Wintering Trees

Kevin talks about what your trees are doing during the winter

Episode Transcript

(00:11):
Twenty one thirteen ten WIBA and Askthe Experts joined this morning by master arborist
Kevin Ham of Hamsarborcare. The websiteheymsarbercare dot com. That's h a m
ms arborcare dot com. You canalso learn more about Hams Arborcare and some
great products they sell, including soaps, which I ordered a couple more,

(00:32):
few more, actually four more literallyin this week to get four. I
know you're not gonna beat that,by the way, over at Game of
Trees dot com. That's Game ofTrees dot com. And Kevin, I
gotta tell you, I never andI've said this the other week, but
literally never thought when you and Istarted doing the show together that we would
ever be talking about skincare and smellinggood and getting clean and even shampoo and

(00:57):
using this. But I gotta tellyou it's good stuff. It's real and
I'm not I'm not kidding about thatgenuinely really to the point that I've I've
bought many mini bars, so yeah, you know, we're getting good feedback
from it, and uh, Ipersonally like it. In fact, I
noticed this morning, you know,I was out, but I was in

(01:18):
a bad position to get more sohad had to suffer. But yeah,
it's it's great. Stuff lathers upwonderfully. You know. It's got a
little a little I don't know ifit's like the tree kind of grit or
what's what's it's got that that's isthat what that is? Yeah? Oh
man, it's you know, it'skind of like you know, three m

(01:40):
discover something, you know, andit ends up being good. It was
like a mistake. Yeah, Andso the manufacturer is saying, oh,
it's it's maybe a little too gritty, you know, and I'm like,
you know, I owe some peopleare commented that they like that. Yes,
it's kind of exfoliating, you know, and so it might might have

(02:02):
to be our trademark just a littlebit of of granular in there to uh
to uh add the good touch.Yeah, it's it's and it's it's as
we talk about this. Of course, you can order it right online.
The biochar Body soap and shampoo justhad an over to Game of Trees dot

(02:23):
com. That's Game of Trees dotcom. You mentioned the little the little
exfoliation, uh, Eucalyptus pine cedaressential oils. It smells great, you
feel literally and I've said this beforeand I'll say it again. Squeaky clean,
like literally when you when you touchyour skin, it's it's it's so
it's so phenomenal. So definitely stockup on that, Kevin. We I

(02:43):
know this is an important time ofyear, of course for trees as we're
entering into the uh to the longwinter and we're getting ready for fall here
and uh, it's a one timeto think winter work, but it's also
a great time right now when wethink about this stuff for things like planting
and other things. Real quick,how do set like biologically for trees as
we enter into these coming months kindof preparing for the for the Wisconsin winter.

(03:06):
What's going on with the tree biologically? What are they doing to kind
of prepare for the colder months.Yeah, that's a great question, Sean.
I didn't even prompt you to that. That's awesome, thank you.
Uh. Yeah, we're there's alot of root growth that goes on with
the tree in the fall, andthat activity goes all the way in as

(03:28):
long as the ground is not frozen. And so you know, people think,
oh, the tree stops growing,and interestingly, we do some treatments
in the fall. Our clerosis bundleis one of the things we do,
and one of the aspects of thatis injecting the tree with iron. And
we've done it, you know,as late into October when there's no leaves

(03:52):
on a white oak and we plugthat thing on a nice sunny day.
You know, it might be fiftydegrees and sunny. You know how October
over is like low relative humidity andthere is good soil moisture and dog on.
If that tree didn't just pull itup like a head leaves on the
tree, because there's chlorophyll under thebark. You know, if you scrape

(04:13):
a branch, you can see thegreen underneath. That's chlorophyll, and the
bark is thin enough in the uppercanopy that that's actually photo excuse me,
photosynthesizing in the winter, and sowhen the sun shining on that bark,
there is cellular activity going on.And and so obviously if there's photosynthisis going

(04:36):
on, there's translocation of different things. And so when we plug that tree
in without any leaves on it,it draws in you know, a good
gallon or a gallon and a halfof products and you have successful treatment.
And so it's amazing the amount ofactivity there is occurring in trees, even
deciduous trees with their leaves off,and certainly in evergreens that are green,

(05:00):
they're they're photo syncie a lot duringthe winter. That's interesting, Yeah,
because I always assumed that they kindof just shut down for the winter,
that nothing was going on, andapparently there's there's a lot going on in
the winter. And yeah, andI know we're not there yet. We've
still got in it's Wisconsin, sowho knows, but we've got probably a
couple few more months before we've evengot to be thinking about those kinds of

(05:21):
things, which means it's also stillI correct me if I'm wrong, a
pretty good time to get to gettrees planted, if folks are are looking
to get something like that done,or even think spring isn't it. Absolutely,
we're actually kind of going over ouryou know, fall order of our
trees. We're going to receive somemore trees in the fall. We've got

(05:41):
a couple of unique ones coming in. We've got just a limited selection of
a chinkapin oak. Have you everheard of No, Well, it has
like a chestnut style leaf, soit's it's a steriated type leaf, very
very interesting for an oak tree.But it's in the white oak group and

(06:04):
there they can be in Wisconsin nativelymore over towards Milwaukee and the Lake area.
But uh, we Eli was upin a park and he's like,
what kind of tree is this?And this was northern Wisconsin, not not
towards the lake. Then I'm like, it's probably a chinckermin oak, and

(06:27):
sure enough it was. And soI have the acorn, you know,
and it's in the white oak group. And so we've we've got a chicker
min oak. So if if youwant one, you better wiser are limited.
And then uh, we're getting someborough too, and so there's a
borough option. And uh, ofcourse we've got swamp white oak. Kevin,

