As spring rains have caused rapid growth of lawns and the need for frequent mowings, I have once again seen fresh examples of severe damage to landscape trees.  Careless use of string trimmers is the most common cause of severe damage to trees that I see during the many site visits I make to help people evaluate their landscapes and diagnose tree problems.  When the bark gets damaged, sap flow is reduced to leaves and tree quality declines.  More damage with each use of the trimmer can eventually result in the death of the tree.

The cure is very simple:   String trimmers should never ever touch the bark of a tree, no matter the age or size of the tree.  I repeat:  NEVER, EVER.  The damage inflicted from one careless round of string trimmer use can run into hundreds of dollars if the bark is touched by the trimmer string.

Very often the damage is gradual, but cumulative.  There’s no more reason to hit the living bark of a tree, than there would be to weed whip your bare leg.  Both are living tissue and both say “ouch” if you hit them with a string trimmer.

The following are ways that grass/weeds around trees can be safely controlled:

1) Trimming with hand operated grass clippers

2) Kill grass and weeds around the tree with roundup herbicide (avoid contact with the bark) and use a bark/wood chip mulch to keep a 3’—4’ circle around the tree free of weeds/grass

3) Heavy-duty tree guards that deflect the string of a power trimmer.  Thin plastic won’t be good enough.

4) Plastic or rubber mats around the tree (must have the hole for the trunk enlarged on an annual basis to accommodate the growth in trunk diameter.

5) Give the person/company that carelessly damages tree bark a $50 bill for each tree, for each time, they touch the tree bark, and insist they pay the bill, or pay to replace the damaged tree!  I suspect they will stop hitting the bark.

CAUTION:  This information will ruffle some feathers.  Be prepared for push back, but be firm and insist that trimmers never ever touch tree bark, no matter how large the tree.  (I even see severe damage to wooden fence posts from string trimmers!)

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Patience pays big dividends when doing tillage of the soil to prepare for spring planting.  Whether you do your tillage with a 4 tined hand cultivator, a garden fork, a shovel, a roto tiller, or a plow behind a giant 4 wheel tractor, wait until the ground has dried well and crumbles when worked.

If you dig when the soil is too wet, you are likely to battle a garden full of lumpy soil all the way through the growing season.  Waiting a few more days or weeks until the soil has dried usually results in tilled soil that is nice and crumbly.  Just prior to doing the tillage, spread fertilizer, compost, manure, and peat or sand, so these amendments become evenly mixed into the tilled soil.

Coarse sand is a great thing to add if you have high clay content in your soil.  Once you work sand into the clay soil, the soil will be much easier to work up into a nice crumbly condition in subsequent years.  In the photo – you will notice smaller pieces of rock/sand.  This makes this soil drain nicely and is quite fertile.  Too much sand, on the other hand, can cause plants to dry out too quickly.

It is wonderful and amazing to see how much more quickly roots of new plants are able to grow into a large root system when the soil has been made porous by good tillage and a few well-chosen soil amendments.  Your patience will be rewarded by bigger flower blossoms, vegetables that are bigger and more plentiful, and trees and shrubs that become handsome specimens in a shorter time!

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Knecht’s will provide trees at half price.  As a sponsor of a tree for Northfield City parks, you pay the other half of the cost (see chart below).  City staff will select planting sites.  You get the satisfaction of knowing you’ve helped make us a stronger and more beautiful community, and can enjoy watching these trees grow more majestic with each passing year.

Your cost of sponsorship – choose the size/price for the tree(s) you wish to donate.     

                                             Tree Only             Tree & Planting 

#3 Container – 3′-6′              $20.00                 $40.00

#7 Container – 5′-8′               40.00                    80.00

#15 Container – 8′-12′           60.00                  120.00

2 1/2″ B&B – 10′-16′              150.00                 300.00

City Staff will choose from the following tree varieties -   Maple, Oak, Hackberry, Linden, Honeylocust, disease resistant Elm, Coffeetree, Birch, Tree Lilacs & Flowering Crabs.  The City Staff will also choose planting sites on City Property / Parks.

To sponsor a tree,  just contact Knecht’s Nurseries & Landscaping at 507-645-5015 or send us an e-mail at info@knechts.net.  Or if you prefer, you can contact  TJ Henricy, Streets & Parks Supervisor for the City of Northfield at 507-645-3032  or TJ.Heinricy@ci.northfield.mn.us

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There will be opportunities for work out in the landscape while the big chill is still in force.  Pruning shrubs and trees, and cutting down dead trees can be a comfortable activity if you pick days with low winds and mid-day hours when temperatures are at their warmest.    My April 15, 2009 blog on tree pruning discusses pruning in more detail and I am linking back to that post.

 If you like to make firewood during this period when the seasons are transitioning, you may have to carry in your chainsaw gear and do the cutting.  In most locations, haul out will have to wait until the ground firms up enough to allow vehicles to operate without making nasty ruts.  If you cut down ash trees that have died, it would be a good idea to check under the bark to see if emerald ash borers (EAB) have infested the tree.  The Emerald Ash Borer website has more information and photos that will help you determine if your ash wood is infested with EAB.  If your wood is infested, be sure to call the City or County Forester to report the infestation.  They will probably come out to verify and lend some advice and assistance.  It is extremely important for the health of our forests to report possible new occurrences of Emerald Ash Borer.  We all need to help out in reporting new infestations so the spread of this devastating pest can be slowed/halted.

