(00:00:00) We're going to talk trees today. I don't know whether this is good tree planting weather or good tree weather at all. But we're going to talk trees because May is Arbor month and we have two guests in the studio who are experts on trees Don willick. He is Chairman of the Minnesota state shade tree advisory committee has been since (00:00:18) 1974 and he's also a director of the American Forestry (00:00:22) Association Don welcome. Nice to have you back nice to be here Bob. And dr. David French is with us as well. He is a professor of Plant Pathology and Forest resources at the University of Minnesota. All right. Well, how about this cold weather Don is this is this bad for trees (00:00:37) or well, I'll defer that one today if he's the plant pathologist. I don't think it's too (00:00:41) bad. No, this is a good time to plant trees spring season is the best time of the year and I wouldn't necessarily recommend today. It's quite brisk out there, but surely by tomorrow or in the next few days are going to be very good and well not least down in a known in. Parts of the area. It really has gotten cold the past couple of nights and in the Twin Cities, I believe it was down to about 25 26 degrees something like that last night. A lot of the trees have budded out. Some leaves are out. Is that going to knock those leaves off kill them off or they're going to be all right. It may be some damage. Those are fairly low temperatures and if the trees were out too far, but usually the trees are pretty cautious about this and I don't expect to see a lot of damage if they if some of those buds do fall off while they reform are they done for the season most trees have the ability to produce another set of leaves or whatever is needed from adventitious buds dormant buds don't function less than tree needs them. We've gotten a lot of rain across the area of the past this past month April and early part of May, but I wonder if the drought of 1988 is still a factor for some trees. Oh, definitely we're going to see the mortality that actually was caused last some are not only from the drought but from the Heat And it's surprising a lot of people don't realize that trees can't tolerate substantial increases in route temperatures and we got mortality for that reason as well as for the lack of water and sometimes these trees don't show that there's in bad condition as they actually are and as a leaves come out and the development starts this year. We're going to see more damage than we thought probably (00:02:26) occurred Bob a lot of people think that a tree's roots are deep in the soil. They're not really they're right up there in the surface and in layman's language laypersons language. What dr. French said was that a lot of trees surface Roots just got cooked last summer and they the scientists tell me they think they're going to see a lot of problems either partial die back or in some case of the whole tree will die after it leaps out (00:02:50) Don tell me about this this shade tree advisory committee. What does it do? And what are you up to right (00:02:55) now? Well, the state shade tree advisory committee is an organization founded by Governor in 1974 to advise the legislature and the governor on matters involving our Urban forests and we first dealt with the crisis due to Dutch elm disease and we recommended that the legislature assist communities and the legislature appropriated about 60 million dollars to assist communities and dealing with Dutch elm disease and planting new trees a lot of the new trees you see planted in the Twin Cities were done in part with state aid and the first purpose Administration and then the first couple years of the Qui Administration since then we've been concerned with a number of things including Oak Wilt gypsy moth and the programs that we've sponsored and worked for have been successful in keeping gypsy moth out of this state, which is a big problem in the eastern states. And finally we're very concerned with construction damage. (00:03:46) Oh really? What kind of construction (00:03:47) damage well anytime you start mucking around with a roots of a tree you run the risk of killing it and it's very sad to see throughout the entire Twin Cities area building being done with no. To protecting the roots of a tree piling dirt over the roots of trees, especially Oaks and the lot of the building is being done in the oak woodlands in the outlying Suburban areas is almost certain to kill the tree and two or three years banging into Oaks causes a potential for infection with Oak Wilt because it gets into trees due to wounds and finally scraping Dirt away from a tree or cutting its roots when the utility channels are put in is going to either wound or kill the tree and you you see the trees the trees a live and stay green for a couple of years on stored energy, but after that they died and this is a very great concern because these are high energy value trees trees that will keep areas a lot cooler and soon after the construction is finished. You see you see them gone and it's very sad. (00:04:45) It's about 15 minutes past the hour Don willick e and David Trent share with us. And if you have a question about trees any kind of a tree question with a range from treat diseases to tree plantings to species or whatever. You can give us a call our Twin Cities area number is 2 2 7 6 Thousand two to seven six thousand in the Twin Cities elsewhere within the state of Minnesota one 865 297001 865 to 9700 and in the surrounding states, you can call us directly at area code 612 2276 thousand down one more quick question for you before we take some listeners and that is what are you doing up the legislature this session of there any tree initiatives up there that you're working on as the as legislators set the budget for the next biennium. (00:05:28) Well, yes, there are the state shade tree advisory committee has recommended some increased funding for Oak Wilt Control Oak Wilt unlike Dutch elm disease can be controlled and even eliminated from the state as dr. Frances advised us, even though it's a very serious disease of our most expensive and most valuable shade