Summer Crew Starts Today

Casey Trees' High School Summer Crew takes to the streets for the first time today, kicking off an eight-week adventure of tree care and professional development. This year's crew is a diverse group of 11 high school students from the D.C. metro area. Selected from more than 100 applicants, the 2010 summer crew contains some of the area's most promising young leaders.

The summer crew will be responsible for tree stewardship activities for the next eight weeks. Tree care — watering, weeding, mulching, and pruning — is their primary responsibility. Interspersed throughout the summer will be activities in which the crew will learn about career opportunities in arboriculture.

These activities include:

• Climbing giant oaks at the National Arboretum
• Planting elms on Daingerfield Island with the National Park Service
• Tree Space Design training with the Casey Trees director of Planning and Design
• A GIS mapping tools exercise at the National Zoo

While most of the crew will travel in trucks, three will be on two wheels. Casey Trees' Water By-Cycle, the nation's first bicycle-powered program to water and care for a city's trees, is back in action this year. Led by an adult Casey Trees employee, the Water By-Cycle crew uses pedal power to get around the city. This enables them to travel faster, avoid traffic snarls and not worry about looking for parking spaces. The crew accesses water from D.C. fire hydrants with permission from DC Water. Casey Trees pays for the water used. Along with tree care and career opportunities, the Casey Trees summer crew will also learn job responsibility. This is the first job for some of the crew members, and the teamwork and leadership skills they learn will serve them well in the future.

Summer crew member Cartrell Williams, a senior at Spingarn High School in Ward 5, probably put it best when he said: “My hope is that together, we can make the community a better place. I believe this project will not only help me, but I will also take pride in knowing I can help the environment."

In the coming weeks, each crew member will write a blog post chronicling their summer experiences. In the meantime, check out their bios on the Casey Trees website.

TREE MYTH WEEK - TREES INVITE STRANGER DANGER

Myth: Trees hide trouble makers.

Fact: Trees make neighborhoods more safe. A study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported that buildings with high levels of greenery surrounding them had 48 percent fewer property crimes and 56 percent fewer violent crimes than buildings surrounded by barren land.

The reason? Trees help make outdoor spaces more enjoyable to be in More people on the street/porches = more eyes on the street = greater risk of criminal activity being noticed = less crime. Well-cared for green spaces also serve as signal to would-be criminals that the residents of an area care about their surroundings and are engaged in the community.

And now a plea to water your trees. When you sit down to enjoy an ice cold lemonade on these hot summer days, remember that your trees get thirsty too. Practice 25 to Stay Alive and give your trees 25 gallons of water per week.

TREE MYTH WEEK - TREES, LIKE VAMPIRES, MUST BE STAKED

Myth: Always stake trees after planting them.

Fact: Save the stakes for vampires - sorry Twilight fans - unless the tree's location warrants protection from car doors and/or law maintenance equipment.

These urban threats can sever a tree's water (phloem) and nutrient (xylem) transport systems, located directly under the bark, preventing nutrients from traveling from the roots to the leaves.

Protective stakes can be left unattached from the tree since they are only being used to keep objects away. Two or three stakes arranged around the tree is sufficient.

Staking a tree that does not need it can do more harm than good. Trunk movement strengthens the trunk by thickening it and stimulates root growth. Additionally, staking a tree incorrectly can lead to girdling.

Learn how to properly plant a tree and care for trees by visiting our website at www.caseytrees.org or by volunteering at a tree planting or care event.

HOT HOT HOT; WATER WATER WATER

Whew – it’s hot! I know you are all too aware of this. But it is not only very hot – it is very dry. And that spells trouble for trees.

Here at Casey Trees, we believe it is important to not only plant trees but also to care for them. And watering during very hot, dry spells is one of the most important things we can do for trees.

In order to keep you informed, we have created a Tree Watering Guide. Each week on Monday, we issue a watering recommendation. The recommendation is based on a number of sources, primarily from the National Weather Service and the U.S Geological Survey.

These sources tell us that we are in our sixth straight month of below average precipitation and that we are presently 17.5 inches below average since the end of November. For the period of the past seven days, the entire DC metro area is greater than 75 percent below average precipitation.

Beginning next Monday, our High School Summer Crew will go to work watering trees planted by Casey Trees and our volunteers. Our Water By-Cycle Team, along with two additional Summer Crew teams, will visit these trees with supplemental watering over the summer. But DC is a big city and there are many, many trees. We need your help!

As we enter the 90 and (it seems inevitable) 100 degree days of summer, trees will show signs of water stress. And just as we cannot go without water for extended periods and then drink a lot of gallons at once to catch up, neither can trees go long without adequate soil moisture.

