Trees: To Stake or Not to Stake?
- On June 15, 2010
- By Meleah
- In Trees and Shrubs
- 0
It will soon be tree-planting time in many parts of the country, which brings up the inevitable question of staking. It used to be common practice to stake trees at planting time. Over the years, though, experts who study trees have started recommending staking only in certain cases.
The reason? Staking keeps young trees from moving freely in the wind. This is a problem because that movement helps trees develop strong, tapered trunks. (And did you know that trunk movement also helps promote root growth?) When done incorrectly, staking can also cause damage to a tree’s trunk. You see this most often when the ties or bands are too tight and actually dig into the bark.
But staking isn’t all bad. If you’re planting a new tree in a very windy or exposed location, staking is a good idea. Usually one year is all that’s needed, unless a tree is quite large, in which case you’d stake for two. You should also stake young trees that are tall in proportion to the size of their root balls. For example, a tree in a 5-gallon container that’s over 4½ feet tall should be staked.
If you do stake a tree, wooden stakes are sufficient. Use as few stakes as possible, most often just one for a small tree with a trunk smaller than 2 inches around. The stake should be upwind from the direction of the prevailing spring and summer winds in your area.
Use flexible material, such as a strip of burlap, old cloth, or carpet, to attach the stake to the tree. Don’t use wire or cable, which can cut into the bark. Check the straps occasionally to make sure they’re not too tight or so loose they’re rubbing against the bark.
Fall Tips
Well, fall and winter are on the way, and that means there’s a lot to do outdoors. Normally, I don’t spend much time talking about lawn care. I’m just not that interested in grass and, to be honest, I’m embarrassed by the fact that I can hardly manage to start our mower by myself — all the cord yanking and lever pushing. Maybe it’s a coordination thing?
But I do realize that lots of people do care about their lawns, so here we go. Let’s talk about some things you can do to keep your grass healthy and looking good. Though it’s too late to do any more seeding, you can still lay sod for a new lawn or just use some chunks to repair damaged spots. Be sure to water enough to keep the surface of the soil moist. Once it takes root, you can start mowing and reduce watering. Keep mowing until you notice that your grass, old or new, has stopped growing.
Read More»Shrub Do’s and Don’ts
- On July 22, 2008
- By Meleah
- In Trees and Shrubs
- 0
One of the first mistakes I made as a gardener was planting beds in which everything was pretty much the same size. Now I know that if you want any depth to your garden, you need a mix of plants in all shapes and sizes.
Shrubs play a crucial role in any good garden design. But it’s easy to make mistakes when placing them in your yard. Here are some tips for choosing shrubs and finding the right spot for them so they’ll look their best.
I like to do some research before going to shop for shrubs because I find the rows and rows of specimens a little overwhelming. But it’s also just fine to do your choosing when you get to the garden center. One of the most important things you’ll want to do, though, is look at the plant tag to see how tall and wide that cute shrub you like will be when it matures. Boxwood (Buxus spp.), for example, is a great evergreen shrub is you want a formal hedge. But since most varieties don’t get very tall, they’re not a great choice for privacy if you plan to do a lot of backyard tanning or, well, drinking. (Our fence is just wire so every time we’re outside having a glass of wine I wonder if people are thinking, “Oh my! That’s the third night they’ve been drinking this week.”
Read More»Dealing With Ice, Snow and Winter’s Hungry Critters
Here are a few tips for helping your landscape make it through the winter unscathed by freezing temperatures, snow, ice and critters.
Let’s start with those de-icing salts people use to make sidewalks safer. These products are great for cutting down on slipping, but they wreak havoc on plants. Salty injury to deciduous trees and shrubs takes many forms but usually includes things like bud and twig dieback, stunted growth, and leaf scorch. Conifers, like spruces, pines, and firs often have mild to severe needle browning when exposed to salt spray.
To remedy the situation you could, of course, just skip the de-icer. But if you’d like to be nice to your plants without fear of breaking your neck, try taming your de-icer a bit by mixing it with another abrasive material like sand (50 pounds of sand to one pound of salt is a good ratio). You might also try a salt-free, de-icing compound made from calcium magnesium acetate or kitty litter. Rather than just throwing down a lot of de-icer on top of packed snow and ice, try sprinkling enough to loosen the ice and snow and then remove as much as you can with a shovel. Take care not to pile salty snow from driveways and sidewalks around plants and trees. Salt accumulation at the base of plants can force them into an early decline and eventually kill them.
Read More»What To Do With All Those Fall Leaves
This summer’s storms cost our neighbor a beautiful oak tree that was well over a hundred years old. Now, all they’ve got to remind them of it is a huge rotting stump in their backyard that stinks like vinegar crossed with something sickeningly sweet. They miss the tree and we miss it, too, because once it was gone we realized how our back patio now boasts a majestic view of crisscrossing power lines. I want to plant a tree near our garage to remedy the situation and my husband, Mike, agrees that’s a good idea. As long as we get one that doesn’t have any leaves.
You see, he hates to rake and, though I am not a candidate for any kind of Green Girl moniker, so far I just won’t budge on the leaf blower issue. We can’t buy one. Not even an electric one. And it’s not as if he’s griping unnecessarily. We already have three big oak trees that blanket our yard with so many leaves we both rake until our hands blister and bleed every year. But here’s where my little do-no-harm-to-the-world-by-raking plan goes awry. We bag our leaves and haul them to the curb for pick-up.
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