Q: What is Root Invigoration™?

Q: What is Root Invigoration™?

A: Root Invigoration™ (Root Rx™, soil reconditioning) is a procedure for dramatically improving the soil structure and organic content in the root zone of a tree or woody plant, and consequently stimulating fibrous feeder root growth. This strikes at the heart of the principle of "going organic from the ground up"(Hendrickson).

The procedure is described in US Patent #6845587 as

“A method for improving the rooting soil around a plant by defining an improvement area around the trunk of the plant and utilizing an air excavator to loosen the existing rooting soil in the improvement area, the method also includes treating the existing soil with a treatment to encourage growth of the plant roots in the existing treated soil.”

Root Invigoration was born, like many great inventions, out of frustration. We arborists are always looking at distressed and declining trees that are clearly suffering from poor soil nutrition and severely compacted soil. But how do we alleviate the compaction and increase soil organic content without tearing up the roots?

We can re-pot our house plants, but we can’t re-pot a tree, can we? When we go to plant a vegetable garden, we prep the bed (more on this in another post) by tilling the soil and incorporating compost into the parent soil. But if we till the root zone of a tree, then we’ll do more harm than good by tearing up the vast network of surface roots. We could top-dress, but that surface-applied organic matter really only serves to benefit the turf grass and not the tree. We could apply mulch, but how long is it before that decomposing organic matter becomes incorporated into the compacted soil below to any meaningful degree?

Enter the air excavator. Supersonic air tools like the Air Spade® and the Air Knife® have been around for years. Originally developed in the utility industry as a means of reducing the risk of damage to underground pipes (Nathenson & Jarabak, TCI Magazine, May 2001), air excavators are used in arboriculture for the purpose of excavating buried root collars and exposing roots for surgical work.

So, here we have this problem of poor cultural conditions, and we have this air excavator that we’re using for an entirely different purpose. This is when innovators like E. Thomas Smiley, PhD, of the R. A. Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Patrick Brewer, BCMA, of Austin, Texas, began to put the air excavator to use to a new purpose. And all the arboricultural world collectively said, “now why didn’t I think of that?”

The results have been astounding. Horticulturists have known for years that improving plant vigor is sometimes a simple matter of improving the cultural conditions. But when we effect a turnaround on a large shade tree, the effects can be quite dramatic.

We haven’t always been able to turn around a tree, however. Sometimes the tree is already too far gone to respond to treatment, and we are compiling field data on species that simply don’t respond under any circumstances. The procedure needs to be done correctly, too. Several years ago I killed a high-dollar Japanese maple by failing to water in the treatment area thoroughly upon completion. But for the most part I don’t recommend the treatment unless I have a pretty good indication that the tree or trees will respond.

The procedure is also a great bed prep, which simply means that we come in and air-till and incorporate organic matter to an entire planting site prior to the installation of the landscape.

I don’t only do this to distressed trees. In fact, as a tree preservationist I would much rather place a healthy tree under my care than one whose problems have already begun to pile up. The procedure is also great for post-transplant establishment and construction damage prevention and mitigation. One of my favorite situations is deck installation. When a deck is built around a tree it is a safe assumption that there will be no access to the root zone for years. What I do is to recondition the soil using the RI technique just prior to the deck being erected. This sets up the tree with plenty of organic matter to sustain its roots for years to come. There is an added benefit to the procedure: the technician performing the procedure can mark places where the posts can be sunk without damaging the roots.

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Q: Why do I need a soil analysis?

Q: Why do I need a soil analysis?

A: Actually I don't get that question as often as one might think. To most people it makes perfect sense to have a soil analysis done on a property. A soil analysis answers many questions like: how long has the turf grass been robbing the soil of nutrients? Just how deficient in organic matter is the soil? Are these trees trying to develop roots in construction fill?

It's not that we have no idea what the trees need. Actually we can do a great job fertilizing with Texas Boost®. We have been providing excellent soil nutrition without a soil analysis for years. But after all, we are Bartlett, and we do like to take a scientific approach to things. It’s simply the most responsible thing to do: base your formulation on the results from that property.

