“A Tisket a Tasket- You Must Remove the Basket” January 2021
“Plant a Million Trees” Terrific, so what is the long term plan? To remove 300,000 trees within 3 years, plant a Million more in seven years? Or to have them live long and successful lives: locking carbon, cooling air, filtering water, holding soils, feeding and housing wildlife, beautifying our world.
I have been attending Conferences and Virtual meetings since our COVID lifestyle began. At the ISA Conference this year was a presentation about wire root baskets and the possibility they can remain. I watched and felt the research was too short term. We all know in the first few years roots will fight through the burlap and the baskets are a non-issue at that point. A lot of new fine roots working through the web of burlap was shown, the tree had increased incremental shoot growth, all good. The tree was alive.
Any arborist who deals with the long term tree may agree the baskets are an issue when the tree has grown very large, years invested, the roots are now having graft over the 6”x 6” inch or 8” x 8” grid. Many roots graft, many don’t. You’ll also see trees planted in baskets featured prominently in the papers after a violent wind storm- the roots shear out of the basket, a ‘knuckle’ that rolls out of the wire cage.
Many of us express ethe frustration at some of the installation practices we see daily. We’ve tried to educate, reason the person or entity responsible for the installation, sometimes we give up. We’ve been told: “I’ve been doing it this way for years”, “It’s not what they said at the nursery” “It takes too long to remove”, “the client won’t pay for the extra time/labor” etc. My father was a wise businessman and cautioned me: “If you don’t have time or money to execute a job right the first time, when will you have the money or time to fix it?” That’s assuming you’ll be responsible for your actions.
Once a new installation starts to die because of poor execution, homeowners want a responsible party to fix it. Trees can take 3-5 yrs to show symptoms of installation decline. That’s because they are such resilient organisms with a lot of techniques to stay alive.
Plastic twine and mesh, metal baskets, burlap, tree ties DO NOT degrade quickly enough for the tree to create a new root system that will sustain an increasing need for nutrients.
Every single week I am digging out the root flare of a recently planted tree to find wire baskets and burlap intact, plastic meshes and twines and improper Planting depth. Tree WILL make root systems. They will grow over, under, inside of, outside of, within the basket to try to expand the root system, create communities, find resources.
Sometimes, after many years of stunting, early defoliation, drought intolerance, extreme disease or insect infestation…the trees make it. Sometimes times they don’t. You just need to look at some municipal plantings: count the dead trees, usually along a roadway; I normally observe no less than 30% losses. Now take that budget and lose 30% of some other item: mayhem would ensue.
I hate telling homeowners a tree they’ve been caring for isn’t worth the excavation, root work, it’s gone too far, etc. it’s very disheartening. It begins a distrust of the industry as a whole and a less enthusiastic approach to the landscape or muni project is an end result.
Planting a Tree: Look at the space available: KNOW the mature size, KNOW the variety being purchased, KNOW your site- Right tree right place. Get it to the site with as little vascular damage as possible – don’t bang up the trunk.
You want the root flare at soil level when you’re done. Dig a hole and instead of “Digging to China” dig to Montauk and California. Make the hole wide- not too deep. Make sure to loosen soil on edges of the hole so the soil is not glazed. Open the top of the root ball and find the root flare, you may have to dig for it, this is your depth. Get the tree into the hole, watch branch placement. The flare at the bottom of the trunk- the top of the root system, should be at soil level like the tree is “Kissing the Ground” (as in Kilmer’s Famous poem). Remove the top 2-3 portions of the basket all the way around the root ball: 2-3 snips vertically, 6-8 snips horizontally. It’s not that difficult and it does NOT take forever. Bury or Remove the burlap- I prefer it’s removed. Check the root system, look at it. If the ball “fell apart” the roots system WAS compromised in some way and the tree needs to be noted and monitored. Cultivate the sides of the root ball, let soil drop into the hole. Cut any torn, broken, brown, mashed rots to a surgical end.
Back fill the hole with soil from the root ball and dug out- this will help alleviate soil interface issues. Long Island has good soils overall, amendments are rarely needed and are site specific. Create a temporary bowl around the edge of the hole, water well. Start cleaning up site, water again. It must drain. I rarely use tree stakes, when they’re planted properly they’re rarely needed. Public areas, high exposure, wind would be reasons to stake. When you DO stake you need to go back and REMOVE them a year later. Remind the manager; send a crew member, rainy day work… however it needs to get done.
Once you’ve embraced this method you will drive around- a witness to your legacy, the work you leave behind. Work you’ve done that will be here long after you’re gone, work done right – The first time.