I often visit web forums where tree planting and tree tubes are discussed. It gives me more insight into the experiences, likes, dislikes, misconceptions and opinions of tree planters - which in turns helps me provide better instructions, develop better products, and in general provide better service.
Wherever people "meet" to anonymously exchange ideas and opinions you never know what you're going to read. For example, in a discussion board thread about tree tubes on a well-known gardening/landscaping site I came across this, in reference to tree tubes:
"Nasty plastic litter that spoils the landscape and harms wildlife. Often with the remains of a dead tree in the middle."
I wish people would learn not to sugar coat things and would say what they really mean! There are actually 4 separate aspects of this post, and I'd like to address each one of them separately:
1) Nasty plastic litter. Yes, tree tubes are plastic. And yes, if left too long in the field without removing and disposing of them properly they can indeed become litter. Part of this has been a learning curve. Foresters were initially told by overly optimistic tree tube manufacturers that the treeshelter tubes would photodegrade into smaller and small pieces that would eventually turn into an inert power... kind of like fairy dust. Tree tubes do photodegrade, but we know now that they should be removed and properly disposed of after doing their job.
I'll be doing a carbon footprint post soon - a plastic tree tube made from petroleum products that leads to a successful planting the first time, versus the petroleum needed without tree tubes, to grow new seedlings year after year, to prepare the site year after year, to drive to and from the planting site many more times, etc.
2) Spoils the landscape. Yes, for a brief period of time when tree tubes are used we are forced to look at a field of vertical plastic tubes. But this statement fails to take into account two things: The tree tubes are there for perhaps 5 years out of an 80, 100 or 150 year tree rotation. And, if not for those tubes the view they are "ruining" would look at lot worse for a lot longer, because it would likely be the subject of repeated efforts to clear, site prep and plant.
3) Harms wildlife. On its face this comment seems ludicrous given that tree tubes are helping to create - and re-create - millions of acres of wildlife habitat. They are an integral and necessary component in restoring such wildlife-sustaining trees as the mighty American chestnut in the face of historically high deer populations, hundreds of invasive weed competitors, and in the absence of the climatic conditions and periodic fires that allowed many hardwood trees to get established in the past. At the "tubular" level this comment might be referring to the tendency of some cavity nesting songbirds, such as bluebirds, to enter tubes - possibly searching for a new nesting site, possibly chasing insects, possibly for shelter, or possibly by accident - and become trapped. This is why all tree tube suppliers provide plastic mesh caps to place over the top of the tubes until the trees emerge, after which birds no longer enter the tubes. So to the extent that this was ever a problem, there is now an easy solution. I'll say it again: No other tree establishment tool or practice has done more to establish critical wildlife habitat than tree tubes.
4) Often with the remains of a dead tree in the middle. Over last 21 years I have noticed something interesting in people's perceptions of tree planting success. Imagine there is a field in which 300 oak seedlings are planted. The forester decides to use treeshelters on 100 of them. Now imagine that this planting is in an area with a white tailed deer density of about 40 per square mile, not uncommon in the eastern USA, that there is a drought the summer after the seedlings are planted, followed by a wet year.
Now imagine that you are visiting that site three years later, without knowing how many trees were planted. What would you find, and what would you think? You might find a handful of oak trees that survived and grew to waist or chest height without tubes, and you might think, "See, these trees didn't need tree tubes." And you might look in the tubes and find perhaps 10 or even 20 dead trees. You might conclude that the tree tubes are an unnecessary eyesore.
But in reality, what are you really seeing? A handful of trees that survived without tubes means that the vast majority did not - killed by drought, eaten by dear or out-competed by weeds. If all 300 trees had been planted without tree tubes that planting would have been a failure. Tree tubes draw people's attention and scrutiny - they generally walk past (or on) dozens of dead un-tubed seedlings to look down a tube and see how the tree is doing.
10 or 20 dead trees in the tubes means there were 80 or 90 living ones. And that number likely could have been higher with today's better planting stock and with more aggressive weed control by the planter. 80 or 90 high value oak stems per acre looks an awful lot like success in my book.
