Getting to the Root of Things

St. John's University, Queens, NY

Almstead was asked to do some work at St. John’s University recently.  They had done some construction about 7 years ago in a lovely quadrangle with 8 mature pin oak trees.  They worked around the trees, then resodded the  lawn. The grass looked fine, but the pin oaks, which had remained during construction, weren’t thriving.

This is something we see commonly:  after construction, everything  LOOKS great, but the soil has been compacted around the tree roots by feet and machinery (which can happen even without construction on a busy campus). Eventually, the trees start to decline as their feeder roots struggle to grow and find nutrition in the dense soil. Above, you can see the tree closest to the building is starting to look stressed, lacking a full canopy.

An Almstead crew cleaning up after pruning

We had several tree care jobs to perform here, so we brought in several different crews: one group did tree trimming, another did air spading, and another took care of the hydraulic soil injection.  That way, we could lessen the disruption to the campus.

Our tree trimming crew worked on identifying and pruning diseased and dead branches  – important for the health of the tree, but also for the safety of people walking on campus.

We also removed the sod and performed air spading around the roots. The aid spade loosens the soil and blows it away from the roots using compressed air – without damaging the roots. There’s no risk of nicking the roots – or a utility line – as could happen with a traditional spade.  We can check for any other problems (insect or disease) while the roots are exposed. Then we just fill the soil back in, sometimes adding some extra amendments to keep the tree healthy.  In fact, last year, the University needed to run a water line through the root zone of this group of trees. We worked with the contractor and uncovered the roots with the air spade. We made clean cuts in the roots where necessary as he ran the line through.

An Almstead Plant Healthcare Technician performs
 hydraulic soil injection

This year, we’re performing hydraulic soil injection of custom blended fertilizer and soil additives for these oaks, to help them stay strong. (There’s Leo in the picture on the left, giving a tree its vitamins). 

With some care and extra attention, these oaks should be there for several generations of future students.

-          Ken Almstead, Almstead arborist and CEO

Arbor Day

How great is it that trees have their own holiday? Flowers don't -- unless you count Mother's Day.

In 1872  J. Sterling Morton, a Nebraska editor, initiated the 1st arbor day. Along with many other recent settlers to the prairies, he felt something was missing: trees! He wanted to plant trees for shade, for fuel and as windbreaks to prevent erosion. Morton, who later went on to become Secretary of Agriculture, thought big: over a million trees were planted on that first arbor day. Contests were held, communities competed -- and other states -- and eventually more than 30 other countries -- followed suit.

Although a little less ambitious than Morton, our Almstead arborists like to participate in Arbor Day planting every year. This year, the New York chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture featured arborists Michael Marks and Jon Olsz in their Arbor Day news on their website. http://www.nysarborists.com/index.php/20-events/48-2012-nys-arbor-day-celebration

We have more pictures on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151729120595495.872203.325604485494&type=1

What Topped Trees Look Like

Topping is an unfortunately common pruning practice that ignores a basic tenet of arboriculture: pruning back to a natural branch juncture. Failing to do so leads to the onset of watersprouts - many small branches that emerge from dormant buds in the area of the cut. 

When a branch breaks in a storm, this new growth helps a tree to restore its canopy. When unnatural wounds that resemble branch breakage appear throughout the canopy, watersprouting happens at each of these cuts, and the tree is drained of energy from over-producing the sprouts. That makes the tree weaker and more susceptible to insect and disease problems. What's more, the sprouts create structural problems down the road. It is not uncommon for a topped tree to decline to the point of being unsalvageable. 

I've taken some photos of topped ornamentals I've seen around town in Larchmont and Mamaroneck for you to see below.

--Jeff Delaune, Almstead Arborist in Lower Westchester County, NY.

Topping to create a uniform, rounded shape is common on
ornamental trees like Pears and Crabapples, but ultimately
this leads to a messy, structurally unsound canopy.

Close-up of fresh topping cuts on a Crabapple

Close-up of an Elm that was topped a couple of years ago. Notice the
thick water sprout growth that emerged after the improper
cuts were made.

