B.E. 'R Tree Specialists

16/05/2024

06/04/2023

This is why we need to plant more trees! 🌳🌳🌳

Instagram.com/bigtreehunters

19/12/2022

Trees give us their resources in so many ways!

More coverage of Billings area and Montana: https://www.ktvq.com

02/11/2022

Give your trees a nice drink of water!

Most root expansion happens after the leaves fall from the tree.
A good soaking before frost enters the ground will help the keep the growth the tree put on this year from drying out. It also helps support an actively growing root system. Since the roots aren’t busy supporting leaves and tree growth in the fall, growth underground occurs quickly when the top of the tree is dormant. If we have a dry, warm winter, water once a month throughout the season.
We've got you covered with IDL Urban and Community Forestry: https://loom.ly/zNkT54I

09/01/2022

Organic mulch helps trees and shrubs to thrive!

Trees don’t like rocks for mulch. It raises the temperature of the root system and stresses the tree. Organic mulch such as pine bark is better. It protects the tree and adds organic matter to improve the soil and tree health.

09/10/2021

Great article about helping get our trees ready for winter!

Learn when you should be watering your trees in the fall, along with extra tips on where to water and how much water your trees need.

27/09/2021

We get lots of panicked phone calls about Pine trees shedding their needles in the Fall. Great information!🌲

14/09/2021

Awesome!

29/08/2021

Moral of story?!? Plant a tree! 😎

Best Time to Plant a Tree 🌳 was 20 years ago, Second best time is Now ❤
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." "Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being." "Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking.

23/08/2021

Fall is a great time to plant trees! 🌲

Fall is a great time to plant trees and shrubs for several reasons. Cooler temperatures mean less chance of heat stress or dry soil, giving root systems a chance to develop. Learn more about choosing the best trees for your outdoor space and how to care for them here: bit.ly/3sm3QX6

07/08/2021

Trees are a very valuable addition to any yard!

Trees - even a young child knows what a Tree is, however there is surprisingly no universally recognised precise definition of what a tree is, either botanically or in common language. In its broadest sense, a tree is any plant with the general form of an elongated stem, or trunk. For Wildlife and our own lives Trees provide shelter, a home and food. Trees also have the ability to capture carbon better than any current man-made technology and of course they produce Oxygen! Planting a Tree is one of the most positive actions we can do 🌱🌿

A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year. A 100-foot tree, 18 inches diameter at its base, produces 6,000 pounds of oxygen. On average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year.

22/07/2021

We need more trees!

On a 93.33 °F day in a certain part of Columbus, Ohio, trees currently planted in the neighborhood could lower the temperature by 3.48 °F if they were all fully grown, according to a new study. The presence of 20 additional mature trees in the neighborhood would make the temperature 1.39 °F lower...

22/07/2021

Never underestimate what a difference you can make by planting just one tree! 😎

On a hot summer day in a city, one of the best places to cool off is in a forested park. Underneath the trees, temperatures can drop significantly, both from the shadow of the canopy and from the cool 'sweat' released by their leaves.

05/07/2021

Plant a tree! 😜

09/06/2021

This is an excellent explanation of how a tree “heals”!

I had an arboretum friend email me this photo and question:
"I was out walking in my neighborhood today and found this tree that had just had a large branch cut off. The rings had this weird black "Y" shaped something that stretched over numerous years. Is this from some type of infection or damage done during the cutting? I just thought it was strange."

My answer:
Very cool observation!

I'm not sure if you're aware of how trees protect themselves after wounding, so please ask if I cover something that you're not familiar with.

Trees don't heal wounds, because they cannot regrow lost woody tissue. Instead they seal over that wound, making a "pocket" that surrounds the damage. The phenomenon itself is called CODIT (pronounced co-dit) that's an acronym for Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees. It was coined by Dr. Alex Shigo, who was a forest pathologist with the USFS (yay pathology!). There are four different "walls" to CODIT and they all protect the tree in different ways from decay potential, establishment, and spread. The Y-shape (sometimes a T-shape) you're seeing is where the fourth (and final) wall sealed over a wound so many years ago.

Here's a photo of what the different walls do: https://www.invasive.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1409059

In the photo, where wall 4 is indicated, you see the gap where the callus hasn't completely covered over the wound yet. Where those two parts meet often leaves a Y-shape in the wood.

It's a great demonstration of the power of a tree's immune system :)







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*Credit to Cynthia Westcott and her book Plant Doctoring is Fun

15/05/2021

THIS IS SUCH GREAT ADVICE! Please check out the additional information in the article. We see so many trees fail from improper planting. It may take a few extra minutes but it can mean the difference between tree success and tree failure. 😜

Tree Planting Week: Cut, peel back and, remove as much of the wire basket and burlap as possible.

If planting a balled and burlapped tree, cut the bottom of the wire basket off before placing it in the hole, then once the tree is rolled into the planting hole cut and peel around the remaining basket. . For containerized trees, remove any pot-bound, circling roots by cutting into the sides and bottom of the root mass.

Right tree, right place!

https://vtcommunityforestry.org/resources/tree-care/tree-planting

07/05/2021

Topping trees is not tree pruning! It doesn’t make a tree safer but rather sets the tree up for failure!

Stop topping trees, please!

https://www.treesaregood.org/portals/0/docs/treecare/WhyToppingHurts.pdf