(06:53):
what's interesting too? And I asyou were just describing the serrated leaves,
and you know, I think weall have this vision of what what
an oak tree, what the leaveslook like. I think for most of
us, you know, we're kindof taught that. At least for me,
I was always taught the way todistinguish a tree was was bark and
leaf shape. And if I wouldsee this this tree, I'd be like,

(07:14):
that doesn't how is that an oakand then I've seen I'm looking at
some pictures. I'm gonna go in. I do, I do see that.
And then of course you mentioned burrokas well. And these are trees
too that you put those, youplant those in your yards. You talk
about something that's going to be multigenerational. You're really talking about a tree
that's going to be appreciated for fordecades and decades to come. Absolutely,

(07:38):
you know, and and and uh, of course, uh, proper pruning
is still something that you get withthe Legacy Tree. So for five years,
we're going to touch that tree.Wow. And and that's significant with
these trees too, Kevin, aswe talk about talking about planning and mentioned
the Legacy Tree program and the greatthings to make sure that that tree gets

(08:00):
art it right and keeps growing properly. And of course you mentioned getting in
and coming in and taking care ofthat that tree as it develops. That's
something I feel like sometimes people overlookas we obviously think, okay, I'm
gonna plant a tree or have atree planted, We're gonna water it and
those kind of things, and onceit gets established, give it a season
or two, you know, handsoff, we're going to be done with
it. And there are so muchmore to arbor care than simply planting it

(08:24):
and kind of crossing your fingers andhoping for the best. And whether it's
whether it's those you know that training, pruning and other areas as well,
those are those are big things thatas we talk about generational trees, those
are those are the things that reallymake that tree thrive for for those decades
to come. Absolutely, and we'vewe've initiated now just kind of all on

(08:46):
our own prior to the the LegacyTree Program, but a renewal program for
our pruning, especially our our trainingtreeing. So anything categorized as a training
every two years, we're going tosend you uh you know training pruning h
quote. And so we're we're becausepeople will turn their back on their tree.

(09:09):
I mean you just naturally forget aboutit. It just becomes the woodwork
and then all of a sudden,you know, we're coming in and there's
just a lot of problems in thattree structurally, and you don't have to
turn you back for very long.It's amazing. People think, oh,
well, this tree will never beyou know in my lifetime. No,
it will be. You'll be surprised, and especially with proper pruning, we

(09:33):
can direct that tree, you know, upward, and and that's that's a
big thing. Like people don't understandthat when you when you focus the attention
onto aprical growth, that means uh, you know, central leader. Uh,
you'll be surprised how fast that treewill get tall. And tallness is

(09:58):
oftentime and the characteristic people want becausethey're trying to cut off the angle of
the sun from a particular direction andto get the height is usually what's required
to get that shape. And breathwill come. But you don't just want,
you know, willy nilly breath,because the tree will will put on

(10:22):
codominant stems and it'll look nice andwide and obate, but there's all kinds
of structural problems in there, andit's just it's a little bit of pruney
all along the way that will justmake a world of difference in that tree
on longevity. And we want tosee a generational tree for sure. That's

(10:43):
fascinating and I don't think we've evertalked about that before, but it it
makes perfect sense about you know,of the tree directing its energy and proper
pruning and using those resources to goup and then go out, is is
I don't think that is kind ofI'll say it this way, Kevin.
My mind when you said that kindof was my mind was blowing like that
makes perfect sense. I don't knowwhy and thought about that for but what

(11:07):
a what a what an amazing thingthat that's that's being done there, And
what's interesting, Sean. In theyou know, the nursery industry at large,
the the practice is to clip thevertical, the snip the aprical buds

(11:28):
to generate lateral growth. So becausethat's what the consumers looking for, the
fuller appearing tree, the fully appearingtree, because the consumer thinks, oh,
what's the tree look like? Now? No hands arbicare we are thinking
the long term, what's the treelook like in ten years? And and

(11:50):
so right from the start, legacytrees is pruning for aprical dominance. So
we've got some tree and that's whywe don't talk about caliper. Most trees
are sold on a caliper basis.That means the measurement of diameter at the
base, so where it's coming outof the basket or the pot. And

(12:15):
we we have right now probably inchin a quarter inch and a half.
Some of them caliper, but theycan be twelve feet tall or more.
We've we've got the height and andthey've got good you know, stature.
They're not like bending over, andso we we want to encourage that vertical

(12:37):
growth. And they do it rightfrom the start at the nursery at the
mother the mother nursery up there inuh northern Wisconsin. And so our our
trees are are pushing. So wewe sell eighty ten foot tall is our
is our cell and you're probably gettingtaller than that in a lot of cases.

(12:58):
On some of the larger tree themaples and the elms and the tackberries
are all over ten set. Itis nursery. It is a great day
to start that plan for that,have that legacy tree planted on your property
in your yard. Again, it'sas we talk about Kevin mentioned generational.
We're talking about something that's going tobe beautiful for you and you're gonna see

(13:18):
that. That's the other great thing, as Kevin was pointed out pointing out
with with having your tree properly caredfor, is seeing that growth and seeing
that reward is soon and that's andthat's that's one of the really great things
about working with Kevin. The teamat hams Arborcare. All I gotta do
this morning, pick up the phone, gift McCall eight six six five nine
six five three nine six. That'seight six six five nine six five three

(13:39):
nine six. The website hams Arborcaredot com. That's hamms Arborcare dot com.
Kevin, It's always great chatting withyou, my friend. You enjoy
this beautiful day. You d seantake care news comes your way next year.
On thirteen ten w y Ba