Good read.

Really enjoyed the bare rooting pics at the end of the article.

That was very interesting. I have been thinking about asking you uber-tree guys what you thought about switching from b&b to bare root, and here it is! Well, a beginning, anyway.

"Really enjoyed the bare rooting pics at the end of the article."

How about that bare-rooted via dropping from 12' picture? That hurts just to look at.

That was awesome!

I tell you what, I see trees growing out of a rock cliff on the way to work and even nearby my house. Tree planting should not be the fragile art it has become. I mean how would one go about planting a tree on a rock cliff? Nature always has and always will do it best unfortunately for us tree huggers :)

"I mean how would one go about planting a tree on a rock cliff?"

With a seed or very small seedling tucked into a soil-filled crack (much like it would happen naturally).

We want to move trees when they are big (to save the time needed to grow the tree to that size and other reasons). Nature doesn't usually attempt that.

I meant plant one that is an appreciable size brandon... obviously the way you described is how it happens naturally.

I think it depends on who the end consumer is. If you are going to sell a bare-root for a total novice consumer and phase out cans, then there is a level of knowledge that has to be transfered - and that doesn't even include the purported "professionals" we see so often on this board. Cans are much easier to plant for the novice, and would avoid the DD#1 in many more cases. If you want a better quality can, then lots of changes have to be made in the industry.

Lots going on that has to change, across the board.

Dan

Excellent article. Its amazing those trees can live after being power washed.

As anyone actually done that here?

Dan, I don't think the authors are recommending doing away with container-grown stock. I think they are saying that bare-rooting, as part of the planting process and done by people trained in doing it, has advantages (and disadvantages). They are going through the process to correct root problems caused by traditional growing methods, not to prevent the problems from occurring to start with. Also, I think most of the research and debate is concentrated on larger stock (mostly B&B), rather than smaller, containerized stock. The guy that brought this article back to my attention claims to be a totally supporter of bare-rooting smaller stuff, but has concerns about calls for doing it across the board for different species, to larger B&B material, and by the nursery industry with untrained labor.

And here I've been painstakingly bare rooting any container plant I get and all I need to do is throw it off my roof. ;-)

Thanks for the link Brandon.

tj

oh yes a good read. The transplants were HUGE also.

Towards the bottom of page 11 it said "For field-grown red maple bare rooted in 2006, after two years of growth there were no significant differences in bare rooting technique or whether bare rooted while dormant of actively growing."

Wow! That included the above mentioned drop method and planting while actively growing!

If I ever kill a red maple during transplant I sure will feel bad.