Tree Tubes on Swamp White Oak

Sold some Wilson Tree Tubes to a customer in Wisconsin yesterday.  There's nothing surprising in that - we sell A LOT of tree tubes to tree planters in Wisconsin (after all, the annual deer harvest by hunters in Wisconsin is greater than the number of whitetail deer that existed in the USA in 1900, and it still doesn't reduce the size of the herd in Wisc!).

What was exciting about this conversation was that the customer plans to use his treeshelters on swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor (also known as bicolor oak in the nursery trade, perhaps out of fear the the presence of the word "swamp" in it name will make it less appealing to landscapers and homeowners).

Swamp white oak is a fantastic tree, but is underrated and under planted.  It grows much faster than most people associate with oaks (in fact ALL oaks grow much faster than people think!), and tolerates poorly drained bottomland sites.  Poorly drained sites are typically low in oxygen, since water is taking up much of the pore space in the soil.  Similar conditions can be found in boulevard tree planting sites where soil compaction creates low oxygen conditions, making swamp white oak an excellent choice as a street tree... and unlike many of the Norway maples and other trees planted along out streets, swamp white oak is tremendously long lived.

So Thank You to our new customer in Wisconsin for planting swamp white oaks on his property, and thank you for protecting them with our tree shelter tubes to ensure their success.  The deer will thank you for two hundred years to come!