Tree and Shrub Planting

I talked about some of the conditions at a Chambers Brook tree planting; today I thought I'd discuss the tactics. First there are the issues common to both trees and shrubs:

• Most of the time an auger had dug the holes so there was no question about where to plant the tree/shrub, and things like rocks and roots are essentially irrelevant. While I recognize that the pre-dug holes are a time-and-labor saver, there are a couple downsides. First, the auger was digging holes deeper and wider than needed for our trees/shrubs, necessitating some refilling of the hole before planting. Second, sometimes the soil was a clay that, after a day or two, would harden into something difficult to break up when refilling the hole.
• When we had to dig our own holes, sometimes you could easily dig a hole but in other situations rocks and/or roots made life quite a bit harder. And while I wore hard-soled boots/shoes that let me hop on the shovel, some others had softer shoes that could have made digging somewhat painful. (Fortunately this happened more with younger planters who can probably shrug off some amount of foot abuse.)
• Many times when removing the plant from its plastic pot, the roots were very compacted and we'd need to loosen up the roots before putting them in the ground. And then we'd need to avoid air pockets left in the hole, so a certain amount of stomping near the planting was required.

Once the plant is in the ground, the rest of the exercise is about protecting the plants, and sometimes birds. When planting a tree:

• It's expected to grow 1 trunk straight up, so the preferred protection is a plastic sleeve. If it's a tree with stiff branches, most of us would need some help threading the sleeve over the tree, with 1 person holding the branches close to the trunk while another person would try and lower the sleeve over the tree.
• A stake is driven into the ground adjacent to the sleeve. The sleeve should go on the outside of the sleeve to provide a little more growing room for the tree in a somewhat tight sleeve. And it's supposed to be on the upstream side of the tree which theoretically protects the sleeve a little more if the area floods and there's flowing water.
• If the tree isn't around 70% as tall as the sleeve, there is apparently some danger of a bird getting into the sleeve and not being able to get out. To avoid this, a little nylon netting gets put over the top of these sleeves.
• Twist or zip ties fasten the sleeve and any nylon net to the stake.
• Though these sleeves should protect the tree from herbivores like deer, they might lead to weaker trees that grew up using the sleeves as a crutch, and might not be as strong as a comparable sleeveless tree. But the trees would probably be eaten next winter without the sleeves, and it's better to raise a slightly weaker tree than it is to sacrifice 1 to our deer herds.

May 28, 2024 at Bamboo Brook

The strategy is kind of similar for the shrubs, but:

• Since shrubs generally have multiple trunks spreading out, they wouldn't do as well in a sleeve. Instead we center them in one of these cages. 
• Usually these were flat and we'd need to bend them into a round cage.
• Because they're much wider than a sleeve, birds have no trouble getting in/out of them so the nylon net protectors aren't necessary.
• As the shrub grows, it will probably have some branches sticking out that deer can eat, but the deer shouldn't be able to eat enough to kill the shrub.
• The stakes are put inside the spacious cages, figuring this might make them a little more stable. There should still be ample room for the shrub to branch out.

May 28, 2024 at Bamboo Brook