trees. Also, we're very concerned with with gypsy moth and ensuring that funding stays in place because if once we get gypsy moth in this state, it will make Dutch elm disease look mild by comparison and Finally some legislators have started an initiative on their own to see that some funding is available for study and a series of recommendations on how trees can be used to decrease energy costs in the summer. And in the winter in the state. (00:06:16) Okay, let's move on to some folks that have questions a lot of lines are in use here and we'll take you first of all there. Go ahead, (00:06:22) please. Yes. I have two questions one is too late to to prune back trees. We didn't do it last year. It's too late to do it (00:06:29) now. No, I don't think it would be too late. They recommend that you prune trees at the end of the dormant season near the end of the dormant season and in the very early stages of the new season, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to do some pruning if it's necessary at this time. And what about Oaks David Well, you certainly shouldn't be pruning Oaks that's an exception to the rule and it wasn't stated what trees are involved but Oak should not be wounded in any way during the month. Of May and June because we know that's when infection can go over land rather than through common root systems. So you'd trim trim your Oaks Inn in July or would you wait till next year to do them in the winter? Well, it would be better I think to wait until the dormant season say in March or even in early April of next year, but if there's branches that need to come off because they're doing damage to another tree or there in the way of pedestrians then you could take them off in the summer time. Yes. Okay. Now another question from you (00:07:34) sir. We have a sick apple tree. What should we do with it to it for it? (00:07:38) How is it sick (00:07:40) actually have to one that's really dead because it had like five leaves out last year, but we have another one where there were some branches where there were no leaves on it. There was some flowering last year and a few apples but not much we moved into the house about this time last year. So we don't know a lot about the history (00:07:57) of the tree. I think I'd cut the trees down. Make excellent firewood (00:08:02) Big pick out. Even the one that's that's only sort of second. (00:08:05) Well, sir, if there's just a few leaves the tree probably is not going to make it now. If you want to you can give the tree a chance to prove itself and wait and see actually what it's going to do for another few weeks. And then if it's not doing very well, I think I'd give up on it. All right, let's move on to our next question. Go ahead. Where you calling from. (00:08:27) I'm calling from Duluth last year. We had an infestation of army caterpillars and I believe that they leave their eggs in the bark of the trees. And I guess this year we were probably going to get more. Is there anything we can do about it now? (00:08:44) Dr. French? Well, I'm not an entomologist and I usually avoid answering questions in that category. I think that we're more conscious of that rule within the Diversity that maybe people outside I think I would suggest you call the Department of Entomology and and ask them that question. I'm not really certain right offhand. What I would say to (00:09:13) that or David they could call the dial you (00:09:16) or they could called you. Yes, of course. I'm not sure they can get to them from Duluth. He might have to call their County Extension agent up there. But whatever the county agent is another good way to get answers to those questions. All right next to your question from where please (00:09:30) from New Orleans. Yes, sir. My question concerns black walnut trees. Is it a old wives tale that nothing will grow under black walnut trees. I'm couple of my backyard and I was wondering if there was anything that to get to grow under them. (00:09:48) It isn't a tail or it's a fact that they are able to kill a lot of different species that you attempt to have growing underneath them. I tried a lot of things underneath my black walnut tree and finally had success with you. They do beautifully underneath but it's surprising a number of different species that the Walnut was able to knock out and I don't know the full list of species that are tolerant of black walnut, but you can try different things. What why do you suppose the tree wants to kill off the other species I'd say competitive advantage that the walnut tree has it's going to have less competition for the groin site if it can kill other vegetation that's competing with it for nutrients and water and so on. (00:10:38) This is something Bob that most people don't understand and that is that trees try to well that's that's where anthropomorphizing we shouldn't say. They try to do this, but they've evolved mechanisms. To try and keep down competing vegetation. For example, I hear a lot of people say they're upset that they can't grow grass under their maple trees. That's because the maples have dense shade and a lot of surface roots and maples have evolved in a way that they don't like grass growing under them and a lot of trees are that way the walnuts actually exude some sort of a poison. Don't they (00:11:07) - oh, yes, the toxin comes from the foliage and that's the way it functions knock out that other vegetation. Dr. David French is with us. He is a professor of Plant Pathology and Forestry Resources at the University of Minnesota and Don willick. He chairs the Minnesota state shade tree advisory committee. This is Arbor month and we'll take another tree question from you now, go (00:11:29) ahead. Oh, I just as I was turning my radio down I heard the guy before me asking about black walnuts to I have a small black walnut in my backyard and was curious what will grow under it. (00:11:41) Well, as I mentioned earlier the I tried a lot of things underneath my black walnut and the you are doing fine, but I tried quite a few other species ahead of time. I think in the literature we could find some species that are tolerant of black walnut, but I don't carry that