Junk In Junk Out Nursery Selection to Avoid

Junk In = Junk Out: Nursery Selection to Avoid Risk & Problem Trees Vince Urbina

Junk In = Junk Out: A True Story The Charlie Brown Tree

Where it starts!

Container Size #5 #7 #15 #20 ANSI Z 60. 1 -2004: lists cubic inch volume ranges for all containers

Lightly Branched Container Liner • Bud grafted cultivar on root stock • NOTE: supplier maintained a strong central leader • Supplier ships dormant tree in early spring and it is placed in cold storage • Root pruned in the cold storage cellar to fit into appropriate container • Broken branches are removed • Restore central leader if needed • Potted in April • Maintained in container for one complete growing season. • Sold the following year as a container-grown tree.

Container Trees Note: bud graft location on these #20 tree pots.

Whip - Liner

Establish central leader as needed

Rooted Cottonwood Cutting – Field liner Year Two • Year 1 Spring – Plant a 3 - 5 foot rooted liner with no branches • Year two (Early Spring) – Central leader is identified and or created • Year two (ES) – Identify the lowest scaffold branch that will remain on the tree • Year two (ES) – Identify the spot the trunk which is exactly half the total height of the tree and remove all the lower branches. • Year two (ES) – Identify the lowest scaffold branches and stub remaining branches to force caliper growth • Year two (Summer) – Ensure that central leader remains and make sure there are no problem branches.

Rooted Cottonwood Cutting – Summer Year Two • Year two (S) – Tree needs strong central leader. No branches with included bark. • Year two (S) - Buds break on stubbed branches and produce more branches with lots of leaves • New leaves coming from these stubbed branches produce food that creates trunk caliper. • Caliper = $$$ • Remove stubbed branches in early August to facilitate wound closure • Sell as two year old 1. 5” to 1. 75” B&B with first branch at 4 feet in year 3.

Field Pruning – Honeylocust First Summer’s Growth – Whip Liner Second Summer’s Growth

Chinkapin oak

Tree Source

The Tree Source

The Tree Source

The Big Box Store

Nursery Stock - Examples

Included bark at the tree source….

V Images source: Ed Gilman U Bark that is squeezed between two stems – Bark on Bark

Multiple Leaders gives you….

Excessive branching….

Deborah maple

Codominat Trunks 1/2

Seedlings make up about 30% of the nursery stock in Colorado

Establish a Leader in Spruce Choose the Straightest and the Strongest for the leader

This multiple-leader problem could lead to. ….

What do you see? • Included bark • Possible crack • Weak attachment • Multiple targets • Increased RISK This!

And This!!!

At the tree source look for a dominant central leader. Pines: Austrian, bristlecone, limber, ponderosa, Scotch Spruces: Colorado blue, Engelmann, black hills At the source look for a dominant central leader in: ponderosa, scotch, Limber, southwestern, bristlecone, lodgepole and Austrian pines

Avoid Trees with Large Girdling Roots!!!

Risk Created by People

Downtown Street Planting of Ornamental Pears

• Growing space too narrow • Selected wrong pear cultivar • Multiple high value targets See any problems?

Needs one pruning cut, where?

Some are Working

Remember the 3 R’s

Right Tree

• Poor Site • Clorosis in midsummer • Losing leaves in late summer • Now showing decay evidence • Increased Risk!

Right Place

Right Reason What happened? • Overplanted the site for quick impact • Trees out grew the site • Knee-jerk prune job • Result increased RISK!

Junk IN = Junk OUT

One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure Not with Trees!!!

Summary • Junk In = Junk Out: ALWAYS • Buy trees from an knowledgeable grower and avoid future problems • IDENTIFY and CORRECT structural issues early in a tree’s life • Remember the 3 R’s

www. urbantree. org

Thank you for inviting me! Contact: vince. urbina@colostate. edu 970 -250 -1923