I have also shared this post with the Northfield News.

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Recharging moisture in the deeper levels of the soil will be especially beneficial to established trees that experienced drought stress the last few years.   Larger trees have larger, deeper root systems, and larger leaf canopies to support, meaning greater needs for moisture that can be met by recharge of moisture in sub-soils.

Hopefully spring flooding will be a little less severe due to unfrozen soils absorbing some of the snowmelt.  Unfrozen ground also means it will be possible to get an early start on spring planting of trees and shrubs.  While it is tempting to rake your lawn right away, it’s best to let the ground thoroughly dry out before beginning the spring clean-up. 

Early April should present good planting opportunities, and we normally have trees and shrubs available for sale beginning around April 1^st, depending on the weather.  Our experienced and knowledgeable staff will be available to help you zero in on the plant materials that will work best for your particular situation.

I have also shared this post with the Northfield News.

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By planting the right trees, shrubs and perennials, you can both beautify the landscape and help the wildlife.  You may want to check out the publication titled ‘Landscaping for Wildlife’ put out by the Minnesota DNR. 

I am sharing this blog with the Northfield News.

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Think about what you really want before you discourage yourself with budget concerns.  When creating a plan don’t forget to incorporate an inviting outdoor living space , a place to recharge your batteries, and a place for the activities you and your family really enjoy.

Next figure out what actually installing these landscape features will cost you.  If the costs are too high, decide how to implement the changes over a period of several years, to match your cash flows.  If the costs are still too high, decide how you can change some expensive elements of the project to lower priced choices.  By following this sequence, you are likely to still get the majority of the look and feel you envision.

If you feel you aren’t able to design your own landscape, our landscape designer would be able to help you with advice during a site visit consultation or even create a landscape plan for your property.   

I am also sharing this post on my blog spot with the Northfield News.

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1. Protect a tree.  Younger trees may be vulnerable to bark damage from mice, rabbits, deer and sunscald.  Unusually deep snow means rabbits and mice can sit on top of snowbanks and chew bark above the tops of already installed tree wraps.  Simply add another white plastic tree wrap above the snow line that overlaps with protection you put on last fall down to the ground level.  These wraps also protect against sunscald from sunlight bouncing off the snow.   We do have tree protectors for sale here at the nursery. 
2. Thumb through a seed catalog.  It helps get the imagination going in a positive direction.  Order something you’ve never tried before.  It will give you something which you can look forward to in anticipation.
3. Go for walks on days with low winds, and take notice of which landscape elements you see on other properties that have a nice appearance in winter.  Make a few notes for future additions/revisions to your landscape.
4. Get on an airplane headed for any direction but north!

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In all likelihood all three of these events have the same cause, probably meadow voles/mice.  Heavy snow cover is a paradise for mice.  They can freely tunnel around at ground level, and feed on the roots and bark of grass, forbes, perennials, shrubs and tree seedlings.  Under all that snow cover they are very safe from predatory hawks, owls, fox and the like.  There is little reason for them to go anywhere else, so if they like the plant materials they encounter on your property, they will probably continue to do damage all winter.

While they are cute and fuzzy, they are very destructive.  Trapping them is a hit or miss approach to solving your mouse/vole problem.  The most effective way of eliminating the problem is placement of poison bait.  It is essential to be sure that the mouse/rat poison can’t be eaten by pets and wild animals.  A simple and safe way to do this is by purchasing a heavy duty plastic bait station.  It opens side so you can load chunk type bait on spindles from which the bait can’t be removed once the cover is screwed shut by a handy set screw.  The rodents smell the bait inside, crawl through a winding labyrinth and easily find the bait.  One feeding is all it usually takes to poison the  rodent.  Where populations of mice and voles are high, bait stations are a very effective way to safely control rodents.  They work for you 24 hours a day, and probly only need to be checked and re-baited every month or two.

Most hardware stores and building centers sell the bait stations and chunk style bait.  Make sure the bait station has a secure way of being locked after placing the bait in the station to protect Fido and Garfield.  Your landscape plants and lawn will thank you.

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Jim Westlund and Todd Marnie

In recent days, the Northfield area landscape has had a wintery look, but we are still planting trees and a few hardy customers still venture in to get trees for late season projects of their own.  The 2010 growing season had very favorable weather, despite the unfortunate flooding in late September.

Because the loyal and consistent  support of Northfield makes it possible for us to keep improving our nursery and landscaping operations, we enjoy the opportunity to give back to our community.  Last week, we donated to the City of Northfield, 24 different varieties of shade trees to be planted along the new walking path at Old Memorial Park, the site of Northfield’s new swimming pool.  The City of Northfield covered the cost of having the trees planted.  The photo shows Jim Westlund and Todd Marnie during the planting of one of the trees on November 11^th.

The Master Plan for Old Memorial Park calls for the planting of over 100 trees to beautify the park.  Anyone who wants to sponsor the $150.00 cost of planting a tree at Old Memorial Park can contact Scott Carpenter (neighborhood resident) at 645-8501 or Leif Knecht at 645-5015. 

Knecht’s Nurseries will donate a nice sized shade tree to the park for each $150 donation to cover the cost of planting.  Most trees are 2″-3 ½” trunk diameter and 10′-20′ tall.  An effort will be made to have each tree be a variety different from those previously planted.

I have also shared this blog with the Northfield News.

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