information in my head. So I apologize for not being able to answer the more specifically okay on to this next question now from you go ahead (00:12:09) please I'm wondering if the highway construction people in the home builders are enlightened ahead of time what the you know what the damages could be anything would be a stiff fine form if maybe they would show the trees a little bit of (00:12:22) respect. Well as far as a highway department is concerned we're fortunate in Minnesota and having a person in charge of the program Paulo botany who has had his education in this area and and he just came over and talked to our urban forestry class and explain two things. Are trying to do and there's been a major change in the way the highway department deals with these matters and at the present time they're very concerned about the trees and the vegetation along the highways and they're trying to get things done. Just the way they should be for the maximum benefit to the improving the looks of the place and and having the least damage to the (00:13:05) vegetation. I'll second that Paul was a member of the state shade tree advisory committee Bob and he does an excellent amount of work. He a number of his colleagues in the highway department to preserve vegetation, wherever they can move it whenever possible now, it's the builders. It's really sad because a lot of them try to build in wooded areas and they advertise it if someone once said that a lot of these new subdivisions are named for the trees that used to grow there and there there is there are some efforts to educate these people but a lot of them don't want to make the added cost don't want to hire a Forester to consult with them on where they Rotary what trees they can save and what trees have to come down. There's a new organization started by some students at the University called lasting Woodlands. It's a nonprofit corporation. That's it's attempting to educate developers and Builders and others on ways. They can preserve a large number of trees. Now in terms of finds a number of the Suburban communities are doing some very very I think Innovative things they aren't really finds but they're in passing regulations and requiring developers to post bonds. I know the city of Plymouth is working on this sort of thing city of Eden Prairie has had made some efforts in this direction a number of other suburbs that are concerned about their woodlands and while they want to encourage development don't want to lose those Wetlands. These communities are taking some Innovative steps to preserve them. (00:14:26) And also there are companies that are in this business of Land Development that are very much concerned about this and they've learned that they can get some expert help and they are searching for that help using that help and the situation is Change quite a bit in recent years. It's an education program that we have to push and work with these people and I think we can reduce the construction damage. But it's a it is a major problem. There's no question about (00:14:54) the basic thing. You've got to remember Bob and we should maybe we shouldn't harp on this so much but it's a major killer of trees even worse than Dutch elm disease and Oak Wilt is that you can't grade earth over the roots of trees. If you cover the roots of trees and the roots go at least as far as the outer extremities of the leaves the drip line and usually a lot further most trees will die sooner or later or they'll be severely injured and especially Oaks and Maples the real high value trees. (00:15:22) So is it they die from Suffocation (00:15:25) or mmm then, you know, it's surprising a lot of people don't know this even until a few years ago. I didn't understand why this happened and then I had dr. French and some of the other scientists who keep educating me explain it to me if they die from lack of oxygen to the roots. Isn't that the main reason (00:15:39) David? Yes. I need the right amount of oxygen and they grow at the right position in the soil to obtain what they need and (00:15:47) we all learn in school. The tree's leaves need carbon dioxide but their Roots must have oxygen and that's why most of the roots are right up there in the surface. (00:15:55) Lots of people with questions about trees today as we continue with Don willick and David French and you're on the air from where please (00:16:00) Murdock Minnesota. Hello. I received five silver Maples yesterday there about four feet high and I'm wondering what I should do with them now and how to take care of them this first year. I'll hang up and listen (00:16:11) Well, you certainly want to plant them as soon as you can as I said earlier maybe today is not the day you want to go out and do it, but I think the earlier you plant trees in the spring the The better off they'll be as long as they're not coming out of a green house where it was warm and they've leafed out in which case I guess I would wait until we have reasonably higher temperatures and I think that's going to happen very soon. But most trees are coming from nurseries are still somewhat dormant and you can just put them right in the ground and earlier you plan on the better off they'll be let's talk a little bit about the the technique for planting a small tree like that. You just dig out say one or two Spades full of Earth and Clump it in or do something more elaborate than that Bob. That's a good point because in recent times and it's amazing to me. I've been in this business a long time the changes that are occurring now and they recognize that they've got to dig a much larger hole than the ball of dirt around the tree would call for and that's because you want to have real good soil around that new tree for the roots to grow into and become established. Some people dig the minimum size hole and The tree in there and then the tree has a hard time producing The Roots into the adjacent soil to establish itself and they're talking about a much larger hole out to the side and each each direction to provide real good soil for that tree. And that's a very important part of planning a tree and then we want what diameters will what diameter