Happy oak in a Wilson Tree Tube

(Click to enlarge)

Last week at this time this little bur oak seedling was happy to be safe inside this Tree Tube, rather than exposed to 30 to 40mph wind gusts that would have dried it out.

Today the seedling is just as happy not to be exposed to a blistering sun - it's over 90 degrees here in Minnesota. 

I'll be photographing this bur oak every Monday, to put together a time lapse sequence as the growing season goes on.  This is a really fun thing to do, in part because it's always fun to see how fast your trees are growing in their tree tubes (some guys supercharge their cars to see how fast they can go, I supercharge my trees to see how fast they'll grow!), and in part because making a weekly visit to your trees really makes you appreciate how stressful growing conditions are for unsheltered trees, and how much tree tubes function to reduce stress.

Stress is to tree growth what friction is to motion.  Low stress = Fast growth!

Tree Tubes spell relief from wind & moisture stress

(Click to enlarge)

Looking at this photo you can practically hear the little bur oak seedling sighing, "Ahhhh."  I took this photo yesterday.  Nice sunny day, but the wind was howling with gusts up to 35mph and more.

 

An un-tubed bur oak seedling - or any seedling - would have been under severe moisture stress as the wind continually stripped away the moist envelope of air surrounding the leaves. Not this guy.  All he "felt" was the gentle swaying of the tree tube thanks to its PVC tree tube stake.  No wind.  No stress.  Just perfect conditions for growth. 

Why do trees grow so much faster in tree tubes?  Two reasons (well it's a lot more than two reasons, but we'll concentrate on two for today).  One a windy day like yesterday the leaves on un-tubed trees close their stomata - the pores through which they exchange gases and transpire moisture.  This is a good strategy for conserving limited moisture resources, but it's a bad strategy for photosynthesis, which slows dramatically.  In other words, it's a survival strategy, not a growth strategy.  By contrast the leaves of a seedling in a tree tube keep their stomata open and photosynthesis continues full bore.

Since the leaves of the seedling in a tree tube are not exposed to stressful, windy conditions they can optimize their morphology and structure for growth:  High surface to weight ratio to optimize light absorption and gas exchange, bright glossy surface.  The leaves of a seedling outside a tree tube are smaller, thicker, darker and duller.  They are survival leaves, not growth leaves.

To put it another way (and to use a Memorial Weekend analogy), the leaves in a tree tube are an Indy car, while the leaves of an un-tubed seedling are a 1974 Pinto.

Tree Tubes: There's no "wrong time" to install a tree tube!

People often ask me: When is the best time to install my tree tubes?

My answer:  Today!  (The second best time:  Tomorrow.)

Seriously, there's no bad time or wrong time to install your tree tubes.  They can be installed when seedlings are still dormant, or they can be installed when your seedling are in full leaf.

If you install them later in the summer after the seedlings have already pushed new growth you might not see a dramatic increase in growth from using the tree tubes until next year... but that's OK - at least your trees will be safe from the deer!

Tree Tubes keep deer from eating "perfect tree food" until it's time!

Wouldn't it be great if deer simply understand that if they left your seedling trees alone for a few years, those trees would grow up to produce more fruit, acorns and nuts than they could possibly eat?  I was going to say, wouldn't be great if deer were smarter, but then I realized that I'm not much smarter than a deer (if at all).  When  my mom baked a cake I was always trying to steal a bite and then hide it with the icing, but she's catch me and not give me a piece for dessert - just like how the deer who eats the seedling doesn't get a mature pear or plum or apple or Chinese chestnut tree producing fruit for "dessert."

What would you call a tree that a) produces fruit that ripen over an extended period of time in the fall, b) holds it fruit even into the early winter, and c) grows across a wide geographic range?  Hunters would call it the perfect tree.  Deer would call it ambrosia, food of the gods.  Foresters simply call it: persimmon.  There is a reason that so many deer attractants and baits are persimmon flavored or scented!

As much as deer love persimmons, they love newly planted persimmon seedlings just as much.  Since they - like me and that cake - don't understand (or as in my case choose to ignore) the consequences of eating the seedlings, you as a tree planter need to protect them with Tree Tubes.  The good news is that persimmons, both American (Diospyrus virginiana) and Japanese (Diospyrus kaki) persimmons grow extremely well in Wilson Tree Tubes.

