When I was a lot younger than I am now I used to be employed on a large wholesale nursery , one of the winter tasks was to pot/containerise some field grown trees (6'-12') into plastic pots which then could be sold on to contractors throughout the coming year. I'm sad to say that the whole operation went against basic horticultural practices. Trees already incurred inevitable root loss from spade or tactor mounted implement when being lifted (dug up) from the nursery field, but then the young trees frequently had to have further roots 'pruned' so that they'd fit in a pot that maybe measured about 30cms across. And of course even if the tree managed to survive this treatment during it's dormant phase, come the growing season the roots didn't have far to grow and develop. within the tight constraints of the pot. Although this approach worked on the nursery , in that in the main the trees survived to the point of sale due to the fact that they had been kept alive 'artificially' by a drip line irrigation system. One can only wonder and speculate as to how these specimens adapted to their new environs with a limited root structure.? Anyway, as said this all happened in a former life of mine, and now that I offer my own freelance horticultural services I can 'tell' ( there's no negotiation on this point) clients to wait until autumn for a specimen tree planting service.
This is such great insight, thank you so much for sharing! I will definitely be going about tree planting differently for life after learning all this. In fact, I was just at a community event where a local conservation org was unexpectedly handing out native saplings and I decided to take one home :) what surprised me most in Basil's videos is how quickly the saplings can grow! After seeing that, I won't be surprised if this little sapling catches up to some larger containerized trees I planted last year.
Bravo! in New England our pocket forests aim for 35 native woody plant species including blueberries and shrubs. Can’t imagine 50 or more.
Right?! Shoot for moon! 🌙 I'm impressed with your 35.
Here are my recommendations
35 Native Woody Plants for Attleboro Miyawaki forests
American cranberry bush (Viburnum trilobum)
American Elm
American Hornbeam/Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana)
Apple
Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)
Beach (Fagus grandifolia)
Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
Black Locust (Robinia Pseudo-Acacia)
Butternut (Juglans cinerea)
Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana)
Eastern White Oak (Quercus alba),
Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
Grey/Speckled Alder (Alnus incana)
Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)
Hemlock
Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides)
Holly (Ilex opaca) with at least one male and one female
Ironwood/Hop Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)
Larch (Larix laricina)
Mountain Laurel
Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera)
Pitch Pine
Red Birch
Red Cedar Juniper
Red Maple
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
Shadbush/Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)
Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata)
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)
Striped Maple/Moosewood (Acer pensylvanicum)
Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum)
Sweet fern
Tuliptree (Liriodendron Tulipifera)
White Ash (Fraxinus americana)
White Pine
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Yellow-poplar (Liriodendron)
🤩 Thanks for sharing!!
When I was a lot younger than I am now I used to be employed on a large wholesale nursery , one of the winter tasks was to pot/containerise some field grown trees (6'-12') into plastic pots which then could be sold on to contractors throughout the coming year. I'm sad to say that the whole operation went against basic horticultural practices. Trees already incurred inevitable root loss from spade or tactor mounted implement when being lifted (dug up) from the nursery field, but then the young trees frequently had to have further roots 'pruned' so that they'd fit in a pot that maybe measured about 30cms across. And of course even if the tree managed to survive this treatment during it's dormant phase, come the growing season the roots didn't have far to grow and develop. within the tight constraints of the pot. Although this approach worked on the nursery , in that in the main the trees survived to the point of sale due to the fact that they had been kept alive 'artificially' by a drip line irrigation system. One can only wonder and speculate as to how these specimens adapted to their new environs with a limited root structure.? Anyway, as said this all happened in a former life of mine, and now that I offer my own freelance horticultural services I can 'tell' ( there's no negotiation on this point) clients to wait until autumn for a specimen tree planting service.
This is such great insight, thank you so much for sharing! I will definitely be going about tree planting differently for life after learning all this. In fact, I was just at a community event where a local conservation org was unexpectedly handing out native saplings and I decided to take one home :) what surprised me most in Basil's videos is how quickly the saplings can grow! After seeing that, I won't be surprised if this little sapling catches up to some larger containerized trees I planted last year.