[biotechee]

We had to remove our bloodgood Japanese maple due to either cancer or some type of soil fungus. Pretty bummed about it. It had grown from about 6-7' tall and 3-4' dia to about 13-15' tall by 10-12' dia. over the last 7 years. It had perfectly filled the area where we planted it and it was doing it's job (sort of blocking the view of our neighbors towards our rear deck). So for the last 2 weeks, we have had the ginormous "hole" where this lovely tree had been.

We'd been looking over the last week or so for a suitable replacement. We weren't putting in another Japanese maple because we were worried about a soil fungus doing the same thing in another 7 years. We wanted something big to help fill the void so we wouldn't have to wait another 7 years for the filling!

We settled on a crimson frost birch. They are supposedly very hardy and do very well in heavy clay soil (hey, what a coincidence- we have plenty of clay, no soil really!!!) Should be delivered today. They have the same structure as a river irch, but the bark is grey/white and the leaves are dark greenish purple.

So who wants to come to my house and dig the new hole for me???!!!

I'll have to take some before and after shots.

The birch isn't as dense as the maple, but it is a beautiful tree. It's about 12' tall already so I imaging the root ball/tree is going to weigh about 500-600 lbs. Joy!

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[Gotter]

I'd totally be there, if it weren't a 15 hour drive. Used to do landscape work before I joined the Army. Hell, dug plenty of holes SINCE being in the Army, come to think of it. LOL Good luck with it all! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

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[Jamie '92 968]

<!--quoteo(post=72555:date=May 26 2009, 09:01 AM:name=biotechee)-->QUOTE (biotechee @ May 26 2009, 09:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->So who wants to come to my house and dig the new hole for me???!!!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Jim,

I rented one of these this past weekend to put in a sidewalk and patio.


I dug out about 6.5 cubic yards of dirt and rocks, and moved 9.5 tons of 2A modified stone.
Rental was less than $200 for the weekend including gas and insurance, and a trailor to haul it.

Oh, and it was fun!

Bummer about the Japanese maple.
I have lost a few mature trees in one area of my yard over the last 3 years.
I'm in the market for a good arborist, if you have a recommendation.
I'm not that far away, in Delaware County.

Jamie

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[biotechee]

JC- I'd take you up on the offer, trust me, I would! Got plenty of cold ones in the fridge...

Jaime- Yeah, those walk/stand behind jobbies are pretty cool. Unfortunately, all the new flora will be done by hand and hand tools. We've been to most local nurseries and while they all seem to be somewhat knowledgeable, I would not know if any had a worthwhile arborist on staff. We have such a small yard relatively speaking that we haven't had a need for specialist yet so I really can't help. We have a pretty varied collection of trees and shrubs, but nothing rare or exhorbitant by any means. The two most expensive things are a blue atlas cedar that is doing incredibly well (3-4" trunk when purchased, prob. 10' tall; now at nearly 20' tall with a 6" trunk) and a small Kamagata Japanese maple. That poor maple gets full, harsh afternoon soon and takes it like a champ! I get some burning on the leaf edges, but as long as I give it a little water during the really lengthy spells between rains, it does just fine. The only reason the cedar was *expensive* (and that is merely relative to the other plants/trees in the yard) was because it was somewhat big to begin with... If we were really into unique and rare species, I'd definitely try to find an expert to help ensure longevity and growing success.

And right now, we've been getting rain of and on, so those lovely root balls are all now water logged!!! GREAT! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif[/img]

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[gryphon]

WILL DIG FOR BEER.

Tom

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[Gotter]

<!--quoteo(post=72602:date=May 26 2009, 03:09 PM:name=gryphon)-->QUOTE (gryphon @ May 26 2009, 03:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->WILL DIG FOR BEER.

Tom<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


You gotta be pretty hard up for beer to *dig* for it. I mean, for all the time it might've been laying there underground... it could be skunked or someway else just gone bad. Although, depending on where you live, the ground might be a damned good cooler. But for my $$, I'm just gonna go to the store for beer.

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

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[biotechee]

<!--quoteo(post=72602:date=May 26 2009, 06:09 PM:name=gryphon)-->QUOTE (gryphon @ May 26 2009, 06:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->WILL DIG FOR BEER.

Tom<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


<!--quoteo(post=72606:date=May 26 2009, 06:42 PM:name=J.C.)-->QUOTE (J.C. @ May 26 2009, 06:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->You gotta be pretty hard up for beer to *dig* for it. I mean, for all the time it might've been laying there underground... it could be skunked or someway else just gone bad. Although, depending on where you live, the ground might be a damned good cooler. But for my $$, I'm just gonna go to the store for beer.