hole would you wanted prepare? Well as a guideline probably a few diameters larger than the ball itself would be advisable. Okay. So then you you dig this hole it's and how deep would you want to make the whole you want the whole as as deep as the ball to accommodate the the tree at the right level the same level it was growing at before you work was growing before. All right. Now if these are bare root trees (00:18:11) you one of the things you want to do is carefully spread out the routes including the little roots and you don't want to twist them. I've seen people where the hole is too small they give the tree a Twist and then the roots wrap around and round and eventually When the tree gets bigger, you'll get girdling Roots. So taking care of the roots of the tree is the most important thing you can do when planning and I tell people you're better off putting a Ten Dollar Tree in $100 whole than a hundred Dollar Tree in a ten dollar hole. That's the one time you can affect the underground part of the tree. All (00:18:37) right, so just to get back to this this business of how to plant the tree you've dug your diet your whole it's three or four times the diameter of the ball and you've dug it to the depth of the ball at least you stick it in there then what do you do? Well, you put the good soil back in there and if the tree is being planted in a site that has poor soil. It might be advisable to put soil from some other location in there. That's more suitable for the tree and then you want to be sure you pack the soil down not with a big heavy piece of equipment, but just be sure that it's firmly packed in and then watering the tree is primarily to get rid of the air pockets and settle at soil. So the roots are in direct. Contact with the soil (00:19:23) that don't plant the tree too deep you can kill a tree by planning it to (00:19:26) deep should be the same depth as it was in the nursery or wherever it was growing previously. (00:19:32) Now one more thing. This is a long question for this lady, but with silver Maples I happen to like a lot of people don't but make sure that they you develop a central leader a central spire on that tree because when silver Maples develop a v as they get older half will split away in a windstorm or rainstorm or can split away. (00:19:50) All right on to some more questions from folks who called us with tree concerns and your from where (00:19:55) please what on a Minnesota? Yes your go ahead and I was just calling back with some information. There was lady called in about ten caterpillar problem. I believe she was from Duluth, right and we had the problem down here the tent caterpillars in a Walnut Grove that we planted young walnut trees and we did some looking into it and found out the praying mantis. Will clean up the tent caterpillars very quickly. And what we did is bought the praying mantis egg casks and the young man can mantis hatch out after a couple of weeks and they just cleaned up those tent caterpillars and they're (00:20:35) gone. All right. Well, thank you for your question or your call and maybe she'll want to confirm that with one of the entomologist experts either (00:20:44) in her area or in (00:20:45) somewhere else move on to your question now, go ahead, (00:20:48) please. Hi. Good morning. I'm trying to look at a source for a northern White Cedar as distinct from the culture Arbor Vitae now short of going to Touring sedan and digging one out of a Cedar Swamp. Where can I find one? (00:21:03) Well nurseries have Northern White Cedar, 's there are varieties and in fact, we recommend the techne variety of Northern White Cedar simply because it has demonstrated that it's much more suited to the conditions in Minnesota and will not have all this brown foliage in the spring and it's amazing how much better that variety is and so there are advantages in the nursery selections that they're selling and in many cases they're better than what you would dig up north someplace. But obviously in some nurseries are selling the the not the techne but the regular Northern White (00:21:46) Cedar, it's t EC H NY and it's some kind of sometimes called Techni Arbor Vitae and most nurseries have them. (00:21:53) Okay? All right. Let's take your question now. Hello there. You're on the air. (00:21:56) All right last spring I transplanted a very small birch tree and the spring it hasn't sprouted it. But there are a lot of small water shoot their Sprouts coming from the base. Are those broads going to make it at (00:22:10) all. Yes is a good possibility. They will that's a common way for these trees to regenerate themselves. My birch trees aren't very far along yet the spring here in st. Paul and but I think maybe you should wait and see what is going to happen before you do anything drastic. It may be that the tree is a little slow and producing the Foliage for this year (00:22:36) or the top may have died and the new Sprouts coming out our well the Treece effort to regenerate itself. And then you should pick about after a while pick about the three best ones. If you want to Clump or the one the single best one if you want a single tree and and cut the others (00:22:51) off a lot of people as the spring where's honor going to be spraying for dandelions and other kinds of weeds in the lawn, they're going to be putting down fertilizer. They're going to be doing other things for Lon. Are there some tree considerations that should be thought of as they do this kind of work as well. Absolutely. I think that a lot of damage that I've seen as a result of misuse of herbicides even nurseries are having problems. Occasionally, they're controlling the weeds and their nurseries and using some of these chemicals and maybe not using them quite the way they should and they're getting dieback. I know it's not unusual to have ash trees affected by certain herbicides and nurseries and last year and the year before the right down here in the Capitol grounds. They had a lot of tree problems that I think we were all traced back to a misuse of herbicides. I think that people are too anxious to use these things to save themselves a little bit of work and I've even had