No photo today, but I did learn something new about pruning. When pruning trees, cut above a node to encourage lateral growth and a fuller, healthier-looking tree. Also, make diagonoal cuts across the branch, heavy-side up. This will kep the growth oriented upwards, not down where people want to walk.

With all the rain and windstorms that we've experienced lately, it has been brought home how vulnerable a tree can be, and how valuable a shelter belt is. Now I see why only certain plants can colonize disturbed areas. Without protection from the wind not only are small plants torn free of the loose soil in which they grow, but entire trees can be pushed over. If we don't right them. they can't be sold!

Again, sorry for the delay. I will have a couple of posts for you this time again. Firstly I wanted to report that the bur oak sapling that I was given in Olds has grown a fourth leaf and is doing fine. I mention this because I have learned a little about bur oaks while at the farm. Quite often on the oak you will find the little nodules or burs growing. These are caused by the rough bulletgall wasp (Disholcaspis quercusmamma) laying its egg in the bark of the tree. The sap flows out to cover it and forms the gall protecting the egg. This kills the twig or branch end, but it doesn't harm the tree itself. Also, the wasp has been known to pick off other dangerous insects, thereby preserving the health of its host, albeit indirectly, but not without some cost.
For us, it means that we have to trim off the affected parts, simply to preserve saleability. People often think that the tree is diseased and not want to buy it, and with today's natural cynicism any attempt to explain the matter can be interpreted as disingenuous. Thankfully, the wasps only seem to inhabit young trees. By the time it matures the wasps will move on.

The rest of the Landscaper's Mistake

Ok, I just had to post the rest of these pics. When that landscaper beaked off at my buddy about the tree, it infuriated me. To the left you can see how badly the root ball had degraded, as well as how much water there still was in the hole after we pulled it out.












This pic also shows how badly the roots were exposed by the excessive watering, as well as the exposure below the crown.

Great Days

Some people have to spend all day in an office listening to other people's crap. I used to be one of those people. I am no longer one of those people. I love my job. Last week, one day I spent driving spruce saplings to the fields and planting them in the dirt. There really is something satisfying about planting a tree.






Of course, it can also get a little boring. Last week, I was riding in the back of the same red pickup in the pic above, in the Bridge Fields throwing 11 foot long fibreglass stakes for each tree, like the ones in the photo to the left. So, this one day when the sun was a little too hot, and we were restless I livened things up by pretending to be in the back of a chariot, quoting what little I know from Homer's the Iliad, and instead of tossing the stakes on the ground, I hurled them like javelins at my enemies. o.O

Sorry about the lapse in posts. Things here have been hectic and I haven't spent much time near a computer. I hope to make up for it with a few posts covering a diversity of experiences.
Firstly, I gained a valuable lesson in patience while installing trees in people's homes. One home was a breeze: they placed the hole in a logical location with easy access. The husband helped and the wife brought us water (it was 30C that day). The pics on the left are their home.



Above portrays the nightmare of installing a root ball that weighs hundreds of pounds into a narrow row with only inches on either side on which to lay all the maddening muck we ha
d to haul out. It sure helped that my supervisor has a masters in physics!!

And to the right one can see the soupy mess that the landscapers left behind. Having never been told to leave the tree high in the hole because the project called for a garden around the tree, we placed it at the height we normally would. My supervisor displayed the patience of a Zen master as the landscaper harangued him for the mistake, even though they only decided that it was too high after they cut open the burlap and drenched the root ball. As a result, the roots were exposed, as was the tree below the crown, as seen in the pic. This tree might not make it.

One thing I really enjoy about this job, besides the obvious of being able to work outside, is that in a given day I'm always doing new things. Doing new things means learning new things. One day last week I went to spray Roundup on land a farmer rented to Ken (the owner of Millcreek Nursery) to grow some extra trees. Since we only spray weeds and not the trees, Jay taught me to use my boot to hold down weeds and spray them so the chemical doesn't touch the tree. It felt sort of like a gangland execution.





Another day last week I was repairing the irrigation lines in the South Field. Above is the tool Ken had custom made to puncture holes in a live water line. The way they do it, water enters the lines making them stiff, and so easy to puncture when a new dripper has to be inserted. It also makes finding any missing nozzles easier, just look for the mini-geyser drenching a tree in the next row!

And another day last week I was out looking for blackknot (I think we were in some Schuberts). Other than a chance to see what it looks like in the field, I didn't learn anything that I didn't already get from Sima's class, except that the REAL common name for the fungus Apiosporina morbosa is "shit on a stick".