Paul Hetzler very kindly sends me his entertaining and tree oriented writings – and I usually get comments back.

Enjoy!

Betsy

Be Nice to Arbors This Friday
By Paul Hetzler, Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County
Muskrat Day. Velcro Appreciation Month. Hair Follicle Hygiene Week. Arbor Day. You know it’s an obscure event when the greeting-card trade hasn’t bothered to capitalize on it. I like to think the industry knows Arbor Day is worthy of a Hallmark line, but that they’ve decided to honor its spirit by conserving paper. (C’mon, it’s possible.)
While it’s not the best-known observance, Arbor Day has a respectable history, as well as local, um, roots. Begun in 1872 by Adams, NY native J. Sterling Morton, Arbor Day was intended to highlight the need to conserve topsoil and increase timber availability in his adopted state of Nebraska. Though it began as an American tradition, Arbor Day, which is observed on the last Friday in April, is now celebrated worldwide.
Not only was Morton passionate about planting trees, for him the act seemed to verge on the sacred. He said “The cultivation of trees is the cultivation of the good, the beautiful and the ennobling in mankind,” and believed every tree planted made this nation a little better. J. Sterling went on to become rich and famous with his Morton Salt Company, and Arbor Day went on to become a somewhat obscure, if virtuous, tradition.
I tend to agree with Morton’s lofty pronouncement. To plant a tree is to invest in the future, and is an act of generosity and responsibility. When we add a tree to our community, it’s likely that many generations of people after our passing will enjoy it.
Trees add value to our lives in surprising ways. Many of us have heard the spiel about how trees decrease home energy costs, increase property value, filter pollutants and all that. But did you know that shoppers spend more money when there are trees in a downtown shopping district, and that homes sell faster on tree-lined streets?
How many of us are aware that hospital patients who can look out on trees from their bed have better outcomes? And did you know that crime rates drop significantly when urban neighborhoods are planted with trees? And that lying under a shade tree in summer cures acne? OK, I made that last one up, but the rest is true.
It may be noble to plant a tree, but it has to be done right or you might as well rent it. A poorly planted tree will only live a fraction of its potential lifespan. Location is the first thing to consider. Kids and trees generally look cute when you bring them home from the nursery, but they grow up fast and often take up more room than you expected. If your site is under wires or has restricted space for branches or roots you need the right species and variety of tree that can grow full-size without causing conflicts.
The old adage “dig a fifty-dollar hole for a five-dollar tree” may need to be adjusted for inflation but the idea still has currency, so to speak. Ninety percent of tree roots are in the top ten inches of soil. To reflect this fact, the planting hole should be saucer-shaped and 2-3 times the diameter of the root system, but no deeper—ever. Otherwise the Planting Police will ticket you. OK that’s fiction too, but if I happen to come along I may scowl at you. It’s imperative the root flare (a.k.a. trunk flare) be right at ground level, because deep planting leads to serious future health problems. For the tree, primarily.

Before backfilling, remove all fabric and twine on ball-and-burlap trees, and yes, those wire cages should be cut away. Container-grown trees may have circling roots that need to be teased out straight.
Adding loads of organic matter to the backfill likely dates back to ancient times, when folks might grab an arborist, if one was handy, and throw them in the planting hole. Possibly in response to this, arborists these days recommend little or no additional organic matter in most cases.
With very sandy or heavy clay soils, moderate amounts of peat moss, compost or other amendments can be used in the backfill. Adding more than 30% by volume can cause a “teacup effect,” and roots can suffocate (water is held in the hole and doesn’t move into the soil quickly). Fertilizer is stressful on new transplants, so wait at least a year on that. In healthy native soils, trees may need little or no fertilizer.
Water thoroughly as you backfill, and prod the soil with a stick or shovel handle to eliminate air pockets. Unless the site is very windy it’s best not to stake the tree—movement is needed for a strong trunk to develop. Two to four inches of mulch over the planting area (but not touching the trunk) will help conserve moisture and suppress weeds. Throughout the first season, check the soil every few days to be sure it’s moist but not waterlogged.
If you’re looking for a suggestion, here are some exceptional trees for street and yard planting:
Washington Hawthorn: small, disease resistant, white flowers, tolerates road salt
Japanese Tree Lilac: small, drought tolerant, large cream-colored flowers
Heritage River Birch: med-large, few insect pests, pinkish-white peeling bark
Skyline Honeylocust: med-large, tolerant of wet soils, drought & road salt, thornless
Prairie Pride Hackberry: large, drought tolerant, wildlife eat berries
Kentucky Coffeetree: large, disease and pest free, drought tolerant
Bur Oak: large, tolerant of both drought and intermittently wet soil, and can live 800+ years!
Have a happy Arbor Day this April 24th—planting a tree is a great activity to share with loved ones, and a great investment in the future.