Part of this person's opinion - and it's not an uncommon one - is based on the misconception that the project would be as successful, or more successful, without tree tubes. That would be true,
> if we could go back in time to when there where 500,000 deer east of the Mississippi (instead of 500,000 deer harvested by hunters in WI each year without decreasing the overall size of the herd)
> if we could go back in time to when fire - either wildfires or those set intentionally by indigenous people to manage vegetative cover - helped oaks and other trees gain a competitive advantage over grasses
> if we could go back in time to before hundreds of invasive species of grasses, shrubs, vines and trees started competing with our seedlings from resources
We are not planting trees into a "natural" world, and so we need to use "unnatural" means in order to achieve success. If that means putting up with seeing a "plastic forest" for a few years to get those trees established I think that's not a bad trade off.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Science Behind Vented Tree Tubes: Air Flow Increases Stem Diameter
For me today is a day for feeling old. Not only have I been working with tree tubes for nearly 22 years, I just learned that one of my best customers was born the year I graduated from high school; I had already been working at garden centers and as a freelance landscaper for 2 years before he was born, thinking about better ways of planting oak trees into the landscape.
But with age comes experience, and with experience comes - hopefully - wisdom. One area in which the entire forestry community has more wisdom than we did 22 years ago is in tree tube design and function.
Back in the early days - the stone age - of tree tubes in the USA we all thought that a treeshelter should be an air-tight chamber; unventilated with the base pushed into the soil. We all dreaded the idea of a "chimney effect" of air movement in the tube, fearing that it would overheat or over-dry the seedling inside.
How wrong we were! Nowadays there is a large and growing body of research that shows that vented tree tubes 1) increase overall growth and 2) result in a better distribution of growth - you get a larger tree with similar allocation of growth between height, stem diameter and roots as an un-tubed tree.
Here is a great page summarizing the current body of research on vented tree tubes.
With every passing year we learn more about how to use tree technology to produce trees with a growth allocation that more closely approximates that of open grown trees. Of course there is one BIG difference between a tree grown in a Wilson Tree Tube by Tubex and an open grown tree: One is still alive, and one was eaten by deer!
So while I've been at this tree tube thing for a long time, it's exciting to see how far we've come, and to think about how much there is still to learn.
But with age comes experience, and with experience comes - hopefully - wisdom. One area in which the entire forestry community has more wisdom than we did 22 years ago is in tree tube design and function.
Back in the early days - the stone age - of tree tubes in the USA we all thought that a treeshelter should be an air-tight chamber; unventilated with the base pushed into the soil. We all dreaded the idea of a "chimney effect" of air movement in the tube, fearing that it would overheat or over-dry the seedling inside.
How wrong we were! Nowadays there is a large and growing body of research that shows that vented tree tubes 1) increase overall growth and 2) result in a better distribution of growth - you get a larger tree with similar allocation of growth between height, stem diameter and roots as an un-tubed tree.
Here is a great page summarizing the current body of research on vented tree tubes.
With every passing year we learn more about how to use tree technology to produce trees with a growth allocation that more closely approximates that of open grown trees. Of course there is one BIG difference between a tree grown in a Wilson Tree Tube by Tubex and an open grown tree: One is still alive, and one was eaten by deer!
So while I've been at this tree tube thing for a long time, it's exciting to see how far we've come, and to think about how much there is still to learn.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tree Tube Video Instructions
Scott Berta of Tree Protection Supply (southeastern marketing partner for Tubex Tree Tubes) has several excellent instructional videos about Tree Tubes posted on youtube:
The ease & importance of applying herbicides around trees in tree tubes
The importance of pruning seedlings to a single stem before applying tree tubes
Direct seeding acorns, chestnuts and walnuts in tree tubes
If you have any questions about how to use tree tubes to achieve your planting goals, please don't hesitate to contact Scott Berta or Chris Siems to learn more.
The ease & importance of applying herbicides around trees in tree tubes
The importance of pruning seedlings to a single stem before applying tree tubes
Direct seeding acorns, chestnuts and walnuts in tree tubes
If you have any questions about how to use tree tubes to achieve your planting goals, please don't hesitate to contact Scott Berta or Chris Siems to learn more.
Sportman's Group Discount On Wilson Tree Tubes
Sportsmen planting trees to improve habitat for wild turkeys, white tailed deer and other game species are doing the "heavy lifting" of creating habitat for the wildlife that everyone treasures and enjoys - game species and non-game species alike.
Hunters also plant tree species that are extremely valuable (Chinese chestnut, hybrid oaks), heavily browsed by deer (crabapples, persimmons, pears, apples) and which they want to bear fruit and nuts very quickly (sawtooth oak, Nuttall oak)... and they of course they are planting those trees into areas rich with wildlife that will eat the seedlings without waiting for them to grow old enough to bear fruit.