Furthermore, prescription fertilization (based on soil analysis) is legislation or pending legislation in several states, and it may one day be the law where we live.

Then there’s Liebig’s Law of the Minimum. That agricultural principle states that as long as one nutrient is deficient, then the application of any of the others will do no good. There are plenty of us who may argue that principle until the sun goes down, but it illustrates the efficacy of finding out nutrient levels. The soil analysis helps strike that balance.

I don’t always get a soil analysis. Sometimes I see a tree putting forth an immense effort to push out a flush of foliage following a severe stress event, and I feel the timing is critical to give it a little nudge. In that case I don’t want to wait for lab results.

Here’s an example. A neighbor’s water softener burst and concentrated salt water ran down the driveway to the neighbor’s yard—or so the story goes. Within two days there were massive scorch symptoms on multiple species: pittosporum, turf grass, Asiatic jasmine and one beautiful Texas red oak. A week after the event I was called out, and by this time the red oak had some tiny emerging foliage on it. In that case I fertilized immediately and did not wait for lab results on the soil analysis. (I don’t mean to be disingenuous and credit the fertilizer, by the way. Fertilization was one small part of what we did to try to help stabilize the tree. The tree looks great right now, and bounced back very quickly, more quickly than I think it would have without the TLC we gave it. It could be that we increased its watering regime to try to flush out the salt, it could be that we fertilized, or it could be that it was going to be fine anyway.)
     Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Q: Why is there no mention of ball moss in your pruning specs?

A: You may wonder why ball moss removal is not mentioned in my pruning specifications. The short answer is this: in practical terms, it is impossible to remove all the ball moss without unintentionally removing some live foliage. And nothing is more important than keeping the live foliage intact. I don't mean clipping a little twig here and a little tuft there. I mean large percentages of the tree's leaf population, 30%, 50% even 70% are removed from the tree during a "demossing" operation. Here's what I suggest: don't look up, look down. At the end of the day, when the "highly experienced" tree trimmers have finished "demossing" your trees, take a look at the carpet of dense foliage on the ground. Now look up and ask yourself, is the tree really better off with all that foliage removed?
Let's just say that we've established that ball moss does not hurt the trees. But we do get tired of looking at it. I agree: a big live oak, heavily laden with ball moss, looks awful. Well, allow me to direct your attention, not to the ball moss, but to the foliage. As we look at the tree we begin to see that the canopy is thin and sparse. It has an inordinate amount of dead wood. Then we begin to realize that the real reason the tree looks terrible is not because of the ball moss, but because the tree has a severely compromised leaf population. Let me repeat that. The real reason the tree looks poorly is not because of the ball moss, but because of the poor leaf population!
In fact, I have never seen a live oak that was at 80%, 90% or even 100% of its maximum leaf population potential, and said, boy, that tree sure has a lot of ball moss. In fact, it seems that the healthiest trees we see in our neighborhoods have thicker, denser, darker foliage, less dead wood, and we almost never even notice the moderate amounts of ball moss in them.
I often think that if we needed a hand lens or macroscope to see the ball moss, then we wouldn't be as inclined to blame it for our tree problems. But we can see it a block away, and therefore we blame our tree problems on it. What about oak mites? Eriophyid mites? Leaf diseases? Poor soil organic content? Fact is, there are a host of reasons your tree looks poorly, and ball moss isn't even on the list!
My job is to help you be a better steward to your trees and to your landscapes. Part of that job means making sure you don't waste your limited tree and landscape maintenance dollars on unnecessary work. So, rather than waste your money paying my highly-skilled tree climbers to pick out ball moss, let's prune the trees right, and move on to some commonsense plant health care measures that may actually serve to help improve the leaf population.
Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Before Pictures

These Texas live oaks were approximately 90% defoliated when this picture was taken in January of 2007. January is a time of year when we assume that our live oaks are supposed to look horrible. In my next post, you will see how a live oak will respond to a little TLC. This is outside of Helotes. In the case of these trees (which I frankly thought were a lost cause), we see that a little organic matter goes a long way. Correction: a lot of organic matter. The principle is simple: Improve the growing medium and the simple economic principle of supply and demand will take over. Result: better leaf population, better leaf health, less premature defoliation.
Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

After Picture

This is a picture of the same trees exactly one year later (January 2008). Next time your favorite garden show host or columnist tells you your trees don't need any TLC, show them these pictures! This is an example of what Dr. Neil Hendrickson calls "going organic from the ground up." In short, create a favorable growing medium by cultivating the soil and incorporating organic matter, and cross your fingers!

