Planting Black Locust and Butternut Trees
Tree planting continues at my Bedford, New York farm with a group of hardy black locust and butternut trees.
My gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are working very hard to plant as many saplings as possible before the weather gets too cold and the ground freezes. I hope to get hundreds of young trees planted in the coming weeks. Recently, the crew has been busy in my Japanese Maple Tree Woodland. At one end, we decided to plant black locust trees, Robinia pseudoacacia, a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae. We also planted some Juglans cinerea, commonly known as butternut or white walnut - a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
-
- We use this space behind my stable to store many of my potted trees. These trees arrive as bare-root cuttings and then get potted up and nurtured here until they are transplanted in more permanent locations. I chose this space where they could be closely monitored and well-watered. Every year, we take stock of the inventory and decide where many of them will be planted.
-
- The trees are organized by type and neatly lined up in sections behind strong nylon tree webbing to prevent them from falling.
-
- And each section is well identified with markers. These markers are very important, especially when deciduous varieties drop their leaves.
-
- I also have evergreens such as these spruce trees. Its needles are four-sided, sharp, and stiff, and are arranged spirally on the twigs and become pleasant smelling with age.
-
- On this day, the crew loaded up lots of black locust trees to plant in a large wooded area below my Japanese Maple Woodland. These are the leaflets of the black locust – pinnate with seven to 21 oval leaflets on each leaf branch. A leaflet, occasionally called foliole, in botany is a leaf-like part of a compound leaf. Though it resembles an entire leaf, a leaflet is not borne on a main plant stem or branch, as a leaf is, but rather on a petiole or a branch of the leaf.
-
- Ryan also pulled some butternut trees to plant in this area. Butternut tree leaves are compound and made up of 11 to 17 leaflets, each growing nine to 15 centimeters long. The compound leaf is usually tipped with a single leaflet as large as the lateral leaflets.
-
- Each leaflet is finely toothed, wrinkled above, and hairy on the lower surface.
-
- The crew is very experienced at planting many trees at a time. To help planting go quickly and smoothly, the crew works in an assembly line process. Domi digs all the holes for planting – each about 10 inches deep.
-
- Then Pasang follows behind to plant each tree previously positioned in its proper location – these trees should be planted at least six to eight feet apart.
-
- Pasang carefully removes each tree and its root ball. Each tree is planted to the height it was in the pot.
-
- Pasang then loosens the roots and places the tree into the hole along with a good scoop of appropriate fertilizer.
-
- Then he backfills the hole making sure it is still “bare to the flare.” Pasang looks for the root collar or root flare – the bulge just above the root system where the roots begin to branch away from the trunk. The root flare should be just above the soil surface.
-
- Meanwhile, Chhiring distributes stakes – one next to each planted tree. All the growing trees are staked to protect them as they develop. Because some of these trees are so tall, we use bamboo stakes to secure them.
-
- Here’s an important tip – because this is a wooded area, one must beware of the growing poison ivy. “Leaves of three, leave it be.” Poison ivy rash is caused by an allergic reaction to an oily resin called urushiol. The oily resin is in the leaves, stems and roots of the plant. Poison ivy has pointy leaves, smooth or toothed edges, but not deeply lobed or serrated, and it is generally shiny on top. The middle leaf is also the largest of the three. Some are more sensitive to poison ivy than others, but if not sure, it’s best just to stay away from it.
-
- Chhiring cuts down bamboo for some of the shorter trees. Bamboo poles can be cut easily with a hand saw.
-
- Then Chhiring pounds the bamboo securely into the ground – about a foot deep to make sure it can withstand any winds that blow through the area.
-
- This heavy bar helps to dig the holes for the bamboo stakes. The flat end also helps to hammer them deep into the ground so they are secure.
-
- Any fallen or cut branches are neatly placed on the side of the carriage road, so they can be picked up later and chipped for top dressing.
-
- The black locust has dangerous thorns. Black locust tree thorns are poisonous and sharp, growing up to two inches in length.
-
- Chhiring carefully secures each tree to its designated stake using the same figure eight formation and knot I taught every crew member. This prevents the twine from chocking the tree as it grows.
-
- We plant hundreds and hundreds of trees each year – in groves and allees, near my home, and in the woodlands. Fortunately, this planting day ended with a good rain shower – perfect timing after getting all these trees into the ground. I know they will thrive here.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