Speaking of the two different species of persimmons - and there a many different varieties within each species - a couple of notes:

1) I would highly recommend planting some of both species.  American persimmons tend to ripen earlier in the fall.  They are more astringent, and aren't at all edible - even for deer - until they are fully ripe.  Japanese persimmons, on average, ripen later in the fall, and are much less astringent.  They often hold their fruit well into the early winter.

2) Two great sources for persimmon trees are:

> The Wildlife Group Nursery in Tuskegee, AL

> Mossy Oak's Nativ Nurseries in West Point, MS

In both cases you can order your tree tubes directly from the nursery to ship with your trees, or if you're picking up trees at the nurseries you can pick your tree tubes up than and same the shipping costs!

No matter if you're planting American or Japanese, buying your trees from Wildlife Group of Nativ Nurseries, or getting your tree tubes from the nursery or from Wilson Forestry Supply, you can't go wrong... as long as you're planting persimmons and protecting them with the best tree tube on the market!

Tree Tubes: A Dissenting Opinion?

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.

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.

Nurseries On Board

Many of my posts have been about how there has been a sea change in the acceptance of tree tubes over the past few years; how they are standard operating procedure for successful tree planting.  One way this has become evident is in the number of high quality tree seedling nurseries that offer - and highly recommend - tree tubes to their customers.

That's a change from the past.  When tree tubes were first introduced to the USA in the late 1980's nurseries were generally slow to embrace the technology.  There were several reasons for this.  One reason was that, for a nursery, offering treeshelters to its customers meant openly discussing the "elephant in the room" that everyone knew was there but no one want to discuss:  The high level of deer browse, and the likelihood that the seedlings customers planted would get browsed off.  It really wasn't a matter of nurseries thinking that deer browse would mean that customers would keep buying more trees to replace those that were eaten; all nurseries want their customers to be successful.  It was more a matter of nurseries worrying that openly discussing the threat of deer browse and recommending tree tubes as the solution would 1) discourage people from planting trees in the first place, and 2) would drive the cost of tree planting past what people were willing to spend.

Fast forward to 2011 and many things have changed:

1)  The population density - and therefore the severity of deer browse - has done nothing but get worse.  The elephant in the room has become the blue whale in the room!

2)  There is now a much more widespread understanding - on the part of foresters, county conservation districts, and private landowners - that simply planting trees and walking away is a recipe for failure.  When you compare the cost of tree tubes to just planting trees, they seem like an expensive added cost.  When you compare the cost of tree tubes to what you would have to do without them to have a successful project, then you realize that tree tubes actually save you money over the long haul.

3)  Today's tree nurseries are producing planting stock that is light years better than the seedlings that were grown 20 years ago.  New root pruning pots and other advancements mean that the seedlings you get from many of today's nurseries are supercharged for optimal growth.  The nurseries have more invested in producing these great seedlings, and the thought of sending them out unprotected to the field to be exposed to the ravages of deer browse and doubt is unacceptable.  And the customers who purchase them, wisely making the decision to spend a little more on top-notch planting stock with known superior genetics, also wisely make the decision to protect those seedlings with tree tubes.

Two of the very best nurseries producing seedlings for enhancing wildlife habitat have partnered with Wilson Forestry Supply to offer Tubex Combitube Tree Tubes:  Mossy Oak's Nativ Nurseries of West Point, MS and The Wildlife Group of Tuskegee, AL. 

The test of how strongly these great nurseries feel about our tree tubes?  1) When they plant trees on their own properties they never do so without our tree tubes.  2) The both tell their customers:  If you have a certain budget for your project it's better to reduce the number of trees you plant and cover them with tree tubes.  3) Both will tell people in no uncertain terms:  If you plant trees without tree tubes with today's deer densities and invasive weeds and grasses you are wasting your time (which means you are also wasting the blood, sweat and tears they put into raising those trees).