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Just got back from the International Tree Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The International Tree Climbing Championship was held the same weekend in Forest Park. Next to me in this photo is 2008 World Champion Tree Climber Josephine Hedger of the United Kingdom. Ms. Hedger also broke her own world record on Saturday, July 26th in the Secured Footlock event.
While I was at the conference I attended a talk on the post-civil war reconstruction efforts in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. And I thought we put our trees under stress in South Texas! Dr. Sillett gave a great talk on the 3-year study he conducted on the characteristics of the tallest trees Sequoia sempervirens and Eucalyptus regnans. Also attended--as an invited guest, not as a committee member--the ISA Hispanic Committee meeting, presided over by Eduardo Medina. I also went to the Women In Arboriculture Luncheon.
While I was in town, I briefly got to see my parents and some of my siblings, nieces and nephews. It just so happened I was free to celebrate my niece Julianne's birthday!

There is no magic bullet

Folks, please understand that there is no magic bullet that will turn your trees around. If they have root rot, for example, no one systemic treatment will fix the problem. The tree that is struggling with root rot may have to be treated on a quarterly basis for a number of years. Even then, the moisture regime may need to be reconfigured, drainage improved, soil aerated, organic matter incorporated, soil nutrition corrected, etc. We spend a lot of money on our landscape designs and installations, but do we factor after-care into the budget?
Every day people call in wanting a quick fix or one-time treatment. I tell them they're calling the wrong guy. There are 116 other entries under "Tree Service" in the Yellow Pages. Somebody's bound to take your money.
Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Do your live oaks look this good in January?

Do your Texas live oaks look this good in January? It would be a good idea to save this photo and compare it to your trees next January. I consider January/February to be a great time for judging the health and vigor of the Texas live oak, because the foliage has been on the tree for 10-11 months. If you know what you are looking for, you can see a full history of nearly every stress factor that the tree underwent during the course of the past growing season. Premature defoliation, caused by numerous stress agents, has often caused the live oaks to look sparse and sickly, but not the trees in this photo.
All we did to these trees was to treat with naturally derived spinosad to help suppress the spring caterpillar. We did it approximately 10 months prior to this photo. Not a full-on Plant Health Care program, mind you, with organic soil reconditioning and treatments for mites, leaf disease, sucking insects, root rot, etc. Just caterpillars. And here the trees are, 10 months later, looking like it's springtime already. But no, that's senescent foliage! That's right, and all the neighbors listened to their friendly gardening columnist or radio personality, chose not to treat for caterpillars, and their live oaks look like their dormant cousins.

We all make the assumption that our live oaks are supposed to look like crud in the winter, with vast percentages of their leaf populations long fallen from the canopy. But they should actually look green and lush all the way through until leaf drop. Hence the name live oak! See, the urban/suburban environment predisposes the native tree to many agents of premature defoliation, some of which are so easy to correct that I'm appalled at the advice some folks in this town are giving. Poor soil nutrition, caterpillars, mites, sucking insects, leaf diseases, root rot, etc. all claim their share of the trees' leaf population as the growing season progresses, until by the end of the year there's hardly anything left. Why do we even bother having trees if we neglect them to the point that they have hardly any foliage left?
One San Antonio columnist says cankerworms are nature's way of pruning the trees. What!? The very notion is utterly ridiculous. The fact is that all (endemic) pests and diseases can be argued to be nature's way of weeding out the weak, but do we want population control measures running rampant on our residential properties?
I would like invite him to come ride with me to see the 8-12 properties a day that I look at, and show him what I see. These pedantic horticulture columnists and radio gardeners will spare no expense keeping their petunias in tip-top shape, and then tell their readers and listeners that their trees "take care of themselves". What, don't the majestic oaks deserve to be healthy, vigorous and beautiful, too?
Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

"Demossing": Ripoff or Responsible?

