Bad Nursery Stock with Pic

macrocarpa

macrocarpa

Branched out member
Location
Midwest
I bought several maples and oaks from the nursery "MJ Fitzgerald Nursery" out of Morganton, NC.

A couple looked to be really struggling and I planted them properly so there was no reason for such a drastic transplant shock.

One lost all of its leaves way early this year and tip dieback so I decided today to pull it up and see what was going on. It pulled out like nothing and look at how it was spaded.

Unbelievable!!!

The root ball was HUGE on this tree but look at where they cut the roots. Whats up with this???


http://www.flickr.com/photos/53981946@N04/5195710421/
 
That is ridiculous, but so are most nursery practices. I guess until we have to make a living in a competitive market at $1 profit per tree we won't understand.

I think if you want it done right you have to do it yourself. It would be more of a hobby than a business or next thing you know you'd be copying their practices.
 
Looks like the tree was very deep in the ball. Looks to me like the roots were cut by the bottom of the spade. In the future use something to probe the ball before you accept the tree (ie. an irrigation flag). If you stick your probe in about 1" from stem and aren't hitting roots (near the top of the ball) reject the tree... Rejection of poor stock is the only way to combat this problem.

I think this problem is pervasive through the entire nursery industry. It is discouraging! That poor Maple didn't have a chance!

I would take that back and see what excuse you get!!!! They should replace that!
 
It was buried a little deep, the customer had mulch piled on it so there is a moisture line there. Luckily I planted this for free (bad habit I have of giving trees away).

This just pisses me off. Why would the roots be cut 1ft inside the root ball? Those roots only extend 6 inches from the trunk and the root ball weighed 300-400 lbs and was 3 ft wide.

Anyone know of a really good nursery near Johnson City TN? Any in the Asheville, NC area or Abigndon, VA? I'll drive for quality. These were sent in on a truck so I didn't get to inspect before purchase, live and learn.

My question is, if this is common in balled and burlapped trees, is containerized worth considering? Then the unnatural/girdling roots is the issue.

I want to offer tree planting as a service but it is not very profitable. Its mostly for my own pleasure, but I can't have anymore of this crap go on.

Bore: your right, do it yourself is the only way. I have been growing about 12 trees at a time, but I dig them up at around 5ft tall and many customers want bigger trees. But, I have planted 4ft trees next to 10ft trees and the 4 footers almost catch up after several years anyway (depending on the species).

Any advise on equipment and/or techniques for digging up/spading trees? Just little ones around 6ft tall so I don't need anything too heavy duty.
 
I have not attempted this yet, but people are using air spades and bare root moving trees of larger size. I went to a presentation a couple years ago where an arborist moved 10 white pines. They were big. The pictures showed him and his teenage daughter carrying these big pines. It was really amazing! He rolled the roots up, kept them moist and only 1 tree didn't survive. He purchased the trees in a block from a nursery that said they were too big to dig. Had to do some elaborate staking, but to transplant without cutting roots!
 
This looks like a tree that was going to be potted, cut down to fit inside from a bare root field. May have done ok for a while in that setting, watered dayly and given lots of fertilizer. Looks like it made the trip to the wrong field and was harvested way to early.
 
That looks super bad but somehow i'm not surprised.

I'm very interested to hear of any other's experiences with air spading a transplant. I haven't tried it myself but in theory it should work great. My biggest problem with attempting it is that i own an air spade but not a compressor. The rental fee annoys me and makes it hard to successfully complete one off jobs (financially).

I'm not sure what the solution is to higher quality nursery stock. I think that i'm going to raise my prices on tree planting next year so that we can do it absolutely right all the time.
 
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Any advise on equipment and/or techniques for digging up/spading trees? Just little ones around 6ft tall so I don't need anything too heavy duty.

[/ QUOTE ]that size you can do with rake and garden hose to expose roots. manually pull each individual root out. the deeper ones may need to be cut depending on the soil.

i just got the air/water knife and will use it next month on transplants; will take pics.

check the ansi standards on this for root/stem ratios. show the nursery how off they were and demand a refund or else you will youtube the story. this cna work; nothing to lose.
 
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I guess until we have to make a living in a competitive market at $1 profit per tree we won't understand.

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I think they made a lot more than $1 profit, I paid between $100-$120 for those 2in caliper trees.
 
I talked to the owner of the nursery I sent them the pics and they said they are "almost 100% sure it is vole damage"

They did say they will replace the trees.

What you think about that???
 
[ QUOTE ]
They did say they will replace the trees.

What you think about that???

[/ QUOTE ]Make sure the replacement trees have been free of attack by those voracious voles.
smilie_schreck.gif
 
Seriously, can any of us even imagine this really being vole damage? Is it even possible?

Voles must carry around a pencil and speed square.

Can anyone find anything on the web that shows vole damage even remotely close to this? He told me it would be impossible for his equipment to make cuts at these angles and that he has seen this type of "vole damage" before.

Air knife-transplanting?

What would the process be step by step? What would it be wrapped in for transport? A refridgerator truck would be idle for mass plantings. Can anyone find a video on the process?
 
Looks more like Sidehill Gouger damage than vole. They're the critters that create those treeless hillsides usually south facing. They're an unusual animal. As they spend their whole lives on hillsides their legs are longer on the downhill side. Their primary food source is tree roots.

You should ask the nurseryman if his plantation is on a hill. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidehill_gouger
 
I call horsepuckey on the vole damage. There's no way any animal would sever roots like that, especially a vole.
Macro are you really paying $120 for a 2 inch tree? That sounds cheap. I pay about $200 for a B&B tree 1.5 to 2 inches caliper. I charge $450 to plant one usually. Sometimes more if access is bad. (my mini skid steer makes B&B planting a one person job.)

I'm going to try some air spade transplants next year and see how it goes.
 
On second inspection it's fer sure not vole as they angle their chewing the other direction. It sure looks like Sidehill Gouger damage though. The tree in the picture looks like it was victim of a third generation level attack. The gouger likes to have the small white feeder roots regenerate so they have a sustained food source for their young. I'd say that tree would of survived maybe two more attacks before it was over stressed.
 
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