Snow Jobs

Paul Hetzler, Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County

Where agriculture is concerned, dairy is king (or is dairy queen?) in northern NY State. But with the kind of winter we’ve had so far, I wonder if we shouldn’t start producing other crops, ones particularly suited to our region. How about we raise snow peas. Or iceberg lettuce, perhaps. OK, so I’m indulging one of life’s most futile activities, griping about the weather. But for farmers, foresters and gardeners, there is an up-side to all this snow.

Snow has been called “the poor person’s fertilizer” because it’s a source of trace elements and more importantly, of plant-available forms of nitrogen, a nutrient often in short supply. When snow releases a whole winter’s worth (what’s that—six, eight months around here?) of nutrients in a short time, the nitrogen value can add up.

Since air is 78% nitrogen, you’d think plants would have all they needed. But atmospheric nitrogen, N2, is a very stable, inert molecule that plants are unable to use. Where does useable nitrogen come from? Some soil bacteria can “fix” gaseous nitrogen, converting it to water-soluble forms that plants can slurp up. Lightning also turns nitrogen gas into plant “food.” But this only accounts for a small percentage of the nitrogen found in snow.

Turns out snow is a better fertilizer today than it was years ago. There’s an outfit called the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), which basically measures stuff that falls out of the sky that isn’t some form of water. According to the NADP, the vast majority of snow-borne nitrogen comes from pollution.

Coal-burning power plants and motor vehicles spew out various nitrous oxides, not great for us to breathe, but when washed into the soil, are nitrate fertilizers. Ammonia, another form of plant-available nitrogen, escapes from manure and commercial urea-based fertilizers.

So how much fertilizer is in the snowdrifts blanketing the North Country these days? Because we’re the “beneficiaries” of more pollution than most of the West and Midwest, we get more nitrogen in our snow than the national average, somewhere around 12 pounds per acre annually. Depending on the crop, a farmer may apply on the order of 150 lbs. of nitrogen per acre, so 12 lbs. is small potatoes. Literally. But it’s not chopped liver, either (which is high in nitrogen but not an ideal soil amendment).

Snow-based nitrogen can be a significant boon to ecosystems on marginal soils. In a year with abundant snowfall, sugar bushes, timber lands and pastures undoubtedly benefit from “poor person’s fertilizer.” Snow also brings a fair bit of sulfur, which is an essential plant nutrient. It also can make soil more acidic, which isn’t always a good thing, so let’s call sulfur a mixed blessing.

Obviously, snow provides soil moisture in early spring. What’s different about snowmelt as compared to rain is that snow melts gradually enough that nearly all its moisture gets into the soil. This gentle percolation is in contrast to summer rain, a percentage of which—sometimes a large portion—runs off and doesn’t benefit the soil.

When topsoil is saturated, or as agronomists put it, at field capacity, excess water seeps down through the soil profile. Eventually it becomes groundwater, raising the water table and recharging our aquifers. Nearly all water wells in the region tap into unconfined aquifers. This just means that the water that goes into the ground in a given location is the water that comes out of the well there. These aquifers depend on snowmelt as well as prolonged heavy rains of spring and fall for recharge.

Those who work in field and forest should take heart at the mounting snowbanks, not despair of them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m headed to the garden with the rototiller to plow up some snow. I

Sun!  So we are all happier even with the cold.  I hope you have sun where you are, too.

Want a winter hike to see more trees?  The Plantations is hosting “Meet the Conifers” in Ithaca this Saturday.

The Xerces webinar on Conservation Biological Control yesterday was quite good!  I learned some things – including that it is archived if you want to watch it yourself.  Scroll a short way down to: Conservation Biological Control: Habitat management to control pests.  Lots of practical examples – even if they are specific to Christmas trees.

One thing I learned?  Construct beetle banks  – raised beds planted with grasses –  to encourage ground beetles that will then move into your crop to feed on bad beasts.

And speaking of bad beasts – and how to identify them.  Virginia Tech has a page for identifying insects and mites (and do you remember how many legs an adult mite has – from class?)    Fact sheets and scouting information.  Remember that the calendars are for Virginia – a tad warmer than here.

I was told several times at the CTFANY meeting that I like bugs too much.  With cute little beetle feet like these, how can you not? And someone is studying them to figure out how they can stick to surfaces and not fall off.

Beetle feet

May all your beetles be good beetles!

Have a good week!