chance to meet some time.

Comment on Herbie — what remains by Joseph

Joseph — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:00:10 +0000

Hi Deborah,

Just wanted to tell you I discovered your blog this moring and find your tree advocacy commendable.
Keep up the good work and someday I will match your name with a real face to face in person.