Arbor Day 2012

Posted on by Forest Keeper
Mr. Morton loved trees

J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day, and lover of trees.

This past Friday, April 27th was Arbor Day. Long before we celebrated Arbor Day, before anyone came up with the term ecology or the idea of an Earth Day, even before most people would have guessed that we should pay attention to the health of ourenvironment…there was Julius Sterling Morton. If you’ve ever doubted that one person can have a major positive influence on the Earth, you should know the story of J. Sterling Morton and how his belief in the beauty and necessity of trees has literally changed the landscape for over 100 years.

Check out this book on the history of Arbor Day!

Forest Keepers Tree Care participated this year in a campaign called the Arbor Day of Service. This is  a volunteer initiative launched by the Massachusetts Arborists Association in 2010. This initiative was built on the success of the association’s traditional celebration, held for 30 years, by creating a statewide volunteer service day.

Our project site was the Hyannis Public Library. We had a great day volunteering our services to prune trees around the property. We also spent some time with students from the  local Sturgis Charter School, teaching them about the benefits of trees, the current state of the  urban forest and the benefits of proper care.

Talking with the Sturgis Students about tree care

We had a lively discussion with some of the Sturgis Students in their Environmental Systems class.

Healthy trees are vital to our environment and our community. On Friday and Saturday, 350 MAA volunteers donated time, equipment and materials to nearly 40 Arbor Day of Service project sites across the state. We were pleased to have the opportunity  to join with our fellow MAA members by giving back and making a difference right here on Main street in Hyannis.

Teaching about knots for tree care operations

Proper training in all aspects of tree care is very important to use here at Forest Keepers. Here is one of our Foremen showing a crew member the right way to tie off his climbing line.

Setting a line for tree limb removal

One of our tree climbers hard at work!

tree pruning at the Hyannis LibraryArbor day Hyannis Cape Cod, tree pruning

Enjoy this short film on tree planting. Very inspirational!

Posted in From the Field | 2 Comments

Horse Chestnut and Red Maple

Posted on by Forest Keeper

Well things got of to a quick and early start here on Cape Cod. Just as  in many places this Spring.  The dry weather, however has slowed the pace down quite effectively. The other day I visited my favorite fresh water spring on the Cape to get some fresh water and to see how my trees where doing.

Unopened tree bud

The Horsechestnut seems quite unmoved by all of the nice growing degree days that we've been having.

I’ve always wondered why the buds on the Horsechestnut tree are covered with the sticky substance that they are. Upon looking into this I learned that this sticky substance helps to protect the bud from frost damage. According to the Herb Society in the UK,

“Sticky buds can be used to make a simple flower remedy which is helpful in dealing with “mental chatter, easing repetitive thoughts or worrisome behaviours”. It is often called “white chestnut remedy” to differentiate from the “red chestnut remedy”, used for “fear or over concern for others”. ”

So the Aesculus are rather uninterested in making a show yet so i decided to see how the toppled Red Maple was doing.

Buds of the Red Maple tree not showing yet

The buds of the fallen Red Maple tree not showing yet.

The Acer  rubrum  is not too showy yet either, though I have noticed that many of the other Red Maples in the are much further along in their Spring development. This is not surprising since this particular tree has half fallen over. I did give a quick scratch test to   check the cambium layer however and there is defiantly  a nice green color under the bark. So it seems that this fallen Acer is still hanging in there but a bit hindered by the stress.

Maple tree buds in bloom

Most of the Red Maples in the area are coming along nicely. Soon, a spectacular show of red blossoms will fill the trees surrounding the spring.

Life is springing up all around these two trees however. The first signs of life in this wetland are usually the Skunk Cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus.

This plant has an amazing ability to literally, “melt” it’s way up through the frozen soil by a process called cyanide resistant, cellular respiration in which it   generates temperatures of up to 15-35°C above air temperature.

Coincidentally this plant has also been traditionally used to treat various nervous conditions.

Tiger lillyTiger Lilly Hemerocallis fulva seems to be another numerous inhabitant of this plot of land surrounding the Horsechestnut and Maple. Tiger Lillies are a delicious, edible addition that will brighten up any salad.

