Yesterday a text message from a customer – my favorite kind of text message, the kind with a photo attached!
The text message that came with this photo: “Sawtooth oak planted from a seedling 20 months ago, never been watered except by rain.”
The tree tube is 4ft tall, putting the tree at 9ft tall, 20 months after planting as an 18in seedling. A few weeks ago the customer was worried that the tree was growing TOO fast as the terminal leader was very bent. Already it has straightened out considerably, and will continue to do so. One thing about trees: they always know which way is up, and will eventually always grow toward the center of the sky.
Interestingly, this customer’s neighbors have followed the familiar pattern of curiosity, skepticism and envy I have seen so many times over the years. It goes along the lines of, “What are those plastic tubes in your field?” to “Those tubes are going to fry those little trees.” to “I have never seen trees grow that fast. Where can I get some of those tubes?”
Little by little we are completely changing the way that folks plant trees!
