I have two favorite parts of my job: Helping landowners achieve their dreams for their properties, and getting photographs from them so I can remotely watch those dreams come true. It amazes and delights me that I can be a part of helping landowners achieve their varied goals (from re-establishing the mighty American chestnut to providing mast-rich deer habitat) in every corner of the country, all from my desk… and that I can actually see it happen!
Every project is special, every one is important – from planting a single oak seedling to commemorate a birth or special event to planting 1/2 mile of windbreak trees.
I just got some photos from another special project in Ohio. The story starts with a heartbreaking event: last year a tornado ripped through this customer’s beloved woodland, uprooted or snapping off mature trees. Most importantly, his family was safe. Also reassuringly the same soil that produced those beautiful mature trees was still in place, ready to produce another generation of trees, ready to restore his treasured woods.
My customer marked his planting spots with orange paint, carefully planted a mix of hardwood seedlings purchased from the county conservation district, and protected them with 4ft Tubex Combitube Plus Tree Tubes supported by PVC tree tube stakes. He did a beautiful job!
Planting site marked for planting
Carefully planted oak seedling, with tree tube and stake ready to install
Tree tubes installed and protecting seedlings from deer browse. You can see the damage to residual trees from last year's tornado. It is incredibly rewarding to help put these woods on the road to recovering.
In the photo immediately above you can easily see some of the other benefits of tree tubes: Come June it would be extremely difficult for the customer to go back into this site and locate the seedlings he planted, let alone control the weeds and brush around them. I jokingly told this customer that he is now in the full time weed control business! You can see already how fertile and productive the site is, and the added sunlight hitting the forest floor due the loss of trees in the tornado will quickly product a jungle of competing vegetation. Wilson’s Tree Tubes make it easy to locate your seedlings in the midst of that jungle, and the protect them from the spraying, mowing, brush hogging that needs to get done.
Wish I could tell you more about this project, but it’s spring and the phones are exploding – more chances to help more landowner dreams come true!
