Take Action: Propagate Trees!
Feeling down about climate change, wanting to do something, but not sure what?
Consider propagating trees and giving them away! More trees out there will lock up carbon and cut down on residential air-conditioner use. Planting trees has become even more urgent, with the Emerald Ash Borer’s destruction of our urban forests.
1-2 year-old seedlings in tree-pots. Plastic crates (Stuewe & Sons) hold 20-36 tree-pots each, and allow individual tree pots to be regrouped as some die, or thrive more than others.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Black
Since 2007, I have been growing and giving away seedling trees, to combat climate change. I first started digging up tree-seedlings around my yard and potting them up for the give-away. But that was too hard, and too many seedlings died. Now I collect seed in the fall, sow it in boxes, transplant the spring sprouts into tree-pots, and a year later transplant them again to one-gallon pots. Most species need at least a year in the gallon pot before they are field-ready. I give away only small 1-3 foot tall free-seeding varieties, so that I am not in competition with area nurseries.
Species started from seed include chokecherry, honey locust, catalpa, hackberry, Kentucky coffee tree, hawthorn, golden rain tree, linden, horse chestnut, Ohio buckeye, golden currant, ginnala maple, Tatarian maple, bald cypress, trumpet vine, wisteria, oaks, Japanese pagoda tree, redbud and sycamore. I choose various sized trees, and varieties that will continue to prosper in a warming climate. Office parks, churches, and parks are all excellent sites for seed gathering from September through December. Most hard-coated seeds can be sown in plastic window-box planters (they are deeper) in the fall and left outside for the freeze-thaw to soften the seed coat.
Germination boxes need good labels and protection from destructive squirrels, which will dig them up searching for food.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Black
The germination boxes then go into my small hobby greenhouse in March/April to hasten germination and get a couple extra months of growth their first year. However, some seeds (Russian Hawthorne, Golden Rain) can take up to 3 years to germinate. Kentucky coffee tree and wisteria (start in spring) need a nick in the seed coat to get going. Catalpa and trumpet vine don’t like to be transplanted so I sow seed into their tree-pots in January, with grow lights and a heat-mat. Locusts are best spring-sown after soaking. Redbud and pagoda tree seeds germinate better when fresh, soon after collection. Species started from cuttings or root-suckers include lilac, autumn clematis, and weeping willow.
Tree-pots (available from Stuewe & Sons) are 6”-12” deep tree-seedling pots that encourage good root development in the first year, and last many years. Folks donate old one-gallon pots for recycling, which I wash and sterilize with Clorox. Soil mixes for germination and filling tree-pots are available at American Clay in Denver, which is also a good source for fertilizer and perlite. I make a light, well-drained soil mix for one-gallon pots with 1 part perlite, 3 parts municipal compost and 1 part expanded shale in a concrete mixer. I bury an Agriform fertilizer pellet in each one-gallon pot once a year, and hand-apply water-soluble fertilizer with a Hozon siphon several times a year.
Colorado’s climate, our strong high-altitude sun, drying winds and stinking-hot summers, are hard on seedlings which naturally prefer the cool protected understory of a forest. Lath-roofs and partially shaded growing areas can mimic that. However, these also encourage fungi and mildews, so the right balance is always a challenge. Watering is done through misters, with supplemental hand watering to catch the edges which the misters sometimes miss. For winter protection, tree pots are grouped together on the ground with a frost blanket over them. More important for winter survival is to winter-water all pots when they dry out. I also protect seedlings from rabbit and deer predation with good fences.
Kentucky Coffee trees, Japanese pagoda trees and hackberries in one gallon pots, with lath shade-structure and water supply for misters.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Black
Elizabeth Black ready for customers on Giveaway Day at 7:00 a.m., with free trees along the street. Nellie-Belle, the carbon cart, protects 30 trees at a time from the deer.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Black
My really big giveaway of 450 trees is the first weekend in June, when everything is well leafed-out. I have tried various advertising schemes (street signs, the local paper, gardening columns) but the best response has always been Craig’s List. I group the trees by species along the street, with laminated signs describing the strengths and weaknesses of each. Happy people come from all over, and most of the trees are gone in 6 hours. Everyone gets a tree-planting instruction sheet.
If you are concerned about our rapidly changing climate and want to do something about it, please consider growing trees to give away. Gardeners have a unique skill-set which can help mitigate climate change. We know how to grow plants which will lock-up CO2! Consider sharing these skills with others and using them to combat global warming.
Elizabeth Black grows Christmas trees and paints western landscapes in Boulder CO.
If you want to visit and learn more about her seedling tree operation, email Elizabeth@ElizabethBlackArt.com.