instances where there's been damage for quite some distance away from supposedly where the herbicide was applied this Things will be carried by the wind and they can cause damage at some distance from the point of (00:24:09) application Baba people should remember when they're killing the broadleaf weeds and their yard at the biggest broadleaf weed or the biggest broad leaf plant in their yard is their shade tree and its roots are literally right there in the grass The Roots come right to the surface and last summer. I saw a lot of this where people would drench yards with herbicides and fertilizers that were very dry and the trees star for moisture would just suck this up and then you'd see a day or two later the crown dying back or you'd see the crown dying back of the tree and you'd see the dandelions all wilting under it and you knew what happened they'd spray for dandelions in the tree had sucked that stuff in and it'll kill a maple as easy as it'll kill a (00:24:47) dandelion. So are you saying don't spray it all for dandelions or just pure absolutely (00:24:51) not I well I shouldn't say a lot of people are against sprays. I'm not against them properly used but one of the things that I found for the is for dandelions is this spray that comes and kind of a Home so you can come out there and just give a dandelion a shot right in the heart of the Dan line without getting any spray on the soil and the dandelions die fast. It's a little more expensive but it's a lot less damaging to the trees. (00:25:15) All right, let's move on to more questions here. Don willick is with us chairman of the state's shade tree advisory committee. And dr. David French professor of Plant Pathology and Forest resources at the University of Minnesota. I'll mention the telephone number again. Although the lines are pretty jammed. The Twin Cities number is 2276 thousand and outside Minneapolis. St. Paul that line is open. That's one eight hundred six, five two 970018 hundred six, five two nine seven 004 those outside the Twin Cities area. If you get a busy signal the first time you call try again and couple three minutes. Maybe you'll get on thanks for waiting. You're on the you're next. (00:25:49) Thank you. I have two quick questions one you started to bitching before. I have a silver maple in my front yard the I cannot grow grass under it. I am very small. All right, when I spoke to somebody about it, they said well, you have only one choice take the tree out and it's a gorgeous beautiful tree that it's been there for 45 (00:26:13) years. Well, I've got a much better suggestion. I have a big Elm Tree in my front yard and there's an area where I can't grow grass. I grow hostas hostas are beautiful plants. They're very Hardy their root systems are not very invasive. You can dig a small hole and put a hosta in and then mulch in between it and you have under a maple is a great place for a hosta collection and the next thing you should consider doing if you don't want to do that is put wood chips under your tree. You're right silver Maples are tough to grow grass under the third thing you can do is have the tree pruned up and that sometimes will let enough light in there to allow grass to grow but I think those trees are so beautiful and many times their texture is so handsome that there were sacrificing (00:26:56) grass for Next please to your question. Go ahead (00:27:00) please. Yes. I have a question about redwood. I'm quite concerned. I was in the market for some red wood Lumber but someone recently told me that those trees are being cut down and not replaced because they're such slow slow Growers and I'm wondering if I can get some authoritative word (00:27:16) on this the save the Redwoods league in California was the organization that sponsored the original preservation of the Redwoods. I spent some time out there last spring the redwoods do regenerate from The Roots. But the real crime is that there are a lot of they're cutting down a lot of old growth trees trees that were growing when Christ walked on the earth and some cases even when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and they're cutting those trees down and making patio Lumber about of them. Now the when the Redwoods are cut down new ones Sprout up from the roots and they grow rather rapidly. I've seen redwood trees that are 50 years old that are four feet in diameter. So they do grow back very rapidly. But the real crime is that the remaining two or three percent of the original redwoods, which were old growth are being rapidly. By the lumber company out there which was taken over in a hot and a hostile takeover a few years ago. And now the guy that bought the company is cutting these old growth trees rapidly. There was an article in the paper about it to help pay for his takeover costs (00:28:11) 20 minutes now before 12 o'clock and we'll move on to your question. Thank you. Go ahead. (00:28:16) I'm calling from Rochester. I hear the prices of the game code tree and I'm having all kinds of problems locating again Co of any size (00:28:28) French they should be available and nurseries. I didn't realize there was a problem in locating those things. I think most of the large nurseries have this tree for sale now and I did have a period a few years ago where I was not necessarily a complimentary of that species, but it does grow slow initially, but it I've decided it's a much better tree than I had given a credit for originally. They will grow at a fairly large size and if they're able to tolerate our weather and I think they're going to show that they can it's a good tree and some people I know actually in st. Paul objected quite violently to having this as their shade tree and their street but that was because they had two and three-story houses and I thought they should have a larger tree but this tree has a potential to get quite large and I guess as far as availability all I can suggest Just has to look a little bit further because I'm sure that they're (00:29:30) available and you're better off planting a younger a smaller tree. They tend to adapt to the soil conditions better. They come with more roots and she said she was