In other words, hunters need and use tree tubes at a very high level. And they are generally footing the bill from their own pocket.
At Wilson Forestry Supply, we want to help those efforts every way we can - and help hunters get more "bang" for their tree planting "buck." One way to help is to offer discounts on Tree Tubes to members of National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), and other sportsman's organizations.
To learn more, contact Chris Siems for more details.
Hunters also plant tree species that are extremely valuable (Chinese chestnut, hybrid oaks), heavily browsed by deer (crabapples, persimmons, pears, apples) and which they want to bear fruit and nuts very quickly (sawtooth oak, Nuttall oak)... and they of course they are planting those trees into areas rich with wildlife that will eat the seedlings without waiting for them to grow old enough to bear fruit.
In other words, hunters need and use tree tubes at a very high level. And they are generally footing the bill from their own pocket.
At Wilson Forestry Supply, we want to help those efforts every way we can - and help hunters get more "bang" for their tree planting "buck." One way to help is to offer discounts on Tree Tubes to members of National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), and other sportsman's organizations.
To learn more, contact Chris Siems for more details.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wilson Tree Tubes For American Chestnut
Many people know the story of the American chestnut tree, but sadly many more people don't. It is one part tragedy, one part farce, ten parts dedication and hopefully, ultimately, 100 parts triumph.
Chestnut blight is a fungal disease that was accidentally introduced to the USA from Asia in about 1900. Several species of Asian chestnuts had co-evolved with the blight fungus, and were resistant. The American chestnut - a towering, majestic tree that dominated the forests of Appalachia and much of the eastern USA - had virtually no inherent resistance. Within 50 years more than 3 billion American chestnut trees were dead. (We'll never know the degree to which the American chestnut population might have had some innate resistance to chestnut blight; as the disease ripped through the eastern hardwood forest landowners were instructed by foresters to cut down all of their chestnut trees, on the assumption that they were all doomed, to salvage the lumber value. The fact that a small number of American chestnut trees did survive the blight, and the fact that in large populations a certain number of individuals almost always survive even the worst epidemics, leads us to believe that there would have been thousands of survivors that could have formed the basis of a breeding program to restore a pure American chestnut to the woods. Such an effort is underway thanks to an incredibly dedicated group of folks, but still we wonder what might have been if those chestnuts had been left standing to determine which could withstand the blight.)
The American Chestnut Foundation was founded by, among others, four brilliant men with - I'm proud to say - Minnesota connections: Charles Burnham, Philip Rutter, David French and Donald Willeke. The plight of the American chestnut was thought by most to be hopeless. These men had other ideas, and under Burnham's guidance initiated a bold and far-reaching plan: Adapt the precepts of the traditional "back cross" breeding done in other fields of agriculture to the American chestnut.
In other words, cross-breed the American chestnut with blight resistance Asian chestnuts, and then continue to back-cross the most blight resistant of these offspring with American chestnuts. The goal, of course, is to produce trees that gain the disease resistance genes of the Asian chestnuts, while maintaining and exhibiting the physical characteristics of the might American chestnut.
That process is several generations down the road, and the results are incredibly exciting and promising. I stand in bewildered awe of the dedication of the American Chestnut Foundation and its head plant breeder/farm manager Fred Hebbard.
At the same time there are other ways to restore the American chestnut. The aforementioned American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, whose goal is to breed a blight-resistant tree that is 100% American chestnut in its genetics by working with the few chestnuts that survived the onslaught, the dedicated folks who are working with hypovirulent strains of the fungus in hopes of stopping the blight in its tracks as happened in Europe, and the amazing people who are applying genetic engineering to create chestnut trees capable of fighting off the fungus.
I salute you all.
And here at Wilson Forestry Supply we hope, at least in our own small way, to help in any way we can. Our Tubex Combitube Tree Tube is ideally suited for use on American chestnut seedlings or direct seeded chestnuts. Large diameter vented tree tubes have proven to be the best choice for American chestnuts.
If you are planting American chestnut trees this spring, give us a call. We offer special discount pricing to all of the dedicated folks working to restore the American chestnut to its rightful place in our eastern forests.