And it seems that the population of Knotweed  is growing each year in this spot. Fallopia japonica is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species.



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Native Plant Species – “You Can Grow That”

Posted on by Forest Keeper

New gardening initiative for bloggers writing about planting

The Problem With Non- Native Invasive Plants

Many gardeners and growing have, no doubt heard about non- native, invasive plant species by now. At least I hope this is so, and I hope and that we can make many others aware of this “growing” problem.

bittersweet is a problematic plant on Cape Cod

Bittersweet is a classic example of an invasive, non- native plant.Bitter sweet can easily climb into the upper canopy, covering ans destroying what ever is in it path.

Okay, so in short the problem is this: invasive plants are quite hardy and can out compete other plant species in a particular area. As the invasive plants spread and take more ground, the other, native plants are killed off and are pushed out  of their niche. This becomes a larger problem since, as native trees, shrubs and plants are pushed out , locally suited insects and wildlife that have developed along side of them begin to loose the habitat and food sources that they need. Eventually this works it’s way up the local food chains and creates problems on a larger scale.  Invasive plants can be brought into an area much by accident or may even have been planted right in you r yard. Not all invasive plants are “weeds”.

Burning bush

Euonymous alatus, Burning Bush was planted ,often, for it's remarkable fall color. But there are many native plants that will give you this same color and less damage to the local plant communities

Some invasives have been commercially grown and sold before they were recognized for the problem that they are.Burning Bush Euonymous alatus, Norway Maple Acer platanoides, and Japanese Barberry Berberis thunbergii are just a few examples of this.

Here are some good resources for identifying Non- native, invasive species:

USDA Invasive Plant Field Guide

Invasive & Poisonous Plant Guide

The Invasive Plant Atlas of New England’s (IPANE)

Invasive plant i-phone app.

Yes that’s right I said i-phone app. Check it out for yourself

Planting Native Species That Build Up Local Habitats

Diverse, healthy populations of wildlife actually help to create healthy growing conditions. Pests and diseases are less of a problem in an environment that is well established with a full spectrum of plants, insects and animals. We could go a long way in helping to build up  habitats for local wildlife in our gardening by doing just a few simple things!

-Less lawn! this is a big one. I’m not saying that we need to completely eliminate turf from our landscaping, but we could certainly cut the amount of fertilizing, watering, spraying, fuel emissions, noise pollution, etc. by cutting back the amount of our prized green carpet even just a little bit. Not to mention that acres and acres of sterile, artificially green  monoculture do very little towards building up bio-diversity. Incidentally, did you know that 92% of our suburban areas is lawn and 600 square miles of lawn is added in this country every year. I think we can afford a bit less than that.

less lawn can actually be very atractive

Gosh look at all of those ugly "weeds" . To bad they didn't spray there lawn.

-Consider the native plant community that naturally grows in your location. Look around in the fields and forest in your town. Take note of what grows where nobody has planted. You may find a nice variety of very beautiful plant choices that are going to require a lot less fussing over. At the same time you will start to get a sense of what type of plants want

Native plants are beautiful

There are so many beautiful native plants to use in our landscapes. This Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is great for the local fauna!

to grow where you are. Nothing like being happy where you are. Further more, it only makes sense that local wildlife feeds on local plant material. The more native species that we plant the more we build the food chain.

- Remove invasive plants from your yard. With 30% of the plants in our natural areas being invasive plants, and with  over 3400 species of invasive plants in this country, I know that this is a big task to think about tackling. But all the more reason for us to do the little bit that we can in each place that we plant.  It doesn’t make sense to plant anything if it is just going to be swallowed up and lost in a sea of bittersweet or knotweed in a few years.

Some good Native plant resources:

Ecosystemgardening.com

Native Plants For a Cape Cod Garden has a great plant list that is growing

Native Plant List for the Cultivated Cape Cod Landscape

NATIVE PLANT LIST for Connecticut, Massachussetts, and Rhode Island

Sylvan Nursery in  Westport MA is a great source for, well grown, native plant stock

And if you are on Cape Cod ( as you can tell I am) Hyannis Country Garden is another fabulous source for native plant material. Not to mention a very knowledgeable staff!

