Anderson Twp Red Maple Planting Disaster of 1985

Take a look at these photographs and tell me what you think happened, and will happen, to these trees. I honestly don't know what the planter did, nor what they were thinking.

Scott

View two of four.

View three.

And, finally, the fourth. As you can see, despite some mistakes, the trees have survived and grown. I guessed they are about twenty years old, but that could be wrong. It appears the roots have somehow made it into the surrounding soil, although some girdling roots exist. I'm not sure what exactly caused the ugly splits in the bark on both trees. I wonder how much longer these trees are for this world, although, honestly, in summer both looked okay--a fair quantity and color of foliage.

Scott

Looks like someone set the trees out on top of the ground for planting, with rootballs wrapped in plastic, then died before he could finish the job. I've heard of planting high for drainage, but jeeeez! Nature can be so resilient, given any opportunity at all. So that's how you folks do things in KY, eh?

Guy S.

Let's see. 20 years ago the owner planted these trees in the compost pile: "Just until I find the right place for them"

. . . or was that on your OWN side of the river, in Ohio? Surely not!

Guy S.

It is in Ohio, but I'm sure the homeowner must be from Kentucky!

Scott

Maples!!! They grow under any conditions. The roots look like poorly woven baskets. Sadly, I've seen trees this poorly planted in my neck of the woods. Maybe the guy who planted them was from Kentucky...

Or, He hit a big granite slab 3/4 down the hole depth and then he topped it off with compost.

You guys all eating fish today? Sure is a lot of baited breath going around...

Well, they say the only reason that OH hasn't slid into the river is because MI sucks. And, I'd bet these trees derived from the poor practices of some IL-mannered nurseryman, too. I'll thank Mr. Midd for some sound assessments of the situation, reflecting the quality of his heritage (or at least his current choice of domicile).

It's not hard to find red maples with that sort of root system in the basal region, and even easier to find them with large scars either from borer damage or ill-directed herbicide applications. They can continue to grow past any or all of these, but not happily and most likely not permanently. Keep watching: those will probably snap off basally next time you get a good storm.

Myself? I'd say that those were Acer rubrum 'Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Pruned'.

Oh, Hybrid Vigorous Vibrator, As you well know, the problem with most things in life is they don't suck enough. Just ask Declension. Two exposures on your trip and what did he get for his trouble? Outside of being the brunt of jokes, A bag of nuts from Guy and meat thrown at him at Lauren's. Now imagine if that had happpened to you. You might find yourself out photographing gangly white trees in front of the Jiffy Lube Store too....

It might be a subtle change from a recalcitrant feline sprawled in front of a bunch of empty wine bottles.

Pathopoeia:

I don't have to imagine; been there. If I could ever get a new computer like Dénouement, I could scan all my old slide collection and post pics all kinds of nifty stuff.

I think I've earned the fun part in leading the new guy down the path of ruin and despair, following in the footsteps of those who led me. AND, I get to use the MI/OH disparagements because I've put up with almost thirty years of abuse from my high school buddy (from Battle Creek and now resides in Milford, OH).

Cancrivorous:

I'm losing my previously stated respect for you now. Look again: those are unopened flasks. Your cat description is still dead on, though.

volapuk vizard
No offense taken or intended, Having spent much time in all three states, I can tell you that your assessment of Ohio is correct ;0)
50's aey, You don't look that old in your photos...

So let's see if I got this right, you buy full bottles, but you never drink the wine. Is this some new form of spartan disclipine?

Hey Patrick, curiosity has finally gotten the best of me and I simply must ask what meat was thrown at the Mr. Blowout at my house,

That was a comic reference to something You wrote on 02-14-06 4:19 pm:

"Quick Guy, give me some tips. Should I start throwing raw meat at them when they walk through the door."

If you did throw meat, I hope it was venison.

Mr. Blowout, that's funny!!!

