Tree Nursery Expectations?

Jamin_Mayer

Jamin_Mayer

Location
Longmont, CO
What should some of the expectations be for a tree nursery?

I would bet that the expectations from an arborist would be different from a the average person. Simply because they are not educated. However, if the average home owner knew of the poor quality they are getting, I believe there would be an outrage.

Where do we draw the line with poor tree nursery practices? I'm starting some dialogue with a nursery. They are sending out trees that have a poor transplant rate due to keeping them in containers way way too long. If that isn't bad enough, they top their trees before sending them out. So, after a year there are all sorts of decaying branches in the tree. To top it off, their number one tree sold seems to be intolerant to alkaline soils. Therefore, if the girdling roots and the decaying branches aren't bad enough; how about letting them die in vain from iron chlorosis?
 
Jamin, you might want to take a look at the latest edition of Florida Grades and Standards for Nursery Plants (to order a copy, call 352-375-3505)

Florida leads the nation in plant standards for nursery stock. It's a voluntary standard, but the nurseries adhering to it, are producing superior material that, when planted properly, in the right place, and established to spec, turn into some really nice trees.
 
Interesting Richard. I remember a structure pruning class about 6 years ago acknowledging what you stated.

Thank you for that number. I'll call them and get one.

Can you give an idea of some of the standards?
 
Let me rummage around and see if I can find my copy of the brochure with the standards on it. I got one when I attended the Great Southern Tree Conference in Gainesville last year. We had a class exercise to grade a few different trees.
 
Jamin, This link will take you to a download of Dr. Gilman's powerpoint presentation on Florida Grades & Standards.


hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/powerpoints/Floridagrades.ppt
 
ALL nurseries should know their OWN standards. See 4.3.3 on page 63, and Figure 29 on page 64. Also note that edition is 2004, ands they are *supposed* to be revised every 5 years.

http://www.jerseygrown.nj.gov/jgstandards.pdf

Root washing and barerooting these pretzel-rooted rascals is the only way to untangle enough to get a decent root system. Nurseries should see the extra work involved, and consider that a reduction in value.

A lot of nursery trees have negative value.
 
I'm the former president of the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association, so I've got a little bias here. Join your state's organization-I always wished for more and louder arborist voices. The networking alone is priceless. Our state has plenty of small top quality growers, and if you weren't in the organization you probably wouldn't even know them.

Tim
 
I want to live out my golden years running a small, high end nursery... not bloody likely but that's what i want. It really is up to the management/leadership of the nursery to not only know the applicable standards but to educate their customers and refer planting work to knowledgeable contractors.

Unfortunately, very few people hire arborists to plant trees.
 
I worked at Bailey Nurseries, a very large wholesale nursery for 10 years. On their end, they do everything they can do to ensure proper pruning, planting, etc. You would be amazed at how many trees are tossed before they ever hit the market because of poor roots, tops, overgrown, etc. The middleman in the equation has the most to lose after letting a tree grow to long in a container - toss it and lose the money, or just let it keep growing until an uneducated person buys it. I believe most nurseries understand and would love to sell perfect product, but that means having to throw money away when its past its peak, or invest more money into upshifting. Tough call for small business when and where money is tight.
I agree that it comes down to educating the public - they are the ones that will force the nursery into providing quality stock, who will then charge accordingly.
 
unfortunately, if all nurseries followed the protocal we would likely recommend, customers would look at the results and thin they needed to keep looking. The average consumer doesn't look at the root ball; he looks at the branches. Since the ideal transplant is essentially a whip, they think it's not a good tree. We all have to do a better job of educating the consumer.
 
[ QUOTE ]
What should some of the expectations be for a tree nursery?

I would bet that the expectations from an arborist would be different from a the average person. Simply because they are not educated. However, if the average home owner knew of the poor quality they are getting, I believe there would be an outrage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same here Jamin. One of my peeves. (I seem to have more than one pet peeve- more like a whole zoo's worth). I write endlessly about poor growing and planting practices. No matter how tired or less like talking I feel on a job, if I see badly grown trees and badly planted trees I alwys talk to the homeoewners about it if i get a chance.

Our company also plants trees. We get ours from a local nursery. Its amazing how many people buy Oregon-grown trees here. Trees have a hard enough time here without bringing zone 7 grown trees into a zone 3 region.

You have also reminded me that I should find out what the nursery standards are for my Province. I have contacts in the trade and should find this out for myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom