A tree-lover's basics

Friday, May 1, 2015

Amy Seiler of Gering, Nebraska, a community forestry specialist with the Nebraska Forest Service, explains the many problems troubling a scraggly apple tree on the Red Willow County fairgrounds in McCook, during a tree care workshop sponsored by the Forest Service and UNL Extension Thursday morning. Seiler told those at the clinic to plant native and regionally-adapted trees, and to plant a variety of tree species and ages of trees. She explained the basics for watering newly-planted young trees; trees need 1-1 1/2 inches of water every 7-14 days, she said. Tree experts no longer recommend a flush-cut when pruning, Seiler said, but rather cutting outside the branch protection zone (the "collar"), creating a circle cut, not an oval cut. Amy described many trees -- fast-growing and slower growing -- that are suitable for growing in Southwest Nebraska -- in spite of very little moisture, lots of heat, lots of cold, and what seems like endless wind. At the conclusion of the workshop, Seiler, UNL Extension Educator Roger Tigner, McCook Mayor Mike Gonzales (above) and other workshop participants planted a bur oak and a Shantung maple on the fairgrounds.

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