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That all gave me a good, hearty laugh.... which I needed. Got home and the tree delivery geniuses completely ignored my blatant note to locate each tree in a certain area. So, what I guess would be about a half ton of dirt, burlap, and tree was sitting at the end of my driveway. Luckily, I have a moving dolly/handtruck thing so I was able to move the smaller beech to a suitable location while I dig (for beer!) a hole. The larger birch = not so simple. The ball is too heavy and physically too large for me to get leverage with the dolly and tilt it back. So I drive to Ace (about 3 miles away) and grab some come-along straps. Wrap them around the ball and the truck, and low and behold, I moved it to within 5' of the future hole. Granted, I left my right nut in the grass somewhere between the starting point and the preliminary resting spot, but hey, I had two to begin with...

Unbound both trees so as to prevent any further damage to the branches.

Weather is pretty dreary here so I didn't take photos yet. Hopefully will tomorrow.

P.S. The "WILL DIG FOR BEER" slogan would be great for a gag T-shirt at lawn&garden expos and nursey trade shows... Anybody here do graphic design and can whip up a prototype?!

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[rxter]

Ah the joys of East Coast living. Been there, done that. Rather than digging holes for trees, yesterday my lovely wife and I got a cappucino on the 101 and enjoyed the crashing of the waves whilst reclining in the 968 alfresco under the shade of someone else's tree.

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[rhudeboye]

Ahhh, yard work. I actually find it very rewarding. Never tackled a large tree though. Please take those pics. I kinda <i>DIG </i>that stuff.

Over the extended weekend I cut the lawn and edged it, re-shaped my garden area to extend to the drive way, put down landscaping fabric and mulch. Hit the back yard with some insect replant as I have some standing water back there. Then finally did a lime treatment on the front lawn. As I was putting it down the rain came in and like a fool, I finished the application. must of looked odd to the neighbors but I actually enjoyed playing in the rain. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

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[gryphon]

<!--quoteo(post=72617:date=May 26 2009, 05:29 PM:name=biotechee)-->QUOTE (biotechee @ May 26 2009, 05:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->P.S. The "WILL DIG FOR BEER" slogan would be great for a gag T-shirt at lawn&garden expos and nursey trade shows... Anybody here do graphic design and can whip up a prototype?!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

"Trademark, 2009"

Tom in Arizona

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[biotechee]

Pic of new birch tree as well as its final location....

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[The_Oz]

<!--quoteo(post=72719:date=May 28 2009, 03:42 AM:name=biotechee)-->QUOTE (biotechee @ May 28 2009, 03:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Pic of new birch tree as well as its final location....<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Isn't that a bit close to the house [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img] ... you have got so much more space to put it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

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[biotechee]

<!--quoteo(post=72766:date=May 28 2009, 11:00 PM:name=The_Oz)-->QUOTE (The_Oz @ May 28 2009, 11:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Isn't that a bit close to the house [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img] ... you have got so much more space to put it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

It actually isn't going into the small hole seen in the photo - that is the resultant hole from having to dig out the dead Japanese maple.

The birch will end up being farther from the house by a few feet. I'll be extending the mulch bed so the hole will most likely be centered right on the current mulch/grass junction. Birch get very big, but they are not an extremely "dense" tree like a normal maple. Birch appear "airy". So it will be a little farther from the house. We actually want to keep it somewhat close, within reason, to help block the view of the back of our house.

And although it appears we have a large backyard, it is actually very small. Our total acreage is 0.34 (around 16,000 sqft), with a good portion of that being covered by house, driveway, and existing landscaping/mulch beds. We try to keep the backyard somewhat "open" so the kids have room to play and run. The front, however, has quite a few trees, bushes, and plants. As the kids get bigger and play less and less in the yard, more trees will be planted back there.

When we first moved in, I planted two blue spruce at the rear corners of the yard. One is in a fairly good position and has grown quite well over the last 10 years. The other, while the same height, is set back too far and is too close to the existing property tree line. Right next to it is a young black walnut tree... Some of the black walnut branches are near/above the spruce and it has stunted the growth of the spruce on the back side. When you look from the front, the spruce looks great. Walk around the back and it looks as though someone completely cut off all the rearward facing branches!! Since I value the black walnut way more than the spruce, I will probably eventually cut down the spruce and create a nice mulch bed in that corner with a small retaining wall and maybe some pieris and hosta species. The spruce on the other side ended up being close to a mulberry tree, but apparently the mulberry does not emit "competition" chemicals like the walnut does. In hindsight (had no clue 10 years ago), I should have planted the spruce 5-10' closer to the house. But back then, these spruces were only 3-4' tall and now they are over 12'! I didn't take into account the growth of the surrounding trees! Quite frankly, I thought the walnut was going to die- when we first moved in, it was in sad shape and was going to get choked out by some other faster-growing species. So I did my best to clear around it and remove dead growth and now it is doing well. The downside? I know have a sh!tload of black walnuts in my yard every fall! The squirrels love it, but I don't! Nothing's easy, right?! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

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[The_Oz]

<!--quoteo(post=72778:date=May 29 2009, 04:41 AM:name=biotechee)-->QUOTE (biotechee @ May 29 2009, 04:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->It actually isn't going into the small hole seen in the photo - that is the resultant hole from having to dig out the dead Japanese maple.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blush.gif[/img]

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