Tree care
We always view tree care as a complex task. It is not enough to focus on the tree alone, as there are many external factors that also need to be taken into account. This is particularly true in the built environment, where trees live their daily lives outside their natural habitat and may be surrounded by a number of obstacles and wires.
Green spaces and urbanisation can go hand in hand, and my colleagues and I are working on a harmonious combination of the two. Every day, we aim to make trees feel as comfortable as possible, both in towns and villages, in a mutually beneficial coexistence, where trees improve our microclimate and provide a more beautiful and liveable environment, and we can respond to their smallest problems, or even tree defects, with the necessary attention.
The firs ten years after planting are the most important in the life of our young trees. During these ten years, we can make small pruning cuts and interventions to nurture the crown of the tree so that it will never need to meet a chainsaw. Since the regular interventions are very small, the maintenance costs of the tree will also be negligible. When pruning young trees, usually only dry, crossing branches are cut. At the same time, we can already start to shape and adapt the crown to the nearby buildings and power lines. In the second year after planting, the stakes should also be removed.
After pruning mature trees, the foliage will become thinner and as a natural immune response, to make its branches and trunk more resistant to wind, the tree will slow down growing higher and focus on growing thicker instead. As the trees get older, some branches will be left without light and dry back. This is a completely natural process and in a forested environment the dry branches provide an excellent and diverse habitat. In a built environment, when dry branches are falling off, they could cause serious damage, but pruning can prevent this. By chopping up the branches we pruned off the three, we can create a ground cover for the root zone. These chips can even be used as mulch in flower beds, keeping the organic matter in place and improving the soil in our gardens, just like in a forest.
Some tree defects used to be treated by a drastic reduction of the crown, but we now know that this is almost a death sentence for trees. After such a drastic pruning, the regenerated crown can more easily break off, extensive decay can occur and there is an increased risk of falling as well. Trees with elongated main branches or decayed base of the crown are now treated with dynamic bracing. This is a rope with high tensile strength that allows the branches to move and only holds them during stormy winds at the breaking points when it absorbs the forces. This allows the tree to process the problem in its structure and gives it a chance to heal.
For older, declining trees, a propping system can reduce the forces on the roots and trunk and prevent larger branches from breaking off, so we can grow a real veteran tree our gardens. The propping can be preventive, to stop branches from breaking off, but it can also be designed to lift the branches back a little and reduce the forces in the fibres.
From time to time there are construction and renovation works, and the trees are often victims of these. Unfortunately, a tree frame to protect the trunk is not enough, the root system also needs a lot of attention. Most often, tree roots are torn up during excavation by the heavy machinery, but the sheer weight of a truck can also destroy the root fibres by compacting the soil to extremes. The tree defects that develop in the root system only show up years later in the canopy. For this reason, it is advisable to prepare a tree protection plan, mark out the route of the machinery and even use trench root protection to create a new root zone, with the roots professionally pruned and treated. But in the long term, a root guide panel can also be installed to ensure that the trees do not cause problems in pavements and pipelines later on.
Just as foresters are trying to avoid clearcutting and rather switch to selection cutting, we would also like to maintain a permanent tree cover everywhere, therefore we prefer planting under the weakening, poorly conditioned trees. The new saplings can be with root ball, but we can also create a Miyawaki forest in the root zone by seed sowing or smaller saplings. Every two to three years, we prune the young trees and continually push back the weakened, poorly performing ones, or keep them as a habitat tree to make room for the new growth. This way the atmosphere of the garden or public space does not change drastically and the tree replacement becomes a slow, decade-long transition.