Chestnut blight is a fungal disease that was accidentally introduced to the USA from Asia in about 1900. Several species of Asian chestnuts had co-evolved with the blight fungus, and were resistant. The American chestnut - a towering, majestic tree that dominated the forests of Appalachia and much of the eastern USA - had virtually no inherent resistance. Within 50 years more than 3 billion American chestnut trees were dead. (We'll never know the degree to which the American chestnut population might have had some innate resistance to chestnut blight; as the disease ripped through the eastern hardwood forest landowners were instructed by foresters to cut down all of their chestnut trees, on the assumption that they were all doomed, to salvage the lumber value. The fact that a small number of American chestnut trees did survive the blight, and the fact that in large populations a certain number of individuals almost always survive even the worst epidemics, leads us to believe that there would have been thousands of survivors that could have formed the basis of a breeding program to restore a pure American chestnut to the woods. Such an effort is underway thanks to an incredibly dedicated group of folks, but still we wonder what might have been if those chestnuts had been left standing to determine which could withstand the blight.)
The American Chestnut Foundation was founded by, among others, four brilliant men with - I'm proud to say - Minnesota connections: Charles Burnham, Philip Rutter, David French and Donald Willeke. The plight of the American chestnut was thought by most to be hopeless. These men had other ideas, and under Burnham's guidance initiated a bold and far-reaching plan: Adapt the precepts of the traditional "back cross" breeding done in other fields of agriculture to the American chestnut.
In other words, cross-breed the American chestnut with blight resistance Asian chestnuts, and then continue to back-cross the most blight resistant of these offspring with American chestnuts. The goal, of course, is to produce trees that gain the disease resistance genes of the Asian chestnuts, while maintaining and exhibiting the physical characteristics of the might American chestnut.
That process is several generations down the road, and the results are incredibly exciting and promising. I stand in bewildered awe of the dedication of the American Chestnut Foundation and its head plant breeder/farm manager Fred Hebbard.
At the same time there are other ways to restore the American chestnut. The aforementioned American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, whose goal is to breed a blight-resistant tree that is 100% American chestnut in its genetics by working with the few chestnuts that survived the onslaught, the dedicated folks who are working with hypovirulent strains of the fungus in hopes of stopping the blight in its tracks as happened in Europe, and the amazing people who are applying genetic engineering to create chestnut trees capable of fighting off the fungus.
I salute you all.
And here at Wilson Forestry Supply we hope, at least in our own small way, to help in any way we can. Our Tubex Combitube Tree Tube is ideally suited for use on American chestnut seedlings or direct seeded chestnuts. Large diameter vented tree tubes have proven to be the best choice for American chestnuts.
If you are planting American chestnut trees this spring, give us a call. We offer special discount pricing to all of the dedicated folks working to restore the American chestnut to its rightful place in our eastern forests.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Why Pay For Tree Tubes You Don't Need?
This is another in our series on the hidden costs of some tree tubes.
In the movie Father of the Bride Steve Martin had a famous - and hilarious - grocery store melt-down trying to purchase a quantity of hot dog buns that matched the quantity of hot dogs.
Every year tree planters across the country shopping online for tree tubes must have similar melt-downs, trying to purchase a quantity of tree tubes that matches the number of trees they are planting.
Say you are planting 32 trees. Most tree tube companies force you to purchase 50 tree tubes, so you're paying for - and paying to ship - 18 tree tubes you don't want or need.
Not at Wilson Forestry Supply. If you need 32 tree tubes you can order 32 tree tubes. You can do this two ways:
1) Our website, www.wilsonforsup.com is set up to sell our tree tubes in bundles of 25 (although that will change soon). In the meantime, we are delighted to take your orders for "oddball" quantities by email or over the phone. Just contact our tree tube expert Chris Siems and he'll be happy to help!
2) If you do prefer to order online we have three partner companies whose web sites do handle sales of 17 or 42 or 913 tubes:
> Tree tubes from Tree Protection Supply
> Tree protection packages from Mossy Oak's Nativ Nursery (and while you're there please browse through their seedling selection - not browse like a deer but browse as in shopping ;-)
> Tree tubes from The Wildlife Group (and again while you're there check out their great selection of wildlife habitat trees and shrubs, but remember: "wildlife trees" means deer love them, twigs and all, and deer are not smart enough to leave them alone and let them grow to maturity - every one of these trees is valuable enough and tasty enough to deer to deserve - require - a tree tube!)
