I was working at a large strata site last week and when I walked by the entrance, my boss casually mentioned that the evergreen tree would be removed soon. The tree is clearly dead and its two cousins are also long gone. Such is the fate of many urban landscape trees.
Landscape rule
One firm landscape maintenance rule is zero tolerance for dead plant material. Dead plants make the site look awful and it look like the landscapers don’t care. However, one exception is new sites where there may be still be active developer warranties.
Extra costs
Now, consider the extra costs involved here. First, we have removal and then replacement. It will take some time to safely remove the tree and dispose of it.
Replacement involves visits to nurseries and meetings with strata council members. In this case, the new spruce trees will cost under $200 each, plus labour.
Problems
A. Poor planting
I didn’t have to bend down too much to see the problems with this spruce tree. Using ‘old style’ planting techniques, the installers left the metal cage on and never cut the strings.
Enter Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, my Pacific Northwest mentor. She teaches us to only plant trees in planting holes. And Linda also recommends planting bare-root. But who has time for that? Developers rush to get things done quickly so they dig a hole and the root ball is plugged in. Next! There is no time to wash off the root ball on every single tree. The boss would freak out.
At this point we should review. Only the tree goes in the planting hole. That means no metal cages, no strings or twine, no burlap. In practice, however, installers don’t have time for these details which seems crazy. They must cut the strings and remove them and then at least cut away the top of the metal cage or bend it back.
Always plant the tree at the correct height, not too high, not too low.
Always cut the strings and remove them before planting. Clearly, the installers should have cut the strings because years later it leads to disaster. Now we have a dead tree and the strata has to find budget for replacement. Girdling kills the tree by effectively strangling it as the string gets imbedded.
B. Tree site
Proper planting is critical for success but another factor is the site itself. How good is the soil? How much room does the tree have? In the case of our dead spruce tree there clearly wasn’t much room between the road and sidewalk; and I doubt the soil was great.
Still, when you plant trees in urban landscapes giving them as much room to grow as possible is important.
Conclusion
To sum up, when you plant trees only put the tree in the planting hole. Remove all metal cages, strings, twine, burlap and wires.