Please help us keep DC’s trees alive by:

• Following the Tree Watering Guide weekly. It is posted on our home page, Facebook account and on Twitter Feed
• Practice 25 to Stay Alive - give your trees the recommended 25 gallons of water per week during dry times
• Pledge to water your trees and get a Casey Trees rain gauge to help you monitor rainfall at your home
• Contact Casey Trees to get a free 25-gallon Ooze Tube drip irrigation bag to provide slow-release watering to your tree.

Thanks for helping us tree DC!

TREE MYTH WEEK - BURIED ALIVE!

Myth: The deeper you plant a tree, the stronger the roots will grow.

Truth: Planting a tree too deep is one of the most common mistakes. Some trees will show signs of stress immediately but most likely you won't see the real harm until a few years down the road. Too deep and the roots don't have access to sufficient oxygen to ensure proper growth. Roots in poor health = reduced growth rate, increased disease susceptibility and atypical leaf size.

When digging a hole for a new tree, make the hole about three times as wide as the diameter of the root ball. As for depth, a tree should never be planted more deeply than the top of its root ball.

Learn how to properly plant a tree now.

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Myth: A thick mulch layer is good for trees.

Truth: Mulching a newly planted tree is a great way to conserve soil moisture, minimize root damage and suppress weed growth.

However, too much mulch can actually can harm a tree. Girdling, bark decay and branch dieback can all occur. Remember, apply using the 3-3-3 method and avoid volcano-mulching.

NO NO WEEK - CASEY TREES VERSUS THE VOLCANO

I'm a little worried. There is a volcano just down the street from where I'm sitting.

Are you picturing an opening in the crust spewing lava or a too high mound of moisture-rich mulch? Both are hazardous, the latter is completely avoidable.

When mulch is pushed up along the sides of a tree trunk, it is referred to as "volcano mulching". Some people think this is attractive and mistakenly believe it helps trees establish themselves after being planted.

Mulching IS great for trees but only when done properly. Mulch conserves soil moisture, moderates soil temperature and reduces competition from roots of weeds.

Volcano mulching can lead to fatal consequences for a tree. Here are three reasons why you should abandon creating a reproduction of Mount Vesuvius at the base of your trees.

Bark decay - Mulch holds moisture but when it is stacked up against the trunk of a tree it can create conditions where the bark begins to decay. This allows openings for pests, fungi, bacteria and insects to get under the bark and cause internal problems.

Girdling - Tree roots naturally grow outwards. Layers of moist mulch can be too tempting for trees to resist and their roots will grow up into the mulch. Since most volcano mulching is circular, the roots try to stay in this moist environment by circling itself. This circling reduces the span of the root structure preventing the tree from accessing water and threatening its overall stability.

Branch die back - Some mulch (hardwood bark) releases the metallic element manganese into the soil when it decays. After repeated applications, the level of manganese can reach a point to where it starts to rob the tree of the iron it needs. In the end you get smaller leaves, leaf yellowing and branch dieback.

As I said, mulching is great for trees when done properly. Apply mulch using the 3-3-3- rule and your leaf and needle friends will thank you with cooling shade during the summer.

NO NO WEEK - TREES ARE NOT MESSAGE BOARDS

 
Tall, cool and commanding, that tree outside your door seems like the ideal spokesperson for your upcoming yard sale or to announce to the world just how much you love the holidays.

But, before you grab your construction paper and twine, or strings of lights, consider the potential harm of using trees as signposts and permanent beacons of holiday cheer.

Girdling - Twine, wire or hose, all of these thing can cut into the trunk of a tree. As noted in yesterday's post, a tree's vascular system is located directly under the bark. Like a constricting snake these seemingly innocuous cords can girdle the tree, preventing vital water and nutrients from getting to where they are needed.

Holiday Lights - Everyone enjoys a holiday light show but these little beacons of joy can girdle trees if left on after the holidays. Strings of lights should also never be added around the trunks of trees to create permanent light shows. Two eastern redbuds in front of Hostelling International show scaring on their trunks from just such an oversight.

As you can see, hanging from trees is not the way to go, but hanging with trees is a different story! Find a time to hang out with some trees by checking out our upcoming Programs and Classes.

NO NO WEEK - CARVE ME NOT

We have all seen them. Sets of initials carved into the bark of trees, the letters often kept company by an encircling heart.

While the relationships so commemorated may end up going the way of autumn leaves, the scar and damage to the tree is permanent. The reason?

A tree's food and water transport systems, the phloem and xylem respectively, are directly under the bark of the tree. When you cut into the tree, you sever this thin vascular system, preventing nutrients from traveling from the roots to the leaves.

Cutting into the bark also provides an opening for pathogens and resulting tree diseases.

So rather than a commemorative carving, how about a Commemorative Tree planting?