Native plants attract native insects and pollinatores

Grey Dogwood Cornus racemosa, is an example of a striking shrub that attracts many local pollinators.

Viburnum is a nice native shrub

Planting woody, structural native plants is great for local wildlife. There are many beautiful varieties of Viburnum that can add much to your landscape.

Posted in Conservation, Gardening, Plant Health Care, Spring | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Spring Frost

Posted on by Forest Keeper
Sprinkelers on too early

The sprinklers on this bog were turned on a bit too soon and when the temps dropped, everything thing froze.

Dripping in the morning sun, the ice melts off of these cranberries growing in West Barnstable.  But don’t let the sun shine fool you, the air still has a cold bite to it that is only sharpened by the wind.  Much unlike the past few weeks with temperatures across the region  climbing and the air  bursting with the smells and sounds of Spring. Trees, shrubs, and flowers have, all seemed to taken advantage of these growing degree days and are blooming earlier than ever before.   Michael S. Dosmann, Curator of Living Collections at the Arnold Arboretum, called this years blossoming one of the earliest in 140 years of record keeping.

Insects that we don’t normally see for another month or so are out in full force. Migratory birds are showing up well ahead of time. Not just a few odd balls either, but they all seem to be breaking from their routine arrival times.  Pollen counts are way above normal for this season and according to the National Weather Service, over the past couple of weeks, well over 4,000 high-temperature records have been broken across the country. Bottom line-things are crazy!

It’s not just the earliness of this spring that has gardeners and scientists scratching their heads, but it’s the peculiarity of it. “Things seem to be out of sync in so many ways”, says Larry Dapsis, entomologist at the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. The expected rhythm and routine of spring seems to be writing a slightly different song this year.

Fascinating really!

The main concern at this point for many is the sudden plunge into the 20′s that we’ve been experiencing in recent evenings. A cold snap at this point could really do some damage. Early tree buds and blossoms could  be killed and there is a bit of concern for all of the pollinators  that have made an early appearance. While this is true, the loss of early growth really might not be the greatest hurdle face our trees and plantings. There are many parasitic insects that  may have more than one or two generations this year because of the early, warm start they’ve received. Think about it, with as many Pitch Pine that are succumbing to Pine Bark Beetles here on Cape Cod each year, what would it do to our forests to have not just two generations but three. That would mean  quite a few more dead trees. In the last couple of years we have seen Lecanium Oak  Scale proliferate all over Cape Cod from the trees already being weakened by the Winter Moth Caterpillars. With the jump start they have on growing degree days this year, who knows how bad the infestation will get?

An just imagine the tick epidemic we are already seeing here and on the islands. Well the ticks never even died off this winter, and now it’s Spring already. A few cold nights won’t hinder their numbers too much I think.

So why is the weather so wacky this year? Why did this previous year give us so many “unprecedented” disaster storms, and why is this year already on an unusual coarse? Many ideas are circulating but who can say for sure. One thing is for sure; we should be prepared for an anything but  “normal ” year.

Posted in From the Field, Gardening, Spring | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

12 Steps to Planting Healthy Trees

Posted on by Forest Keeper

Okay, so I know that if your anything like me, when Spring rolls in each year, you thinking about planting. Planting seeds, veggies, bulbs, and hopefully planting trees.  So do you have plans this season to plant any  new trees? Let’s talk about it!

Step 1. Plan Out Your Planting Site.

Your tree will grow.
Do not plant your tree where it will interfere with buildings, overhead utility lines,
pavement, or intersection sightlines as it gets bigger.
Make sure your planting spot is at least. . .

  • 3 feet from pavement or fencing on all sides
  • 15 feet from buildings or other trees

25 feet from overhead electric wires, if your tree will grow taller than 30 feet.Plan out where you will plant your treeCheck Below Ground

Before you dig, call the underground utility locating service in your area to be sure that there are no buried utilities where you want to plant.

Here on Cape Cod the number to call is (888) 344-7233.