having trouble locating again go of any size and by which I assume she met a good-sized tree if she can find a small tree lots of times they will take off and grow faster. I've seen actual side-by-side comparisons not with King calls, but with other trees where they planted large trees and small ones and after a few years of small ones that caught up with a big ones because the big ones it's much more traumatic to the tree to move them. Okay. (00:30:04) Next question from you. Please calling from where (00:30:06) for me. Yes, sir. Well, I have two quick questions. One of them is sapsucker damage. I have a lot of sap sucker damage on Apple and maple trees and I don't short of trying to blast the sap suckers. I don't I don't can't figure out a way to stop them from damaging the trees. My second question is we have several a large chain stores up here who self that So large shade trees that aren't suited for the area are good examples tulip trees and the uninformed public will buy these and stick them in the ground up here in the end. I really don't think a lot of that stuff is going to grow and I'm just wondering if there's any kind of controller or program that stop that sort of (00:30:44) thing. I don't know offhand of any effective program to stop people from doing that. I know that anytime we hear about somebody trying to sell a tree that we know will not do well in Minnesota. We try to publicize that fact not condemning the individual because that's not our role but we do our best to get that kind of information out to the public and unfortunately, sometimes we don't get to as many people as we should fire to sapsucker business is concerned. I had a problem with with a bird as well and it was working on my downspout at four o'clock in the morning and I took the one way out. I shot it but That's kind of a mean thing to do and the only thing that you can use our metal Shields around the trees where they're pounding away at the Campbell area the oftentimes there's insects in those trees that are attracting the sapsuckers so that maybe there's another problem associated with a to it. Usually they'll they'll work on a site and then then go away and leave it alone. They will work on poles transmission line pulls it so that they have to put metal around them to protect them (00:32:01) on the Tulip Tree Bob. I happen to like them. I've had a couple of them brought from northern seed sources into the Twin Cities and they grow slowly unlike the way they do in the East where they grow very rapidly but I think much north of the Twin Cities. There's no hope for a tulip tree. Would you agree David? (00:32:15) Well International Falls is as long ways North it's so it's a very different climate and you can't expect a lot of these trees to survive up there. You know. It's about Minister before 12 o'clock. I will get back to lots of listener questions but a quick update if we could from either one of you about the status of Dutch elm disease in Minnesota. Well Dutch elm disease is done its damage in a state as far as I'm concerned. I've even suggested to some communities that the number of beetles the populations of eels have dropped down to the point where I think we can even think about re-planning Elms in some locations where they have a decent sanitation program. I've suggested that for the University campus Unfortunately, they planted some resistant Elms and I'm not suggesting those I'm suggesting our native Elms either the American elm or the slippery elm and I think there's places where these trees can be planted again and and they'll do reasonably well because we've done an excellent job of greatly reducing the beetle populations (00:33:20) Minneapolis has a hundred about a hundred thousand big Elm trees and they've got a very extensive sanitation program so that when a tree is disease they take it down and The Elmer's a real tough City tree it can stand are tough City conditions. (00:33:31) It's the best. All right, that's that's good news on that y'all how about Oak Wilt? This is what the status of it is. Yeah, it's carrying on as it has in recent years. It's causing thousands of trees to die every year and we're very deeply involved in a program of developing control measures and we think we're on the track of another thing that we can do to save these trees. I think it's just a matter of time when we will have the control measures strategies to contain that fungus. It's going to take some money. It's going to take some time and it's going to take a lot of effort but we can do it. Okay on two more questions about trees from folks who are calling. Go ahead. You're on the (00:34:14) air. Good morning. I have a Black Hill Spruce that somebody mailed to us in the mail for Arbor Day Tarver month and it's like about 2 inches tall. I was wondering when I before I put it out do I have to harden it or protected from sunburn or anything or will it freeze if I put it out at this side time? (00:34:33) I don't think so. Most of these trees that there. I have a couple of myself that I planted I planted them a couple of weeks ago and I think that they as long as they didn't come from a nice warm greenhouse and been growing inside for a while. They should be all right, and I don't think they're dispersing those kinds of trees. I think these came out of a nursery somewhere and especially if they came from a nursery in this part of the country. They should be perfectly okay to plant (00:34:58) now plant your Spruce in a sunny location though. They like son don't plant it under the shade of a (00:35:02) big tree. Next question from you. Go ahead, please. (00:35:07) Good morning. I'm from calling from Moorhead and quite a number of choke cherry trees or tree like trees have been planted here. And I wonder what might be done about or to control growth from The Roots well away from the main trunk of the (00:35:21) tree. Dr. French well one way to do it would be to is still the side or poison the tree and get rid of the tree. If it's these are shoots coming up from the root system that extends out away from the tree. I don't know what else you can do unless it's in a situation where you're mowing your lawn