Together we'll offer any quantity of tubes you need, and we won't charge you extra to break cases. And, unlike Steve Martin, you won't end up in jail just for refusing to buy products you don't need just because the manufacturers choose to package them a certain way.
In the movie Father of the Bride Steve Martin had a famous - and hilarious - grocery store melt-down trying to purchase a quantity of hot dog buns that matched the quantity of hot dogs.
Every year tree planters across the country shopping online for tree tubes must have similar melt-downs, trying to purchase a quantity of tree tubes that matches the number of trees they are planting.
Say you are planting 32 trees. Most tree tube companies force you to purchase 50 tree tubes, so you're paying for - and paying to ship - 18 tree tubes you don't want or need.
Not at Wilson Forestry Supply. If you need 32 tree tubes you can order 32 tree tubes. You can do this two ways:
1) Our website, www.wilsonforsup.com is set up to sell our tree tubes in bundles of 25 (although that will change soon). In the meantime, we are delighted to take your orders for "oddball" quantities by email or over the phone. Just contact our tree tube expert Chris Siems and he'll be happy to help!
2) If you do prefer to order online we have three partner companies whose web sites do handle sales of 17 or 42 or 913 tubes:
> Tree tubes from Tree Protection Supply
> Tree protection packages from Mossy Oak's Nativ Nursery (and while you're there please browse through their seedling selection - not browse like a deer but browse as in shopping ;-)
> Tree tubes from The Wildlife Group (and again while you're there check out their great selection of wildlife habitat trees and shrubs, but remember: "wildlife trees" means deer love them, twigs and all, and deer are not smart enough to leave them alone and let them grow to maturity - every one of these trees is valuable enough and tasty enough to deer to deserve - require - a tree tube!)
Together we'll offer any quantity of tubes you need, and we won't charge you extra to break cases. And, unlike Steve Martin, you won't end up in jail just for refusing to buy products you don't need just because the manufacturers choose to package them a certain way.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Spring Training For Tree Planters Is Here!
Just as pitchers and catchers are heading to Arizona and Florida for spring training and fans are heating up the hot stove league with speculation about player trades and playoff prospects, the tree tube season is starting to heat up. For many of us it's been a long, cold winter. Record snowfalls, massive drifts and aching backs from shoveling have been the order of the day. Spring and tree planting season seems a long way away when the only shoveling you're doing involves mounds of snow instead of deep, loamy soil.
I have been selling tree tubes for more nearly 22 years, and every winter/spring I see the same pattern. As soon as the temperature in the northern US gets above freezing for a few days and the sun starts melting the icicles, the phone starts ringing and the web site starts buzzing with interest in tree tubes. (This is usually followed on my part by the fear that, Holy Toledo, I'm going to run out of tree tubes! This is especially true this year; inventory is already getting tight, as sales have exceeded my projections. More treeshelters are on the way, but at the current rate those will be sold by the time they get here.)
So today's advice is: When you check the newspaper or the web to get updates on your favorite team's Spring Training, take a few extra minutes to order the trees and tree tubes you'll need for spring planting.
As for winter, we all know we're not out of the woods yet. More February and March snow storms are coming. Here in Minnesota the biggest ones always seem to coincide with the high basketball state tournaments. But those blizzards - and all that additional shoveling - will be a lot easier to take knowing that you have all of the materials you need for a successful spring tree planting reserved and ready!
I have been selling tree tubes for more nearly 22 years, and every winter/spring I see the same pattern. As soon as the temperature in the northern US gets above freezing for a few days and the sun starts melting the icicles, the phone starts ringing and the web site starts buzzing with interest in tree tubes. (This is usually followed on my part by the fear that, Holy Toledo, I'm going to run out of tree tubes! This is especially true this year; inventory is already getting tight, as sales have exceeded my projections. More treeshelters are on the way, but at the current rate those will be sold by the time they get here.)
So today's advice is: When you check the newspaper or the web to get updates on your favorite team's Spring Training, take a few extra minutes to order the trees and tree tubes you'll need for spring planting.
As for winter, we all know we're not out of the woods yet. More February and March snow storms are coming. Here in Minnesota the biggest ones always seem to coincide with the high basketball state tournaments. But those blizzards - and all that additional shoveling - will be a lot easier to take knowing that you have all of the materials you need for a successful spring tree planting reserved and ready!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)