Three years ago, in the spring, as a hobby, I started planting native Ohio trees from the fields and woods in a garden space of about an acre.
By trial and error, with sweat and toil, in swamp and forest, I learned both the possible and the improbable.
Varieties Of Trees
Now, however, I have 60 trees and a few shrubs, in 84 different varieties, ranging in size from 8’ feet to 20’ feet for the trees, and from 5’ feet to 12’ feet for the shrubs.
Trees dug so far and in good health are the following:
- White Oak
- Red Oak
- Pin Oak
- Swamp White Oak
- Red Maple
- Sugar Maple
- Red Elm
- Beech
- Birch
- Ash
- American Hornbeam
- Tupelo
- Quaking Aspen
- Basswood
- Tulip Tree
- Sassafras
- Chestnut
- Cucumber
- Sycamore
- Shagbark Hickory
- Honey-Locust
- Russian Olive
- Sandbar Willow
- Buckthorn
- Shadbush
- Witch-Hazel
- Spicebush
- White Dogwood
- Red-osier dogwood
- Feathery Buckthorn (Rhamnus Frangula Asplenifolia)
- European Black Alder (Alnus Vulgaris)
- Escape
- Viburnum
- Thorn
- Honeysuckles Of Various Kinds
Pre-Trenching And Hormone Feeding Method
The pre-trenching and hormone-feeding methods have done this.
Now I have acquired enough confidence to trench 18-foot sassafras, let us say, in the fall, dig them in April and plant it without pruning.
It must be lifted with a good root ball and later given two or three doses of Naphthylamide, Vitamin B, and C, dissolved in a gallon of water, which should be poured over the root-ball pocket while the roots are active in early spring.
This system has been used many times, and I am now convinced that pruning any branches is unnecessary, provided digging follows trenching for at least four months.
Good Root Ball
A good root ball is obtained, and the tree is put at once in a similar environment to that from which it comes.
The environment is very important in trees like beech, cucumber, American hornbeam, tupelo, aspen, and dogwood.
Sunlight for Trees
The first three will not transplant well into raw sunlight, as they need the semi-gloom of the woods; hence these have all been planted under a huge old Carolina poplar.
The tupelo requires water and shade; aspen and beech grow best in a group; native dogwood needs shade; red-osier dogwood likes swampy ground.
Some trees such as cucumber, chestnut, sycamore, and tulip need to be trunk wrapped against sun scorch, as they are thin and barked.
Trenching Time
Others whose habit it is to grow in groups are connected underground by sucker roots which must be severed at trenching time.
These are quaking aspen, wild cherry, honey locust, and sometimes beech.
All of the trees in my collection have been planted on a gradual slope of very heavy clay, and the holes dug 2’ feet or more across and a foot and a half deep.
Good Topsoil
Good topsoil was used, with agricultural slag or humus added according to the demands of the type of tree.
For everyone, a thick mat of salt hay was used as mulch, and a shallow channel was dug that led down to the tree hole to conduct the excess rain.
Way Of Watering
In watering, during dry summer weeks, a reliable way of getting enough water to the hole was to count to 75 slowly while holding the hose in the salt hay.
During the first summer after transplanting, the trees need attention, as in their weakened condition, they are easy prey for all the things that sprays were invented to combat: leaf wilt, blotch, rust, chlorosis, aphids, and scale.
Bordeaux mixture, nicotine sulfate, and miscible oil take care of most troubles, and a gallon tank trombone type sprayer answers the purpose very well, as it will reach the top of a 22-foot tree on a breezeless day.
Trenching The Soil
I have found the best shovel for trenching is a laborer’s tunneling shovel 16” inches long, and with the rounded edge filed sharp, to make clean cuts on roots.
For a one-man tree, the ideal size seems about 12’ feet. The trench is made by pushing the shovel to its full length on a 30”-inch circle and swiveling the blade sideways at the end of each thrust.
On Shallow-Rooted Trees
On shallow-rooted trees like aspen, poplar, and beech, often this process will free the whole root system so that 6 months or so later, when the tree is to be moved, it can be lifted out with no more digging.
Sad to say, this process does not hold well with the more rugged specimens like white oak, shagbark hickory, or osage orange. All too often, these have taproots like metal tubing.
For these, a pruner’s saw serves admirably when the tree is dug, as even a sharp shovel comes out second best with an inch and a half straight down a taproot.
Necessary Equipment For Tree Dugging
When the tree is to be dug, one more piece of equipment is necessary: a yard square of water-soaked burlap, to tie up the root ball and prevent the fine hair roots from drying out before getting back to the hole already dug and waiting to receive it.
Along with some failures, unexpected recoveries have been made occasionally. For example, 20-foot white ash was dug with a good root ball, which fell off when lifted from the hole, leaving only a blunt taproot and no hair roots.
In disgust, it was left there, but the next day after a change of heart, it was retrieved, pruned, planted, and guyed in place. It was dormant for a year but is now well-shaped two-prong ash.
Honey Locust After Trenching
A honey locust had blown sideways when looked at again a few months after trenching.
It seemed loose, so it was pulled from the ground without the benefit of a shovel or burlap. It was planted and, in this case, pruned severely and is now in good health.
Of the two escapes discovered, the European black alder was dug without trenching from swamp muck in full leaf, and it now looks good.
A 10-foot tulip tree brought the complete taproot, four feet long, looking like a white snake when it was lifted from the place.
Landscaping For Trees
To help in landscaping the less formal parts of the garden, the trees were used in various ways.
They were placed in groups as in aspen and beech:
- As a screen for the vegetable garden, and compost piles
- As axis focal points around a sundial
- Along step stone paths
- Against a white picket fence
- Next to a resting bench beside the vegetable garden
Native Wild Trees
Naturally, native wild trees transplanted this way have a different appearance compared to nursery-grown trees, for these latter are pruned for height, whether that is their nature or not.
With the native trees in their true contours, it seems to me the effect is much more pleasing, and every tree is true to type.
44659 by Eugene R. Miles