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permaculture - Interesting notes on growing trees from seed or bare root (from alt.permaculture)

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflondon@worldnet.att.net>
  • To: <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Interesting notes on growing trees from seed or bare root (from alt.permaculture)
  • Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 22:34:11 -0400


Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 18:19:48 +0100
Newsgroups: alt.permaculture
From: John Neale Baraclough <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Native Irish Trees

"Holly" <holly@NOSPAM.esatclear.ie> writes:
> I want to buy a few larger trees to give some shape to the
> garden fairly quickly, but other than that I will buy the smaller ones
> as you suggest.

Hm, in my experience the larger the specimen the greater the
planting shock...container or bare root makes no difference. It will
sit there for several years, demanding water or stakes and sympathy
every time the weather changes.It might grudgingly grow 6 inches in
each of the first few years ...maybe.

Long before the big tree gets its act together, a 2 ft bare root
whip will have raced away unchecked, even oaks will quickly start
putting on 2 ft a year.They will make far better underground growth,
which is even more important, so a few years down the line when
there's a big gale, or a drought, or a long frost, or just a very
soggy windy winter, they are far likelier to stand firm and survive.
In five years, the big tree will be looking established but not
hugely bigger, and its delayed-growth bark will be rather thick and
rigid.The tiny tree will be ramping away, as big or more, and have a
thinner flexible bark which easily expands to allow further rapid
trunk growth.(Any trees you grow yourself on site from seed will
outpace the lot of them in ten years.)When I was first told this I
didn't believe it, but it's true.

Remembered another favourite tree, red oak, quercus rubra. It isn't
native but it fits in visually. Both willow and alder populations are
being wrecked by diseases here in Scotland, if you are planning on
those,ask local forestry if there's a problem.I'm felling dead ones,
it's awful to cut a 30 ft tree you planted, and even dry, alder is
pure hell to a woodburner chimney:-(

Janet
--
janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk







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