It's an exciting time.  After years and years spent trying to convince folks to use tree tubes, that argument has been won.  Now the only question is:  Which tree tube?  And when you're the US source of Tubex Combitube Treeshelters, you also feel very good about the answer to that question as well!

5 Foot Tree Tubes Coming Soon to Wilson Forestry Supply

A frequently asked question has been:  Does Wilson Forestry Supply offer 5 foot Tubex Combitube Tree Tubes?  I'm happy to be able to say:  We will soon!

4 foot tree tubes are still the most popular size, and get the job done in the majority of situations.  Most tree planters are best served by 4 foot tree tubes - moderate cost, excellent deer browse protection, and if deer nip a few emerging shoots a couple of treatments of Deer Guard repellent are enough to get the terminal shoot past the browse line.

However, sometimes a 5 foot tree tube can make all the difference - that extra one foot of deer browse protection is needed to get the trees past the browse line.

The need for 5 foot tree tubes is primarily drive by the population density of whitetail deer.  The more deer per square mile, the heavier the pressure on available sources of food.  The more pressure on food sources the more deer are forces to reach higher to get the food they need - to the point of standing on their hind legs.

So if your spring project calls for 5 foot tubes, don't worry, we have them on the way.  Don't order from somewhere else until you contact us for a low price on 5ft tree tubes!

Tree Tubes: Yes, Time Does = Money

In recent posts, we've been looking at the hidden costs of tree tubes.  In the last post we looked at shipping costs, and how with certain tree tubes you have to use a longer stake to compensate for a flimsier tube.

In this post I want to look at time.  Professional tree planting contractors, for whom time literally does equal money, universally prefer the Tubex Treeshelter design.  There's a little more up-front cost that some other tree tubes, but they save 22.73% on installation time (approximately!). Why?

1) They come ready-to-install, already in circular shape
2) The ties are pre-threaded and looped - all you have to do is cinch them tight around the stake

Sometimes private landowners and hobbyists doing their own tree planting work think, "I have a limited budget and I'm not paying myself per hour to install tree tubes, so I might as well save money on the tubes and spend a little more time installing them."

Even if, in a literal sense, your time does not equal money (in other words, you're doing this on your "free" time) this line of thinking doesn't work.

First, keep in mind that there is ALWAYS something else you could be doing with your time.  Extra time spent installing lower cost treeshelter tubes is time that you're not doing weed control, pruning, fertilizing, or other activities that contribute to the success of your project.

Second, chances are that the very aspects of the lower cost tree tubes that make made them cost less in the first place are aspects that will require much more maintenance down the road... and more time on your part.  For example, if a tube ships flat it must then be formed into a tube in the field.  If it was made flat, it is probably a flimsier design that can either revert to a flat shape or bend or buckle in the field, requiring additional work on your part to reshape, cinch up ties, etc... and again that's time you could be spending doing something more productive.


So even if you are a private landowner planting trees on your own time and on your own dime, time still equals money.  So many things go into making your tree planting project a success, and your time - while perhaps not valued in dollars - is extremely limited.  Any money you save on tree tubes that take longer to install and require more maintenance will be lost if you get behind in weed control and other activities critical to the success of your trees.

Thanks for reading, and as always to learn more please visit us a www.wilsonforsup.com. 

When To Remove Your Tree Tubes

One of the most frequently asked questions about tree tubes is:  “When should I remove them?”

All too often tree growers remove their tree tubes too soon.  Remember, a tree tube has two jobs:

1) Protect the tree until it grows up past the deer browse line, and

2) Support the tree until it is firmly established.  Removing treeshelters too soon allows them to do only half of their full function.

The second most common mistake? Not removing the tree tubes at all, thinking they will break down and disappear in time.  Tree tube suppliers themselves share some of the blame for this, since in the early days it was thought that tree tubes would indeed photodegrade completely on site.  Here are two important rules of thumb to follow:

RULE OF THUMB #1:  Your tree tubes will need to be removed.  Yes they are photo degradable and will eventually break down in sunlight, but that won’t happen for 10 to 15 years in most cases. (On the other hand, if tree tube manufacturers leave out the UV inhibitors that increase durability, then the tree tubes won’t last long enough to get the job done.)  Best practice for the health of your trees and for the aesthetics of your site is to remove and properly dispose of your tree tubes.

