Tree Tubes for Planting Landscape Trees

Dr. Doug McCreary is the guru of oak regeneration in California.  Some years ago he spent his sabbatical in England, learning about English practices for growing, planting and protecting oaks.

One of his reports is here.

Bottom line:  We in the USA can learn an awful lot about successful and cost effective establishment of landscape and roadside trees.

Corollary:  Seedling trees in tree tubes 1) cost many times less, 2) survive at a higher rate, 3) grow faster and 4) live longer than what we currently do (planting large potted or B&B trees that cost hundreds of dollars, have deformed root systems, suffer years of transplant shock, grow slowly, and succumb to disease, insects and root strangulation).

Some key points from Dr. McCreary's report from the UK:

"When driving around the English countryside, one notices that treeshelters (tree tubes) are everywhere... Some estimates are that between three and five million treeshelters are sold annually in this country that is half the size of California."

"Even though the sight of treeshelter forests is not the most aesthetically pleasing - and I suspect some environmental groups might prefer to see them banned from the planet forever - they seem incredibly effective for reforestation in England (emphasis mine)."

We'll be looking at this issue of the aesthetics of tree tubes in a post later this week.  Not surprisingly I find a field with tree tubes in it for a few years to successfully establish trees that will live another 100 years much more aesthetically pleasing than a failed planting.

"While stuck in traffic, I tried to determine how many (tree) shelters in a roadside planting had surviving plants inside... a 'windshield assessment' indicated that over 90% of the trees were growing out of the tops of the tubes.  This is consistent with a large-scale survey here several years ago of over 4,000 (tree) shelters on 192 sites where 89% contained a living tree."

"Clearly the success rate seems far higher than for roadside plantings along California highways.  The fact that England has much more summer rainfall probably contributes greatly to excellent seedling growth and survival, but I suspect that (tree) shelters here are more carefully and properly installed and maintained... Whatever the English do, it works, and we have much to learn from their many years of experience with these devices (tree tubes) that, so far, seem particularly useful for regenerating oaks in California as well (emphasis mine)."