Common Tree Care, Planting mistakes
Do not use a weed wacker as the above person is doing to control vegetation
around the trees. The thin bark at the base of the trees will be damaged
and removed and the tree will die as shown on the right. Use herbicides to
control unwanted vegetation.
Here is a windbreak tree that has a mulberry tree growing up the middle of the tree. This is a very common occurrence in windbreaks as birds bring in seeds and they start growing. If
not removed, this mulberry will eventually kill the Norway Spruce. Cut the mulberrys
off 4 inches above ground level and apply a safe herbicide that can be used to
kill the undesirable trees growing in your windbreak, do this in the fall of the
year. We can advise you on this. DO NOT use any herbicides such as Tordon,
Milestone, Forefront or 2-4D on or around your trees at any time, as it can and
will kill them.
Here is a White Pine with grass growing around the base of the tree and a Norway
Spruce that has proper weed control. Do not let any vegetation grow within 2 ft of your trees the first 5 years. Grass takes all moisture
and nutrients from the tree and growth rates are reduced significantly. We advise using herbicides
and not mulch to control vegetation and can advise you on the proper and safe ones to use.
Here is damage done from a buck deer rubbing his antlers, to avoid damage,
reduce the numbers of destructive animals (rabbits, deer, pocket gofers) and
take action to prevent damage in the future. For best results we like: www.stopthedeerdamage.com
Here is a row of shrubs that were planted 10 ft from a row of Norway spruce. They were the old fashioned lilac and they quickly spread by suckers in the Norway spruce area. The Norway spruce responded by losing there bottom branches, and now the wind is beginning to blow right threw the bottom of the windbreak. This is one reason I am not a big fan of planting deciduous shrubs in a windbreak as this can happen if planted closer than 20 from the trees. Deciduous shrubs in the winter without their leaves provides only a 15% reduction in wind velocity, were any evergreen provide over a 50% reduction in winds.
Here is a row of Norway Spruce planted 6 ft apart, they are now over 12 ft tall
and are beginning to thin out at the bottom of the plant. This is so they can
keep the top growing and not be shaded out as in nature. At this time every
third one of these trees should be removed and in about 5 more years remove
every other one. This would give a final spacing of 18 ft between trees
which is what you want for the Norway Spruce. The trees left with the new
sunlight and moisture will grow thick and wide with branches all the way to the
ground.
Above is a picture of a windbreak with the two smaller trees in the middle. The one on the left is 6 ft tall and the one on the right is 8ft tall, these trees are 28 years old, as I planted them myself. These are Douglas Fir planted in a heavy clay soil that was along a gravel road and the soil PH in this area is over 8.5. I wanted to show this picture to show what happens when the wrong trees is planted in the wrong site. Many kinds of trees will grow in this area and do well, so plan carefully when selecting your trees for a certain area, especially along gravel roads.
Above is a windbreak in which the person thought they could get ahead on their
windbreak by planting a row of larger trees that died shortly after planting.
They probably paid a lot of money for the trees and to have them tree spaded in,
unfortunately many times the tree planter gives a "reduced rate" with no
warrantee. The row next to them are smaller potted Arborvitae and the
whole row is green and doing fine. When planting a windbreak our potted
trees are the best way to get the windbreak you want, in the shortest possible
time with the fewest losses, work and cost. The Austrees in the background
are looking very well.
Above is a windbreak in which the homeowner has cut off all the lower branches so
they could "mow" under the trees. Bad idea, as they destroyed their
windbreak. You can see what happens, the wind and snow hits the windbreak
and the wind picks up speed (called jetting) as it goes under the trees, removed
all the snow, and sent all the wind and snow over to the house. To fix this problem
plant a new row of trees on the outside of the windbreak. Do not remove
the lower branches on your windbreak trees and there is no need to mow in this
area under the larger trees as the lower branches on evergreens will usually
shade out the grass.
Above is an example of what happens when a tree is planted too deep. The
customer planted the trees themselves and the top arrow is where we found the
soil line on the trees. They had notified us and said all there trees were
dying. It only took a few seconds to find the problem, the stem above the
root system cannot be in contact with the soil as it rots and kills the plant.
The soil line on all trees potted or bare root should be about one inch above
the top lateral root, or approximately at the bottom arrow shown on the picture.
Here a person who lives up a long lane planted some Spruce 10 ft to the west side of
their driveway. As they get bigger they will drift the lane shut as the
snow will drop right behind it on the lane. Keep any rows of trees at
least 30 ft away on the west side of a drive way
In most cases we do not advise staking trees, and if you do only for a short
period of time in the summer. What happened here is an ice storm put a lot
of extra weight on the tree and it bent to the area where it was held by the
stakes, causing it to snap off above the stake where the pressure was the
greatest. . It is better for the tree to just bend with the ice and wind.