and can keep the Sprouts down as they come up. We have quite a few trees that have Roots up near the very near the surface so they become a problem for mowing the grass and it's not the best situation for a lawn to have these roots up there. We have to walk on them. And this is one reason in spite of would Don said here about the silver maple. They sometimes get quite large in the roots are up there near the surface and there comes a time. Maybe when if you want the lawn and you want it to look nice you might have to take the silver maple out. It may be true of cherry trees. I'm not aware. I have not seen much of what you talk about as far as a (00:36:19) problem. I've seen it and you've got to be real careful if you use Herbicide on those Sprouts you can kill the tree a prominent nurseryman told me of spraying some Sprouts about a long way from a tree like 30 feet away and suddenly the whole tree died. So the herbicide will be carried back sometimes into the main part of the tree. So maybe the only way it's just dig them out and cut those roots. Well where there's a major quantity of sprouts. I have that problem with a crabapple tree on my office property. (00:36:51) All right. Another tree question here will turn to you next calling from where please (00:36:55) Virginia Minnesota. Yes, ma'am. Yes. I have a question on a Colorado Blue Spruce. I have about a 40 foot tall Spruce in my yard that lost about the top. Third of it last summer in a windstorm. Will it come back? I mean it's still living now, but will it come back or what can I do to help it (00:37:14) survive what percentage of the of the tree was taken out (00:37:18) about the top third of (00:37:20) that tree probably has some A healthy branches below the point where it was broken and these branches have the ability of turning up. Unfortunately, you'll have several branches that want to be the leader and turn up and you'll have to put pick out the strongest of those and and not take out the others totally but just take the tips off of the other so that the branch you've selected will be the dominating new branch and it'll be the new leader for that tree. And I've seen these trees come back and recover rather substantially from that kind of injury. (00:37:58) Sure. I've seen it all over town where that happens (00:38:00) 10 minutes before twelve o'clock as we continue with, dr. David French professor of Plant Pathology and Forest resources at the University of Minnesota and Don willick who chairs the Minnesota state shade tree advisory committee. This is Arbor month. Is it nationwide Arbor month or just in Minnesota? (00:38:15) Well Arbor Day is pretty much Nationwide, but it's different days and different states. They're trying to make it the last In April in as many states as possible. And then that's by Statute in Minnesota that Arbor Day is the last Friday in April 4th Friday last Friday April now, I've got myself confused. But Arbor month is in this state a proclamation is created by proclamation of the governor to encourage people to plant trees. I see. Alright (00:38:41) next question from you, please. Hello (00:38:43) there. Hi, my son's entire class planted little white pine seedlings. I think the teacher brought them in and they're about a foot tall and they're in a coffee can't we have one here? And I wanted to know if we should plant it this year and if so right away or if there's anything I should know before we do anything to This Little Seedling. (00:39:03) Well, I get it out of the can as quick as you can and get it in the ground where it has a chance to develop properly. That's a not a favorable environment. And again, it depends a little bit. I think I'd wait till not do it today necessarily when it's kind of cold and windy and miserable but Next few days and maybe even tomorrow you should get it out in the ground some place the White Pine and my opinion is one of the best of all of our Evergreens and unfortunately because of white pine blister rust people say, oh gosh, I'm not going to plant that tree, but believe me you can deal with white pine blister rust. So it is not a factor. It's a very simple process and white pine will serve you very very (00:39:51) well. Let me let me add one thing Bob for this lady. The best thing you can do for a young tree is put mulch around it. Dr. French taught me this and I've since seen studies done by people in the international Society of arboriculture and elsewhere you want to put some wood chips around the tree or something like that to suppress the grass to keep the soil cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. And what most does is it basically it approximates what a tree will have out in the woods a lot of litter loose leaf and bark material around the base of the tree and especially young trees need. Grass kept down because grass is an immense competitor with (00:40:25) trees. Alright next question from you. Go ahead. You're on the air. (00:40:29) Hello. I'd like to ask dr. French. A full for some of the decline of the Green Ash in the metropolitan area. I'll hang up and (00:40:39) listen. I don't think so. But it's a very good question where we do have as yellows in the state of Minnesota now, it's in Southeastern Minnesota and had jumped about a hundred and thirty-five miles to that location and less subsequently we find some infection in between but we haven't we don't know what the potential of this organism is, but it has essentially Annihilator the ash trees in northeastern Iowa has caused serious losses all across the Central States and my recommendation is that we should reduce the amount of Ash that were planning. