News from the trees:

We have finished bareroot planting!  Saturday was a momentous day, we finished up the final bareroot trees we needed to plant and nearly finished planting all the apple graft whips.  Meeting and passing milestones of the season gives me and many others a nice little uplift.  We have plenty of work ahead of us, but at least most of the bagging of trees is finished.  Okay, moving on…

I went on a hike last Tuesday just north of Santa Fe.  Margaret suggested the hike and I went along with her and Dot, the adorable basset hound.  The Rio Medio trail is about 6 miles long, but we kept it to two miles.  This trail took us along “Rio Medio,” which on that day was running some water and at the end of the two mile hike, was a nice, but sadly, little water fall.  The trail meandered through the woods.  It was a neat experience and Margaret knows many of the native flowering plants we passed, so I received a good botany lesson, but I can’t remember much of it now. I haven’t hiked much in the Southwest and it reminded me of all the possible plants I should get to know.  I spent much of the hike comparing the forest plant order to the Southeast and drawing conclusions about the ecology of this forest.  It was awkward not knowing the trees, shrubs, and other understory plants.  At home, I would have known at least half of the plants if not more.  Again, I am wondering why I never fit forestry courses into my schedule.  

This week I have spent a good deal of time pondering ecology and whole system approaches to tree care.  One of the most common questions from customers is, “What do I put in the hole?”  We answer, “Nothing, just the native soil.”  People typically give us questioning looks after this answer. 

 “Really? Just soil?” 

“Yes…” 

 The reason for this is that if you give a tree everything it t needs right off the bat, the tree wont venture out, aka the roots wont spread wide.  You want a tree to develop strong broad root structures.  If the plant has a strong and wide root, it will be more resilient down the road when water or nutrients become scare for a period.  A strong root system means you do not have to purchase fertilizers or treat for disease issues that might emerge from lack of micronutrients or over amendment.  

The next critical element to growing a healthy tree is mulching and feeding the fungal environment. Forest and orchards thrive from fungal dominance and certain fungi form symbiotic relationships with tree roots (mycorrhizal fungi).  As an orchadist you want to mimic nature.  The mycorrhizal fungi provide tree roots with essential nutrients both macro and micro nutrients.  Mulching and organic debris (leaves, old branches, etc) all lend homes to beneficial fungi, bacteria, protozoa,  invertebrates, and much more.  If you have a plethora of beneficials the trees will have better immune systems that help them fight off diseases. 

Okay that’s enough for today, I think.