Take Root Chattanooga

Trees growing near bodies of water, or riparian areas, have the ability to adapt to stressful environments and live in times of anaerobic conditions. Riparian stems from the Greek word, ripa, meaning bank or shore.

Can you ID these trees? Bonus if you can catch the invasive plant!

Tree planting 101: remove all materials attached to the tree. (Non-organic/synthetic)

Find the problem and causes here! What’s happening to this maple? Why does it seem like only 1/3 is actually producing burnt fall foliage? .

Did you plants trees in the last 1+ years?? This is your reminder to unstrap and unstake them! This tree was recently rescued after being trapped in the straps for probably years. Prolonged strapping can lead to girdling of the tree, and may even harbor fungus and wood boring insects. Not to mention the restricted ability for a tree to develop compaction and reaction in wood in response to wind load. Cut those straps!

As we move away from the month of love and further into the growing season, we can combine the two themes together. If you live to plant trees and you love your friends here are two tips for you to have a successful experience:

1. Friends don’t let friends volcano mulch.

2. Friends don’t let friends plant red maples. (red/sugar/southern sugar/any combo)

GPS coordinates to see these sorry trees IRL: (35.0725398, -85.1872912)

This is the perfect examples of what you DONT do. These oaks were once a beautiful, full canopy, and now they will grow back bushier, with weak attachments with their new growth. Further, the tree is now very open to sunburn in new wounds and on surrounding wood; are compromised for disease at these vulnerable cuts; and now have injury along the stem of the tree where their climbing shoes spiked it. Additionally, any new growth or limbs that become diseased pose a risk to the home due to an inexperienced, and uneducated tree service.

Please for the love of trees, hire a real ISA Certified arborist. This is not money well spent.

A mature Flowering Cherry with large girdling roots. This can be avoided with proper planting and mulching practices. Find out more at the next tree planting this Saturday! See the and for volunteer planting where this is explained in detail! As always: right tree right place.

If you look close enough, spring is on its way!

Plant them while you can! This time we will br planting much smaller trees, and a different type: containerized!

We had quite the crowd to plant THIRTY trees this morning (poplar and London Plane). We had these planted within an hour and half! Super impressive. These kids will be able to enjoy their playground in a few years in the shade! Lovely day and an even better turn out of volunteers! Another win for trees!