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not saying that suddenly all the ash you're going to die from this disease. We do not know whether the vectors are going to be able to function this far north because we are getting somewhat beyond the range of the vectors that are involved. I'm just simply saying let's have a little Or at least fewer ash trees planted and we have had in the past as after Dutch elm disease hit Minnesota 35% of all the new trees planted were Ash and I think that's a little bit on the high side. I suppose just like with personal finance diversification is a good idea. Yes, I think so. Alright next question for you. Go ahead, (00:41:56) please. Yes. I have a new home that's been built very close to oak trees and I have to bring in Phil to go up against the house. And it looks like you'll have to cover those oak trees by a couple of feet. And though you said that should not be done. If it had to be done. Is there any steps that could be taken to save the (00:42:18) trees? Well, if you're going to do that, what I recommend you do is go out there and and put your arms around the big oak trees and kiss them. Goodbye, but that's kind of a smart answer but there yes, there are things that can be done, but they have to be done right the He has published a pamphlet and and I think the university has it an extension people have it. If you have to fill around trees like that. What you have to do is put down a layer of porous Rock and pipes to bring are in and then less porous Rock and then finally sand and then you can put Phil on top of that. But when if you don't Supply Air to those roots which are now right at the surface of the soil around those trees they will die in a couple of years there are ways to do it but they're not easy and you might want to consider whether you do need to fill or whether you actually really need those trees because the two are absent some rather substantial efforts mutually incompatible and I recommend that you seek a a competent Urban Forester or someone trained in that field to advise you on how to put in the right kind of fill with the poorest are channels into their if you're going to do something like (00:43:29) that. I think it's a very important if you can to get somebody With some experience to look at the situation. I find it almost impossible to have a general situation like that presented to me without seeing it and then come up and make recommendations. We have a lot to learn about the root systems of these trees. We have a lot to learn about what they will tolerate and we've had some situations where the tree was doomed for sure and yet the trees have survived its (00:44:05) that's usually not the case right (00:44:06) David that's usually not the case. But we you have to look at the entire area where those roots are located and we you can lose the roots on one side to a rather substantial degree and the tree Will Survive and it I would need to look at your situation to tell you exactly what the odds are and then it would be just an educated guess on my part. We have about three or four minutes left. See how many of you can we can get. You're here in the (00:44:35) last part of the show. Go ahead, please you're next (00:44:38) going from Roseville. I'm trying to make some decisions about my Landscaping that would provide some food source for the birds in the winter and have heard that hackberry trees. Very good for that. Are they good as landscape tree? And if they aren't you have any other (00:44:52) suggestions, let me answer that one David. I got some great big hackberries in front of my home in Minneapolis and their beautiful trees a hackberries a first cousin of an elm tree. They're a little tough to transplant, but when they get located they grow into beautiful beautiful trees. Now, there are some problems with them. There's the famous Hackberry solids and there's a couple days in the fall when I have a bunch of little tiny bugs on my front door, but and sometimes the foliage gets a little disfigured but they are a very handsome tall very sturdy tree with very interesting bark now David you can tell what's bad about Hackberry. (00:45:28) Well, some people have objected to them after having experienced the cyllage city and Problem and some people don't like them because they have foliage in the fall that's off-color and got bumps on it because of another insect problem. And and on the other hand, it's a very sturdy good tree that doesn't have any real serious problems problems that might lead to mortality of any kind and I think that the tree needs to be used and I've seen it on streets and those streets are quite attractive, but I will point out that some people just plain for personal reasons don't like to Hackberry in those are the people that probably shouldn't plan them. All right, make sense. One more question from you. Go ahead, (00:46:16) please. Yes. I'm calling from Burnsville and I have a question about the site where I plan to plant a river birch treat. No, it's not wet in any sense and it has Sun all day long in my foolish to think that it's going to live (00:46:28) there. The River Birch doesn't have to that. I don't think the name means that it has to grow and Nation with the river necessarily and I have planted River Birch in my yard and and I just put some trees are temporarily and I did so well now I have them as a permanent resident they do very well. They have some advantages over the paper birch and they are beautiful trees and I think we're going to see more of them used in the future. Do they tend to be rather long life or not? There is long-lived as any of the other Birch the Yellow Birch of probably the longest live and get to be the largest of the of that genus but they last a long time and when we talk about the life of trees, they can live for hundreds of years. That's better than we can do. Oh absolutely gentlemen, thank you very much. The are is gone by so quickly and we left a lot of people with questions, but that means you'll just have to come back again next year and do it again. (00:47:24) Well, thanks Bob. We enjoyed being here. Yeah, we'd like to (00:47:26) do that. Don willick e is Chairman of the Minnesota state shade tree advisory committee and also (00:47:31) director of the American Forestry Association. And dr. (00:47:34) David franchise. Vassar of pent Plant Pathology and Forest resources at the University of Minnesota. Midday is made possible by Ecolab Incorporated, and it's Chemlawn subsidiary, by the way a reminder that next week at this time extension horticulturist Debbie Brown from the University will be here to answer questions about gardening and Lawn Care. This is Bob Potter speaking.