[Sherwood Botsford]

Didn’t say all of the time, and it may not be true in other regions.  We have about 16-20 inches of precip a year here.  Lots of species here havea problem with competition with grass and forbs while they are young.  Competition for both water and nutrients.  Get them to the 2 foot stage and they are fine from that point on.

You are correct that there are many factors.  But when a plant is native in very similar circumstances, then the most common reason so far in my experience for it not being native locally is juvenile mortality.  Limiting factors are more limiting on small specimens with limited internal resources.

Eastern white pine is not native here.  Planted as a 1 yr plug in partial shade, and watered once mid summer the first year the 5 yr survival rate is 90+%  Colorado spruce is not native here.  Planted as a 12″ 4 yr old and ignore it does fine.  Concolor fir is not native here.  Planted as a 2 yr old in a wind protected spot it does fine.  

Sugar Maple is not native for a different reason:  Until 100 years ago the prairies regularly burned.  Sugar maple has little fire resistance at juvenile and pole stages.  Introduced as a poplar bush maintenance species it’s doing well.

Balsam poplar is native but rare — normally found only on north facing slopes of ravines and coulees.  Does well as an understory tree in poplar bush.

Tamarack locally grows only in bogs.  It’s good at dealing with nutrient poor environments.  But it does well in wet meadowlands too — if you transplant in as a 4 foot tree.

Dogwood here normally is found either in shade or where there is additional water.  But it can be transplanted into full sun and does fine.

[Sherwood Botsford]

Hmm.  I hope that Mr. Python’s exposition is not typical of this group’s knowledge base. <grin>

[Sherwood Botsford]

A local contractor and I collaborated on a remediation project for a new sewage plant in a provincial park.  The original spec called for a lot of 4-5 inch trees, but the side was a stream flood plain that was not much better than a gravel quarry.  

We pointed out that large trees were going to be very expensive, and proposed a project using a bunch of 4 foot lodgepole in 40 liter  growbags, along with  lots of 2 gallon dogwood, chokecherry and wild rose.  I forget what else.

Our survival rate was over 90%.  The stakeholders were quite pleased.

Much depends on who the site ecologist is.  You need to establish a working relationship with them.  If each can explain their rationales to the other, you have a good chance of getting a good solution at a reasonable price.

Now, I don’t know where you are, so I can’t recommend specifics.  In general however you are trying to establish a mature forest in minimum time without breaking the bank.

Possibilities:

A:  Plant large numbers of whatever local variety of poplar and willow grow well in your area.  These grow several feet per year (In Alberta we can get 4 feet a year with water)  You may have other hardwoods that do well.  Locals often regard them as trash trees, because they are everywhere.

These grow fast and you have something that looks sort of foresty in a few years.

B:  Don’t plant anything under 6 feet where the base is visilbe from the road.    This is how most people will see the site.   A quick row of 8 foot spruce alternating with pine…

C:  To get reasonable density in a hurry, plant trees no closer than 8-10 feet apart, but put shrubs  between.  This can raise the native count, and provides soil cover

D:  If you can get an inch of that lost topsoil back.  Mix in any source you can find of organic material — wood chips are great. This will help re-establish soil fungi that were scraped off.

E:  If you can, get your trees from a local grower who either  field grows, or uses field soil as part of his mix.  

Prices:

The markup between wholesale and retail is typically between 2 and 2.5.  For my purchase and resell trees, if I buy a tree at 40 bucks I sell it at 100.  If they buy a bunch, I cut them a deal.

I’m being asked to bid on a remediation job for a light rail transit ROW.  They want a bunch of 2″ poplar — That’s a good size, as it transplants well, and is big enough (12-15 feet) to look significant.  I normally don’t grow them that big, so I priced them out on a buy and resell.

I asked for 1000 trees 2″ caliper.  I was quoted 150 bucks a tree, 3 year lead time.  That seemed high to me.  I figure I can do it for something like $30 tree input expenses, plus 10 a tree for transport to the client’s site.  My bid will be at $115/tree.

In Canada Seedling conifers 0.17 to 0.85 for 1 yr plugs  Deciduous about 25 cents more.

2 yr bare root seedlings of reclamation species — around a buck each in bundles of 100

1 gallon container grown poplar and willow $3.50 each a hundred at a time (3-4 feet)

Grafted ornamental stock $20 bare root double that in an 8-10 gallon pot.

[Sherwood Botsford]

The problem with buying bare root, or providing it, is the narrow window for lifting and planting.

You also have issues with the amount of root left in the field.  One local company does evertyhing in a 32 inch space, because they have one.  For a lot of their trees, this is overkill.  They could use a 24 without a problem.  But some of their material is marginally too big.  

When companies have a long haul, the temptation to go either small root ball or light weight media lures people in.

One good compromise is to seek out container nurseries that grow in root control bags.   The idea is that the root is tip killed or strangled at the margin of the bag, and you get a more fibrous root inside. This works quite well.

Container trees are frequently done with media that isn’t dense enough.  There are two reasons for this:  Save shipping costs.  Same watering regime for everything.  A pot that lets the excess flow thorugh is almost impossible to overwater.  I know of places that put on an inch a day on every pot, then collect and filter the runoff and use it again.

Density check:  You can check this easily.  Put an inch of water in the pot.  If it vanishes in under 30 seconds, it’s too porous.  Drip watering will go thorugh the root ball without wetting it.  Times over 2 minutes suggest pulling one and giving it th sniff test for soggy soil.  Between, you are generally good.

If you have to use stock that is too light, cut open or tease open the root ball, and get roots into whatever you are backfilling with.  Try to plant on un-hot days, and maintain the accustomed watering rfrequency.

Container shrubs routinely have too much top growth for the root ball.  You can still use them, but ask the grower what the watering routine has been.  Keep to that routine for a week gallon pot size.  (So if it came in a #2 pot and was watered three times a week, water it three times a week or 2 weeks.)  

A better way to verify root moisture levels on a project is to plant a glass jar with the lid flush to the surface at the edge of the root ball.  Pull it out, and you can touch the side of the root ball on one side, the immediate surrounding soil on the other, and decide if it needs water.  Generally I tell people to not water until the top 2 inches are dry to the touch.  replace the jar after checking.  Remove at the end of the season.

[Sherwood Botsford]

Try asking of a Civil Engineering page.  I bet this comes up in road/parking access all the time for them.

[Sherwood Botsford]

5 inches long is unusual for contorta. 1.5″ to 2.5 inches is more typical in BC, Alberta, Saskatcewan, Manitoba.

https://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/contorta.htm

makes no mention of any subspecies with needles this long.

I’m not familiar with the pines of the American southwest in detail. I’m familiar with lodgepole, as it’s a staple native tree here. Pinyon is certainly possible. The mountains in the southwest tend to form fairly isolated regions — speciation has run rampant, and there are some 12 pines that appear to be closely related. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyon_pine

[Author]

Posts