RULE OF THUMB #2:  Remove your tree tubes when the trees inside are approximately 3 inches in caliper (diameter) at the base, BEFORE they start to push out against the walls of the tree tubes.
Our Tubex Combitube Tree Tube is made with a laser-line perforation so that the tree tubes will split open and expand rather than constrict the growth of your trees.  This is especially helpful for large scale and back country plantings that don’t get visited very often.  Even with this great laser line feature it’s still better to remove and dispose of your tree tubes when the trees reach 3 inches in diameter at the base.

If you have any questions about our tree tubes – or any tree tubes on the market – please don’t hesitate to contact us.  We have a wealth of experience we can share to make your project as easy and successful as possible!  And be sure to visit us at www.wilsonforsup.com to learn more.

Tree Tubes Don't Replace Sound Planting Practices

Tree tubes are simply a tool for increasing the odds of success and decreasing the long term cost, labor and frustration of tree planting and establishment.

Tree tubes are not meant to replace good planting practices.

You still need to analyze your site (soil, moisture, climate) and understand which trees will grow best there.  Tree tubes can't overcome a bad match between tree species and site - they can't magically make black walnut grow well on a low fertility sandy site.

You still need to do adequate site preparation.

You still need to take good care of the planting stock from the time you receive it until you plant it - i.e. you can't leave the boxes with seedlings in the back of the pick up in the hot sun; even tree tubes can't grow seedlings whose roots have dried and died.

You still need to plant the seedlings carefully and properly - proper depth of the root collar, no J-roots.

And most of all, you still need to do aggressive weed control.  Even tree tubes can't help oak seedlings grow faster than kudzu, Johnson grass or multiflora rose.

Whew.  Yes, it's a lot of work.  And you're probably asking: If I'm going to spend all that time and money already, why should I spend even more on tree tubes?

Two reasons:

1) Tree tubes make it faster and easier to apply good planting/establishment practices.  Ever try to find a 12" American chestnut seedling in a field of waist high grass and brush?  Tree tubes make it easy to locate your seedlings.  Ever accidentally spray one of your seedlings with RoundUp or run one over with a mower?  Tree tubes protect your seedlings from the very weed control practices that will help them thrive.

2) Without tree tubes you can do all of that work and still end up with nothing to show for it.  Deer can wipe out a planting in a matter of a few days.  Rabbits and voles can gnaw off seedlings.  Periodic drought can stress newly planted seedlings to the point of mortality before they have time to get their roots into a stable moisture supply.

No, tree tubes don't replace sound planting practices.  Tree tubes make it easier (and in some cases make it possible) to apply sound practices.  But most of all tree tubes help ensure that if you follow these sound principles, all your hard word won't go to waste and you'll end up with flourishing, fast-growing trees well on their way to meeting your management objectives.

Thanks for reading, and please visit www.wilsonforsup.com to learn more about our products and our company.

Top 10 Trees People Protect With Tree Tubes

After 21 years of marketing tree tubes, I thought I’d try my hand at creating a list of the top ten tree species on which people choose to use tree tubes.

There are two different ways to determine this: total number of tree tubes used on a certain type of tree, or the percentage of trees of a certain type that planters choose to tree tube.

My list is a combination of the two, with some representatives from both categories.

1. Sawtooth oak (and ‘Gobbler’ Sawtooth oak)
If you’re planting sawtooth oak (Quercus accutissima) that means you’re planting for wildlife. And if you’re planting for wildlife, that means you have wildlife that likes to eat tree seedlings. You also want to get a fast growing, early-producing tree into production ASAP. No sawtooth oak should ever be planted without a tree tube.

2. Black walnut (Juglans nigra)
One of our highest value hardwoods is also a favorite of deer in many locations.  If you’re planting black walnut you’re most likely planting to leave a legacy of beauty and value to your children and grandchildren. 

Note: Black walnut was particularly susceptible to winter injury in the older, un-vented tree tubes, and so many walnut growers stopped using tree tubes for a while.  Now with the introduction of vented tree tubes this is no longer a problem, and black walnut growers and coming back to tree tubes in droves.

