Taking Place In The Trees

Yesterday the Massachusetts Arborists Association held a day-long workshop at Elm Bank, headquarters for the Massachusetts Horticulture Society in Wellesley, MA.  Three arborists — Dave Leonard from Kentucky, Rolf Briggs of Holliston, MA, and Matt Foti of Lexington, MA — spoke about particular  root issues; Mike Furgal, from Northborough, MA, discussed the use of air tools in bare-root tree transplanting.  After hearing the talks, the hundred or so attendees split into groups and visited five stations on the Elm Bank grounds where the featured speakers were giving demonstrations on their topics.

It was a fine workshop, and I’ll be posting quite a few photos from it in the next few days.  Today, though, I’m only posting this photo:

Sugar maple whose trunk flare was excavated several years ago at a Bartlett Tree workshop given to demonstrate the new and revolutionary use of air tools in tree work.

Several years ago, I went with a friend to this Bartlett Tree workshop at Elm Bank, and we were among a smallish group who watched as an arborist blew several inches of soil away from the trunk flare of this Sugar Maple.  As I recall, the tree had been planted a bit deep, it was set in a fairly compacted lawn, and it was not looking as well as it might; at the time (this was perhaps seven or eight, or perhaps even ten years ago) it had about a six-inch caliper trunk and was not thriving.

Now, however, the tree looks really good.  It may have a little too much mulch around its base — built up since its excavation — but its foliage is deep green, its bark is intact (trunk injuries sometimes show up as a result of some kind of root trauma or injury), and it certainly has grown.  A mulch bed surrounds it and keeps lawnmowers away as it minimizes compaction.  If this kind of growth results from attending to root issues early on and from maintaining a tree properly, the arborists from this workshop may prove, down the road, to be responsible for promoting what truly may be the best arboricultural practices around.

Workshop speakers:

Dave Leonard, Dave Leonard Consulting Arborist, Inc., Lexington, KY

Rolf Briggs, Tree Specialists, Inc., Holliston, MA

Mike Furgal, Furgal’s Tree and Landscape, Northborough, MA

Matt Foti, Matthew R. Foti Landscape and Tree Service, Inc., Lexington, MA