“De-Mossing”: Rip-off or Responsible Tree Care Practice?

Gene Basler

What’s the story with ball moss anyway? Look at all that dead wood—isn’t the ball moss killing my trees? What can you DO about my ball moss? Here in South Central Texas, we arborists hear such questions nearly every day. While everybody seems to have a different answer, you can be sure there’s a price quote for “de-mossing” in there somewhere. De-mossing is the practice of climbing trees and physically removing the ball moss. It has become so common that hardly anyone questions it. But when we remind ourselves that tree health is our real objective, we have to ask, is de-mossing really a responsible practice?

The practice should really be called “defoliating”, because that’s what really happens in a de-mossing operation. It doesn’t matter which “expert” you hire to do the work. The result is always the same: the trees end up with 30-60% of their foliage removed. Have you ever seen a tree or yard full of trees that have been “cleaned up”, i.e. just a little bit of foliage remaining in the upper ¼ of the crown? That’s de-mossing. The ball moss may be gone; the dead wood may even be gone, but then again so is half or more of the foliage!

This type of pruning is a net loss for the tree, for the key to a tree’s health and longevity is its leaf population. The three main principles of tree preservation are 1) leaf population, 2) leaf population, and 3) leaf population! The more leaves in a tree’s crown, the healthier the tree, and the less likely it is to be susceptible to damage from insects, diseases and—worst of all—humans. As for the ball moss, what harm is a moderate ball moss population? No sweat at all to a healthy tree.

Remember, ball moss, Tillandsia recurvata, is an epiphyte, cousin to such plants as the tropical orchid and the staghorn fern. Epiphytes derive their nutrient and moisture needs from the air; therefore they are not parasites, and they do not harm the trees.

So why all the dead wood? Ball moss prefers to grow in the shade, and that also happens to be where the majority of a tree's dead branches are found. Since the balls amass on the dead branches, they belie the myth that the ball moss caused the dead branches to die.

Now, sometimes a ball moss population does become so dense that it can inhibit the tree's foliage output. This almost always occurs on a declining tree that has other, more pressing health concerns. Spraying with sodium bicarbonate might be called for in these situations, but even then it would be part of a comprehensive plan to get the tree’s health and leaf population back to normal. (When properly applied, sodium bicarbonate desiccates the ball moss, and it dies on the tree. Over time the elements cause the dead ball moss to fall from the trees. The results can be disappointing if the customer doesn’t stick with the treatments for at least three consecutive years. Moreover, spraying without pruning merely exposes the dead wood in the tree.)

Our approach to ball moss management is quite different from commonly accepted practices, and is predicated on 2 important points. The first: Leave the foliage intact! If that means leaving a moderate ball moss population intact as well, then so be it. The second: properly maintained trees tend to self-manage their ball moss populations.

Here’s our unique Ball Moss Management Plan in a nutshell:

1. Remove all dead wood 1 inch diameter and greater. Leave live foliage intact¹! A majority of the ball moss will come out with the dead wood: the rest of the ball moss will be left alone.
2. Place the trees on a simple Plant Health Care program². Healthy trees tend to produce fewer dead branches and to have less ball moss growing in their crowns.
3. If the ball moss is still heavy, then spraying with sodium bicarbonate may be called for.

Gene Basler is an ISA Board-Certified Master Arborist with the Bartlett Tree Expert Company. For more information about the services we provide, please call Bartlett Tree Experts at 210-655-4670.

1 In some cases live foliage may be pruned for house clearance, weight/hazard reduction and species separation. Light penetration is a poor reason to prune live foliage from a native Texas shade tree. See article on Light Penetration.

2 Responsible Plant Health Care includes soil management and pest management. Nutrients are applied to the soil based on the results of a soil analysis, and damaging pests are suppressed using the safest means available. 

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.