3. Any hybrid oak – any Quercus X with an x in the Latin name!
Hybrid oaks typically grow fast and bear acorns at an early age.  Planted for wildlife, and even for human food, every acorn for a hybrid oak is worth protecting.

4. Crab apple (Malus sp.)
A soft mast favorite of those folks planting to enhance wildlife habitat, you wouldn’t believe how fast it grows in tree tubes – 10″ bare root seedlings emerging from 5′ tree tubes the first year is not unusual!  Significant mast production in year 3 is also a very real possibility with tree tubes and aggressive weed control.

5. Persimmon (Diospyros sp.)
Persimmon in another soft mast wildlife favorite in Southern states.  Every one deserves a  tree tube for optimal growth.

6. Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
Like most oaks, bur oak grows a lot faster than you think, and even more so in tree tubes.  Put a bur oak seedling (or direct seeded acorn) in a tree tube and you’ll be amazed.  With the arrival of Emerald Ash Borer in the Midwestern and Plains states bur oak will – and should – fill a bigger role in windbreak and shelterbelt plantings.

(And if you’re planting a windbreak or shelterbelt, by definition you’re in a place where it’s hard to grow trees – you’re in the prairie. Just like your crops and farmstead need the trees you plant to shield them from wind, the trees you plant need treeshelters to shield them from that same wind!)

7. Northern red oak (Quercus rubra)
Northern red oak might be the "most tubed" tree in history, due to its importance as a source of high value hardwood timber and its appeal to deer as a midnight snack.  Foresters don't usually tube every northern red oak - just 30 to 50 per acre to insure a certain minimum stocking level  - so they won't have to go back and start over if (when) deer eat every last red oak.

An underused method is to use tree tubes on northern red oak stump sprouts, and on natural regeneration (especially after they turn scarlet in the and stand out like beacons on the forest floor).

8. Apples, plums and pears planted for wildlife (Malus, Prunus and Pyrus sp.) – especially any fruit tree with a varietal name like Arkansas Black, Chickasaw, Yates, Deer Golden, Methley, Ozark Premier, Dixie Delight, Galloway, etc.)
The varietal name means you paid more for a tree with specific characteristics – fruit flavor, ripening time, etc.  And it means you have high expectations for its performance.  Not using a tree tube is like buying a new Corvette and not doing oil changes!

9. Nuttall oak (Quercus nuttallii)
Our fastest growing native oak can grow even faster – and start feeding wildlife sooner – with tree tubes!

10. American chestnut (Castanea dentata)
Chestnut Blight.  One Asian fungus, fifty years, and 4.5 billion trees dead.  The majestic American chestnut once towered over the Eastern hardwood forest, until the first half of the 20th Century.  Thanks to the heroic work of groups like the American Chestnut Foundation new, blight-resistant American chestnuts are being planted to restore the “Sequoia of the East” to its rightful place in our forests.  Every single nut and seedling planted is precious, and we can’t lose any of them to deer, drought or competing vegetation.

11. (I know I’m cheating by adding an 11th item) Any California oak
The beautiful native oaks of California are in decline due multiple factors:  Cattle grazing, lack of fire to control competition, drought, and deer.

Tree tubes are playing a critical role in the reestablishment of California’s amazing oaks.

Others receiving votes:  Chinese chestnut, paw paw, baldcypress and black cherry. And anything planted for ecological restoration or wetland mitigation. Or in a windbreak. Or for wildlife habitat. Or for riparian buffers. Or in parks or our landscapes (instead of planting large B&B trees with deformed roots, more and more urban foresters are choosing to plant seedlings with tree tubes to allow the root system to develop naturally without disturbance).

Oh, never mind… it would be easier to do a list of the top 10 trees that shouldn’t have tree tubes.  Because there aren’t any!

Makin' a list, checkin' it twice...

We're getting close... to the day when Wilson Forestry Supply tree tubes, stakes, weed barrier, deer fence and deer repellent will be available for purchase online!

Lists are being made, prices are being checked - reduced - and checked again.  Not in time for your holiday shopping, but definitely in time to get a jump start on spring planting!