Why I hate Acer platanoides

rfwoodvt

rfwoodvt

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This side of eternity.
Below are 4 reasons I dislike Acer platanoides the pics show a 360 shot of the largest tree on the property.

The neighborhood is riddled with them.

The property has 3, all of which had SGRs though this had the most. The other two have fewer but larger "swallowed" by the trunk.

Also the landscrapers who installed them 15-20 years ago left the baskets and burlap on the balls.

One tree has no buttress roots left on the southeast side and a 4 inch SGR embedded in the trunk on the NW side. If there were any target this would be an immediate removal.

The second tree has less than 20% of the circumference compromised with a root that cannot be removed (basket) and might do fine, though they are building a shed near it.

Anyhow, every time I'm called to check a dying maple I ask if it is a norway maple...if they know what one is...

(BTW the foot used for scaling belongs to a guy nicknamed "Lurch" his foot is huge! Something larger than a size 12 so I am told.)

East side:

CieplickiSGR20091008.jpg


West side

CieplickiSGR20091008 (2).jpg


South Side

CieplickiSGR20091008 (3).jpg


North Side:

CieplickiSGR20091008 (1).jpg
 
I hate nurseries that can't even plant a tree, you'd think they, of all people, would know. No reason to diss on Norways though, it's the lames that planted them that's the problem.


I just finished a property where 13 landscape trees were buried in 10" of soil... basically to cover the wire baskets and heavy 2" webbing straps... pathetic.

This is from yesterday, G. biloba, failing to thrive... gee, I wonder why?

SGR-G biloba.jpg
 
Yeah norways are notorious for that. It's tough to tell a client it will take x hours to fisx what never should have happened. Happy chiseling!

Don't dis the landscrapers, Blinkerman. Nurseries tell them "don't disturb the roots when planting". (they like the turnover). just ask taylors in raleigh etc. too bad your town is doing biz with frauds.

if you've changed, apologies, mr. taylor!
 
It's not a Norway Maple problem, it's a nursery problem. You name the tree, some nursery somewhere has sold one that turned out like those pictures. Elm, maple, cherry, linden, etc...

-Tom
 
I recently had the good fortune to hear Mr. Urban (Up By Roots fame) speak and one of the main points of his lecture on selecting nursery stock was on girdling roots. Basically the information was: you will not find a nursery grown tree without them. He doesn't recommend planting container trees at all and recommends washing all dirt off b and b trees in order to expose the root system. Obviously, bareroot would then be preferrable as it is easier to see what you have.

At our Arbor Day celebration this last April David and I took a bareroot tree and showed the attendees what a girdling root looks like in its "infancy" and the recommendation to cut it off prior to planting. This was on a Sorbus aucuparia.

I believe it is unfair to condemn Norway maples as a species for a tendency that is all too common on many trees. Perhaps we see more of them because they are a popular/common tree and their root system is closer to the surface.

In the original poster's illustration this tree was buried too deep (which is an understatement) and these girdling roots look to be a well-developed adventitious root system at that.

I believe anyone who sells the service of planting trees should indeed know the proper way to plant them, be that nursery, landscaper, gardener, arborist, handiman, what or whomever.

We, as arborists, are held accountable for trees on a property that we step on simply to estimate a job or offer consultation services to say nothing of the trees that we work on. Why on earth aren't nurseries and landscapers held accountable for stock sold that should have been culled, or planted incorrectly dooming that tree to an early demise or a higher-than-necessary maintenance schedule? All at a great expense to the homeowner, I may add.

Stepping off my soap box now....

Sylvia
 
I do agree, any variety of Norway Maple stinks around my parts too. I came to that conclusion about 5 years ago.

that goes for Crimson King too!

Norways do tend to have more root girdling for some reason too.

but yes, it mostly depends on how the tree was planted.

we just airspaded 5 large copper beech this week, similar problems, but planted too deep and the adventages roots girdling the trees. got some good pictures.

i just wanted to say i agree with the original poster, Norways stink here in the US and I've been saying this a lot to my fellow workers this past year.
 
Around these parts, any call for a norway maple will involve such SGRs easily 9 out of 10 times.

And it is not just the nursery stock. We have quite the poplulation of ferral Acer platanoides. And when I get called for a problem with them, SGRs are almost always present.

I do like norways as landscape trees. I think their form and size meets a good many needs. It's just that around here SGRs are the rule and not the exception. I hate having to dig out the collar only to find a rats-nest of SGR that have already done their deed leavning the tree alive yet dead.

And frankly customers don't like paying me for 2 or 3 hours labor in some cases to dig and prune only to find their tree is missing most of it's buttress roots because of SGRs.

Oh, well...Slyvia thanks for letting me borrow your soap-box.
 
I certainly wasn't defending them, I hate Norways for alot more reasons than SGR's.

How about 'invading sugar maple forests throughout New England and destroying natural biodiversity?' That's an even better reason to hate them! ;-)

-Tom
 
species and problem very old--this from decades ago: http://auf.isa-arbor.com/request.asp?JournalID=1&ArticleID=1763&Type=2

Richard yes it is a tough deal selling rcx. often if clients are strapped i demo rcx on one part of the tree so they can continue while i do other stuff, or have groundmen do the basic work and get help deciding when and where to cut them.

we get the spitty end of the stick trying to fix what nurseries never should have caused but o well that's our yob. Can't always be as glamorous as swinging about aloft.
 
when someone puts in a big imbedded picture, it ruins
the width of the reading area and I have to keep
scrolling side to side just to read each sentence.
usually I just quit reading cause it's too much
work.

is there any trick on how to shrink down the screen
so that all the text words are visible?
 
[ QUOTE ]
when someone puts in a big imbedded picture, it ruins
the width of the reading area and I have to keep
scrolling side to side just to read each sentence.
usually I just quit reading cause it's too much
work.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, thanx for asking X I hate embedding huge pictures too. Would love to know how to make them smaller.

Any got the "secret" for that recipe?
is there any trick on how to shrink down the screen
so that all the text words are visible?
 
Not sure about the screen, but there are many ways to edit pics.

A simple one is right click/open with/paint/image tab/stretch/skew,

and then enter a percentage less than 100%. I usually do 50%.

-Tom
 
Use the 'reply' button rather than just typing in the automatic screen at the base. This gets you to the appropriate screen faster. If the pic is online, you can click in the word 'image' below the text box.

If you are simply attaching an image from your computer, type your text and click 'continue.' Underneath the preview of your post will be a field allowing you to attach a file, and browse your computer to find it. The rest should be self-explanatory. Good luck!

-Tom
 

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