Marketplace

Reader Feedback
Linda Chalker-Scott’s “Building a better tree,” a story about heading back young trees in the nursery, appeared in our August issue and has generated some feedback. Send letters to tdavis@gie.net or krodda@gie.net.

I just read your article in the August issue. I see your frustration with the industry.  I own a field growing operation of B&B trees. Your first item of “best practices” for production nurseries says to avoid interfering with natural development of the crown structure. Are you suggesting that we should not prune our trees? I grow a few red maples and have you ever seen one that was not pruned by the nursery and sold to a customer of the nursery? I would like to see pictures of this product and the revenue they made from it. It seems like the consumer has created this end product that is pleasing to them visually by buying our products over your proposal.

I think it would be better for you to attack this problem by teaching the maintenance industry on how to remove a few poor branch angles, and make a profit on this, than to tell the consumer that they don’t know what looks good to them.

I challenge you to get to know this industry from coast to coast and how all trees respond to pruning practices and when these practices are best used. This multi-billion dollar industry has evolved over many years and I suspect that the consumer is the one who has accepted and largely driven this industry by paying their bills.

Very truly yours,

Joe O’Connor
Havenyield Tree Farm, Oklahoma City

Editor's Response

Dear Joe,
My job is to educate consumers using science-based information. I currently teach landscape architects, Master Gardeners, garden clubs, restoration ecologists, horticultural professionals and many others what products and practices are evidence-based, and which are not.

I’m most perplexed by your suggestion that we let uninformed consumers be the best judges of how to produce healthy plants. It may be an art, but it should be based on sound plant science, shouldn’t it? And I just can’t agree that the customer should be getting fleeced for buying a tree that will require corrective pruning of poor branch angles.

Somehow you are misinterpreting this as “don’t prune trees in the nursery.” That would be silly advice and I certainly didn’t say that. But I’ve combed the scientific literature, and there is not one single, peer-reviewed article that supports the practice of heading saplings to “build a better tree.” On the other hand, there are hundreds of articles over the decades that demonstrate the damage caused by topping trees. And until there is documented, scientific evidence to the contrary, I’ll continue to teach my audiences about what I consider to be an unsustainable practice. Do I know of nurseries that produce trees without heading them back? Of course I do — all of the native plant nurseries in Washington state that I’ve seen to date produce natural saplings.

- Linda

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NMPro on the road
The staff of Nursery Management and Production get to stay home for the holidays, but we’ll be hitting the airport in early January for MANTS in Baltimore (Jan. 5-7); the National Green Centre in St. Louis (Jan. 9-10); and Mid Am in Chicago (Jan. 19-20). Stop by the booth or check us out in a speaking engagement.