At least 72 hours in advance of planting, call the underground utility locating service in your area to be sure that there are no buried utilities where you want to plant. Most services will mark utilities (e.g., electric, cable, gas) for free.

Step 2. Moving the Tree

Carry your tree by its root package (ball or container)—not the trunk! Steady it by holding the lowest part of the trunk.Carrying your treeProtect the trunk while moving your tree. Even a small wound on a young tree can cause permanent damage.

Step 3. Remove Trunk and Branch Packaging

Remove trunk wrap, twine around the branches, and labels. Leave any root packaging in place for now.

Step 4. Prune Critical Branches Only!

Prune only branches that are broken or dead. You may also remove competing leaders, if present. Most trees should have one central leader. If there are two or more leaders, choose which one you want to remain and remove the other(s).keep pruning of new trees to a minumum

Minimize pruning at the time of planting! Trees need as many leaves as possible to recover from transplant shock (leaves produce the tree’s food).

Step 5. Find the Main Root System, and Remove Excess Soil.

Remove soil from the top of the root ball until the top of the main root system is exposed. There should be several roots at least as big around as a pencil extending in opposite directions from the trunk. You may have to remove 2-4 inches of soil before finding the main roots.

Remove excess soil before planting

New trees are often buried in the rootball or container when they come from the nursery.

Remove the top of the root ball packaging. Cut any twine from around the trunk taking care not to nick the bark. Then bend the wire basket back off the top of the ball. Remove soil from the top of the root ball until the main root system is found. You may have to cut some of the wire. Leave the rest of the wire basket in place until the tree is put in the ground.

Step 6. Remove Problem Roots.

Remove all small roots above the main root system with a hand pruner.
Examine the main root system for roots that extend out but then turn to the side or back towards the trunk. Prune these roots at the point where they turn. If left these circling roots can later become a big problem for the tree.

Step 7. Dig the Hole

Don’t put a $100 tree in a $10 hole! The dimensions of the hole are very important in determining the survival of your tree. Dig the hole ONLY as deep as the root system (NO deeper!).

Measure the height of the remaining root ball. This is exactly how deep you should dig the hole.

Measure the approximate width of the root ball or root system. Multiply this by 2, or if your soil is hard (clay or compacted), by at least 3. This is how wide you should dig the hole. DON”T GUESS!

HOLE DEPTH = height of root ball

HOLE WIDTH = width of root ball  2 or 3xcarfully measure root ball to determine size of planting hole

Step 8. Put Tree in the Hole

If the tree has a heavy root ball, slide it into the hole, and straighten the trunk. Be very careful at this point to not let the root ball fall apart.

Step 9.  Remove Root Ball Packaging.

(for Balled-and-burlapped trees)

Balled-and-burlapped trees up to this point still have most of the packaging intact: Without loosening the root ball, cut, peel back, and remove as much of the wire basket and burlap as possible (at least the top third).

A root ball should remain a root ball. If it starts to fall apart as you take off the
wire and burlap, backfill the hole with enough soil to stabilize it. Then carefully remove the wire and burlap, and backfill as you go to keep the root ball intact.

Step 10. Backfill With the Same Soil.

Make sure the trunk is straight. Put the original soil back in the hole, breaking up large clods, and working it in with your hands or a shovel.

Step 11. Water.

Water the root ball and entire backfilled area. Larger trees should be watered in as the hole is backfilled. Back fill hole about half way and then water in and let the water and soil settle in around the root ball.

Step 12. Mulch.

Put a 2-4 inch layer of mulch over the backfilled area. Pull mulch away from the trunk so that none touches the bark. There should never be more than 4 inches of mulch over the roots. Too much can prevent the roots from getting necessary oxygen.

To Stake or Not to Stake

Some trees need to be staked to remain standing straight in their new planting site. Stake only if the root ball is unstable or the trunk is bending. Use wide nylon, canvas straps, or nylon stockings wrapped around one side of the trunk. The tree should not be tied tightly.

If the root ball is unstable, use 1-3 stakes attached LOW on the trunk. If the trunk is bending, use 1 stake attached HIGHER (at least 6 inches below the first set of
branches).

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