Found this U of MD piece on the effects of planting trees too deeply. I learned from it and thought it might be useful to people in explaining problems to their customers.

Just got done looking at a property where I was going to do some shrub pruning -- it was interesting to note that a number of the shrubs that did poorly this winter were also planted too deeply.

Reply to post by Chris Reid, on March 30, 2003 at 21:32:47:

Oops, did something wrong. Link did not appear. Here it is:


http://www.agnr.umd.edu/MCE/Publications/Publication.cfm?ID=149

Reply to post by Chris Reid, on March 30, 2003 at 21:32:47:

Overall good information from UMD. I liked the layout of the tools, and the acronym RCX instead of the commonly used RCE. TDS is straining; did that need to be acronymized?

Misspellings a bit irksome though, coming from a U. "flair", "Armillana" and "Pytopthora"? Jeez, let's try editing before publishing in the name of academe'.

The stock advice about treatment of girdling roots added little since Shigo's from 20 yrs. ago: if it's little cut it, if it's big and old you probably shouldn't? It's long past time to look more closely at all our mgt. options.

That criticism aside, there are many Kevorkians in the nursery, la, contractor and homeowner groups who assist trees in suicide by setting them up to strangle themselves. They should all do RCX's on their victims.

Reply to post by Guy, on March 30, 2003 at 21:34:30:

Good timing on this for me. I just got back from the TX ISA workshops in Dallas where we had a session on air-spade. Amazing tool, able to excavate root crown or trenches with virtually no root damage. Too expensive for most homeowners, I'm afraid, but maybe the cost will come down over time. The big expense isn't so much the tool as the compressor to run it. Still, saw some great results in the demo and I still hope to get one of these eventually.

The figure they gave us at the workshop was 80% of trees are too deep, but looking around I can believe the 93% figure from this citation as easily.

Keith

Reply to post by Keith Babberney, on March 31, 2003 at 22:35:39:

"The big expense isn't so much the tool as the compressor to run it. Still, saw some great results in the demo and I still hope to get one of these eventually."

Keith, shop around first. I spent too much on one and yes, renting the compressor is such a major hassle it's rare I use the thing.
but yes it does an rcx much faster and better than anything else I've used.

"The figure they gave us at the workshop was 80% of trees are too deep, but looking around I can believe the 93% figure from this citation as easily."
In this area it's probably between those figures. The girdling situation is the worst. I've done demos at universities and ag ext offices and uncovered some nasty spaghetti. It's embarassing to the people responsible; in fact it incites quite a finger-pointing rush to avoid responsibility for these self-strangling excuses for trees.
Now if I could just find a good used compressor cheap...

Reply to post by Guy, on April 02, 2003 at 20:58:02:

Guy,

Do you find it hard to price these jobs? From listening to presenters at the seminar, it seems you almost have to give a few away just to create an interest in the thing. If you charge at a flat rate, they say you almost always end up underestimating the time, but we all know how hard it is to get an hourly job from most clients.

One idea I picked up there that you might find useful is to connect with plumbers, irrigation installers, and others who routinely trench. If you can show a client how many roots you are saving, they say most will pony up the extra bux to get the trench dug with air. Beware the plumbers who think, how nice of them to make it so easy to cut these roots out of my way (actual story, or so they claimed).

k