Oh lordie lordie lordie! I thought you were teasing me about my "meaty/beafy" dogs. Audrey has a habit of throwing herself at people if they ignore her and I was convinced you were talking about my perfectly well behaved itty bitty little puppy. I was setting you up and had this real funny response in my head ready to type back to you but one problem... I forgot I wrote that comment about throwing raw meat at them as a joke.

Gosh, sorry I didn't take the bait :)
If I ever come to your house, I will ignore Audrey just to get the full treatment. She isn't a Great Dane, is she? I used to have one named Elsie that would come over and lean on you if you ignored her, and that would throw you off balance. It was really quite funny. She would do it over and over until you petted her. Hard to ignore a dog the size of a pony for too long...

I'm just relieved that meat was not thrown at me and I had forgotten about it!

Scott

You guys are lucky...I get huge dog meat thrown at me every time I go to Equil's. And 2 slices of Kraft singles!

Seriously..I remember, back in the day, when you were supposed to plant your trees level with the ground around it, now you're supposed to plant them slightly higher? Or is is vice versa? When did this change and why? Not like the pictures above, of course.

Doctrinarian:

That standard practice has never changed; how it is understood by professionals and laymen alike has, along with poor quality production practices and mistakenly applied elderly married female human's anecdotes.

Trees should be planted with the basal flare (or base of the trunk where the roots start growing) at your finished grade soil level, like they do when they sprout from seeds. You can choose to plant them slightly higher than this if you have particularly pathetic ponding problems, but this only delays inevitable grief if the species cannot endure this situation permanently.

The problem in production that has been recognized and brought to the fore in the profession (as well as now beginning to receive press with the public) is where the basal flare or crown of the woody plant is located relative to the surface of the package of the plant that you purchase. Often, this crown/flare is buried in the soil ball (whether B&B or container) to some depth, and then you plant it at the level you've believed to be correct. The crown/flare ends up beneath the finished grade at your site, which can (and usually does) create long term problems with plant health. This is worst for B&B plants, which are stressed already from root mass reduction in transplanting.

Knowledgeable and concerned gardeners will inspect their new purchases for the location of the crown/flare before placing the plant in the ground, to ensure that the crown/flare ends up at the proper elevation. If the crown/flare is found to be buried, then excess soil/media needs to be removed prior to planting.

After reading all this, some may want to contend that this is NOT the recommendation for tree peonies grafted onto herbaceous peony understock, or the recommendations for planting grafted roses. Fair enough, but an entirely different subject. I'm referring to general woody trees and shrubs.

I'd even hazard a guess that the average urban street tree lifespan would be much longer than the currently stated 5-7 years if proper planting height were rigorously applied.

Re. average urban street tree life span, Could that be because half of those planted in the last 10 years were pears? Uh oh, did I really open up that "can o worms"? Bad Ken, Bad Ken.

Headline:

Lightning strikes an unusual amount of times in the limited confines of one address in remote Presque Isle, WI despite clear cloudless day

Subheadline:

DG members not surprised

I haven't read through everything here, but I think one possibility for the roots looking liek that is that the people who planted and/or maintained the trees later on kept piling on mulch...until the mulch was a foot taller than the ground itself. I see landscapers do this around businesses all the time. People think (I guess) it looks good to have that huge pile of mulch at the base of the trees. But in reality, it looks totally stupid and is not good for the trees since the roots will start growing up about ground level (in the mountain of mulch). I pile up mulch the first year or two to get new trees established and then remove it and let nature take it's course (and what do you know...I've got healthy trees! :)

I think the mulch mountains appear partly because people that stare out the windows of the office building thinks it makes the lawn look nice and manicured...and partly because the landscapers are too lazy and/or don't get paid enough to remove the prior year's mulch before adding more. With as much as they pile on, all they'd really have to do is scrape it around a little to refresh it so it looks good...and avoid building a mountain of mulch around the base of trees.

Buy some of those rubber doughnut mulch mats. They work great!