Here is a very clear example of water sprouts emerging from the
sites of improper topping cuts. Good reduction cuts will scale
back the size of  a tree while taking structure and growth
patterns into account.
Image: Joseph O'Brien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Branches Caught in Trees

After a storm where branches fall from trees, it's easy to feel that everything is squared away once the debris has been cleared from the ground. An arborist will tell you, though, that what's really important is to look up. The canopies of damaged trees may still be barely holding onto snapped and hanging limbs that will eventually fall. There may also be lateral cracks in branches, stubs left by fallen limbs that open the tree up to decay if they aren't pruned correctly, and structural problems where important branches have broken off.

Here's a trick for noticing hangers (snapped branches that get caught up in the canopy of a tree rather than falling to the ground). When you look up at the canopy of a tree, look for areas that are darker than the rest. Places where there is less light filtering through are often areas where a branch has fallen and its leaves are doubling up with the leaves that are naturally in that area of the tree. See if you can spot the hanger below:

Dark, shadowy areas in the canopy are
often indicators of a hanging branch that's
snapped but still caught up in a tree.

A Tree Crew's Island Adventure

The New Canaan tree warden left me a message, "Got guys that can swim with chain saws on their backs?"

There's a park in town with an island and a large oak fell during Irene, and he wanted it cut up and left on the ground so it wasn't so visible.

"I know it's an odd request, don't know what to do."

I told him not to worry, there's not a lot we can't handle.

I put the Kayak on the roof the next Saturday and paddled out with the saws with a throw bag line attached. Leo pulled the boat back and got across, Alex did the same, we took care of the job and back over we went.

I had to itemize the invoice for FEMA reimbursement. We listed the Kayak as a "no charge" item and off it went.

"You guys make my life easy."

All in a day's work... You should have seen the look on the faces of the dog-walkers when we started loading the saws into the boat!

"Capt." Bob Bociek
Almstead Arborist & Branch Manager in Fairfield County, CT

Storm and Flood Damage - Uprooted Trees

Hurricane Irene brought a lot of flooding our way, and for trees that posed the danger of saturated soil. When there is so much water that it isn't able to drain into the water table, the soil fills with more water than it would naturally retain. This loosens soil particles and makes the ground more malleable.

The majority of a tree's root system is typically anchored to the first 6-12 inches of the soil. It's also the part of the ground that bears the brunt of over-saturation in flood situations. When the soil loosens around the roots, it can lead to the uprooting of a tree. This is a problem we saw a lot of in the aftermath of Irene.

Photo from the International Society of Arboriculture.

This uprooted tree was sitting in saturated soil and  is a typical
example of the type of damage we saw from Hurricane Irene.

Uprooted trees obviously have the potential to cause a lot of damage
when they fall. In addition to property, they often take down power
lines and block paths like roadways. It's especially important to stay
away from damaged power lines and wait for professionals
to handle these situations.

Invasive Pest Alert: Emerald Ash Borer

This is the damage that
Emerald Ash Borer larvae
cause just beneath the bark.

The Emerald Ash Borer was recently identified in West Point, NY, making the threat to our Ashes in the NY metro area even more immanent. The insect was first found in Detroit in 2002 and has killed tens of millions of Ashes as it has moved east.

The Threat to Trees
Although they're easiest to identify as adults, Emerald Ash Borers cause the most damage as larvae. They live beneath the bark, eating away at the living cambium layer of the trunk and leaving "galleries" of removed tissue behind (see photo).

It only takes 3 years for a healthy tree to die completely from an Emerald Ash Borer infestation. Signs of decline include splits in the bark, capital "D"-shaped exit holes from where the borers exit the trunk, higher than usual woodpecker activity, dropping leaves throughout the growing season, and sparseness in the canopy.

What You Can Do

The Emerald Ash Borer
is iridescent green and
smaller than a penny.

The key to successfully saving a tree from Emerald Ash Borer is through preventative treatment. The best treatment currently available is an insecticide injection made directly into the trunk that provides protection from EAB for 2 years. If you have feature Ash trees on your property, this is definitely a course of action to consider.

Images: Galleries - Daniel Herms, Ohio State University, Bugwood.org. Borer - Howard Russell, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org.