![]() This includes the eastern part of Minnesota where the Arboretum is located. On the map, the green parts are places where sugar maple trees grow. Sugar maple trees grow in the northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada. Step 1: Be in a Place Where Maple Trees Grow But what if you wanted to make your own? The first step would be finding a sugar maple tree. If you want a taste of maple syrup, your first stop might be the grocery store or the Arboretum Gift & Garden Store. How can I find a maple tree to tap? Image by Todd Mulvihill of the Arboretum Photographers Society He has authored a number of books, including “Weedless Gardening” and “The Pruning Book.” He blogs at. Lee Reich writes regularly about gardening for The Associated Press. Before you know it, the tree will appear as a bold, beautiful and useful addition to the landscape. Watching year-to-year growth of a relatively small, young tree is satisfying. With most small trees, remove stakes after one year larger trees might require stakes left in place for two years. The sooner the stake or stakes are removed, the sooner the plant can develop a strong trunk and root system. Even then, support for any young tree should let the top move freely and allow for some wiggle of the trunk, all without causing abrasion where the tie or ties make contact. Generally, don’t stake a tree unless it can’t support itself, if trunk movement causes the root ball to rock, or if wind might uproot the whole plant. Once a tree is in the ground, staking is the traditional next order of business - another practice needing reconsideration. In general, limit any pruning to total removal of a few stems rather than lopping back many stems. More important is that for every kind of nursery tree, the buds on stems, especially those near the tips, produce hormones that actually stimulate root growth. But many trees today are sold growing in containers, so they lose no roots at transplanting. Myth held that the tops of newly planted trees needed pruning to balance the loss of roots that occurred during transplanting. No need to do a lot of work with your pruning tools either. Spread compost and other organic materials on top of the ground as mulch. But if you were a young root growing in such a place, would you ever want to leave? No. The idea was to create a fluffy, rich substrate for the developing roots. Yet another myth that can be laid to rest is the recommendation to mix plenty of compost or other organic materials into the soil from the planting hole. A “perched” water table forms above the layer of gravel it doesn’t drain until the upper layer becomes saturated. What results is the opposite of what was intended. The practice of dumping gravel or some other coarse material into the bottom of the planting hole to help drain away excess water is another dated notion. The shallow hole sets plants on a firm base of undisturbed soil that won’t settle with time. ![]() Or higher, if a mound is needed for improved drainage. New research shows that tree roots take hold best in a cone-shaped planting hole only 2 to 3 times the diameter of the root ball, and no deeper than necessary to stand the plant at the same level as it stood at the nursery. Smaller nursery trees establish more quickly in their new homes than larger ones, and usually outgrow them.īut you don’t need to dig as deep as conventional wisdom has held. Roots, on the other hand, grow whenever the soil temperature is above about 40 degrees, so they can still make use of summer’s lingering heat in the ground.īEST PLANTING TECHNIQUES ARE ALSO EASIEST Stems can’t grow until they have experienced a winter’s worth of cold. ![]() With spring planting, there’s a danger that stems can start to grow before the roots are established in the ground. Their beauty and delicious fruits and nuts are other perks.Įxperts used to recommend planting trees in spring. ![]() Their shade can cool things down in summer. Why plant trees? It’s well-known that trees mitigate global warming by taking in and storing carbon dioxide. There’s a better understanding now of what trees need, including when they should generally be planted (the fall). Planting a tree is one of the best things you can do to help the planet, and these days it’s gotten easier. ![]() Trees benefit our planet in so many ways, as well as providing us humans with beauty, food and shade. This undated photo shows Japanese and sugar maple trees in Bryn Mawr, Penn. ![]()
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