Pruning Trees (Part 2 of 2)

How to Prune

Before you begin pruning assess the entire tree. Come up with a comprehensive plan and ultimate goal of what you are trying to accomplish. Make good pruning cuts. When you prune a tree you are creating a wound. Trees don't heal like people do; they do not regenerate tissue. Rather, trees callus over wounds or compartmentalize to seal off decay. The wound will forever be a part of the tree. Keeping that in mind, it is important to minimize the damage made from a pruning cut.

• Once a branch has been chosen for removal, identify the branch collar or bulge near the base of the branch (below).

• The branch collar contains active tissues that help in the healing process. It is important not to damage this part of the tree when making your cut.
• When making the cut, try to keep your hand pruners or saw just on the outside of the branch collar.
• If you cut into the branch collar it is called a "flush cut" and should be avoided

• If you cut too far out from the branch collar you are likely to leave a stub. The tree will have a hard time healing over a stub leaving it vulnerable to diseases and harmful bacteria.

• Here is an example of a proper pruning cut made just on the outside of the branch collar but not too far out on the branch so as not to leave a stub.

• Establish a central leader. Establishing a central leader will encourage upward growth of the tree. It will also create better structure and aesthetics as well as long term health and safety.
• The tree in the photo below left has co-dominant leaders, or two competing leaders. If left alone this may create future problems, as shown on right

• The photos below are showing how one leader can be removed. Try to keep the main stem or the branch with higher growth rate and remove the other one.

• If the branch is too large to cut with a hand pruners then use the 1-2-3 cut method to avoid tearing the bark as the branch separates from the tree.

 

 

o   Cut 1: Saw into the underside of the branch. Be sure to score the entire lower side of the branch.

o   Cut 2: Saw off the weight of the branch a few inches out from the first cut.

o   Cut 3: Remove the stub on the outside of the branch collar.

Rules to Remember

• If the pruning requires a chainsaw and ladder then call a professional arborist
• Never prune more than 25% of the tree's canopy at one time
• NEVER top a tree (shown below left). It is harmful and creates a dangerous tree
• Don't "lion's tail" or over thin the crown (shown below right)
• Do not tip the branches (cut off the ends of the branches)
• Be sure that you use sharp and sanitized pruning equipment. Dirty equipment can spread disease.  

 

 

To help you determine when and why you should prune your trees, see Part 1 of this series.

Is it the end of the charitable deduction?

You may have received a year-end appeal from Tree Trust or another nonprofit organization this year. You may have already given, and if you did, you likely received a thank-you note that included the following line or something similar:

"Your gift is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law."

Well, this quite possibly could be the last year that your thank-you letter will include that information, because it could be the last year that there is a tax deduction for charitable giving. The federal government is considering eliminating this and other tax deductions as a way to avoid the "fiscal cliff" and increase revenue from high income Americans in order to reduce our country's debt.

If this passes, it will discourage giving. See this article from the Philanthropy Potluck blog by the Minnesota Council on Foundations for more information including statistics on how much of a reduction in giving to expect. One major fact to note is that the vast majority of Minnesotans who give have incomes of under $200,000, and many of those are under $50,000.

Perhaps you don't donate to a nonprofit, but this change would likely still affect you or your loved ones. If charitable donations are decreased, many organizations who provide public services will be affected. Do you ever go to a farmer's market, a library, a church or your local YMCA? Museums, food shelves, health clinics and hospitals, colleges and universities, libraries, religious institutions, homeless shelters, theaters, sports programs, childcare programs, and community gardens could all be affected along with many other nonprofits. In sum, services provided by nonprofits that improve the quality of life for Minnesotans every day could be negatively impacted if the deduction for charitable giving is eliminated or reduced.

How can you help? Email or call your representative or senator and ask them to protect charitable giving. Ask your friends and family to do the same. Share this article on social media to help raise awareness.

Giving Tuesday

Have you heard of Giving Tuesday? We have Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday to encourage shopping, shopping, and more shopping, but giving back during the holiday season often gets lost in the shuffle. There is nothing wrong with purchasing gifts during the holidays, but a new national movement is trying to remind us that the holidays are also a time to share time, money, and resources with those who are less fortunate.

Tree Trust encourages you to think about what you have to give. Do you have time to volunteer? Or do you prefer to share your financial resources? You can choose to do either of these things from the front page of the Tree Trust website. Select “Donate Now” or “Get Involved” to learn how you can be an active giver with Tree Trust.

You can also subscribe to the Tree Trust e-newsletter from the front page of our website to stay informed of volunteer opportunities and general Tree Trust happenings. We unfortunately will not have many volunteer opportunities until spring since we can't plant trees in frozen ground, but you’ll be “in the know” of others things going on with Tree Trust.

If you don't have time to volunteer, but are interested in supporting Tree Trust's work, please consider making a donation. Or, do you need a meaningful gift for someone who has everything? Or for someone who cares deeply about the environment? Consider making a contribution in their honor to our Green Futures fund.

Please join us tomorrow for Giving Tuesday. Learn more at givingtuesday.org or follow #GivingTuesday on Twitter.

What We're Thankful For

Tree Trust has a lot to be thankful for this year and in the spirit of Thanksgiving we would like to reflect on some of the things that make us thankful for being a part of this great organization.

• We had five successful Learning with Trees events this year. Besides the events being fun, it also gives us an opportunity to see budding environmental stewards as children help to improve the landscape at their schools by planting trees!

• With the help of volunteers we recently planted trees in North Minneapolis, Eden Prairie, and Fridley. Volunteer participation allows us to have these events, and also gives people an opportunity to work alongside their neighbors while bettering their community.

• In September we snagged some media attention when we teamed up with Jason Mraz, KS95, and Reverb for a planting event. The publicity was great and only helps to raise awareness of the importance of our work.

• Last but not least on our list of things that we're thankful for this fall, we are thankful for being one of four finalists for the Toro Grant Initiative "Green Spaces Make Better Places," which makes us eligible to win a $7,000 grant. You can help us win that grant by voting here.

Before you go out shopping on Black Friday remember that dedicating a Green Futures tree to someone makes a great Christmas gift! We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Thanks for supporting us!

Thanks to new donors and old, we raised $2,580 yesterday for Give to the Max Day! We appreciate the ongoing support from current donors, and we welcome new donors into the fold. These contributions help us to meet our mission of improving the community environment by investing in people. Support enables us to...

• Provide meaningful opportunities for greening our local community
• Give youth the chance to experience success, boost their self-confidence and find direction
• Teach practical job skills to help adults reshape their lives
• Help neighbors understand and connect with each other and the natural world

This year is the fourth year of celebrating Give to the Max Day in Minnesota, and Tree Trust has gladly participated each year. It's a great day to join thousands of donors and nonprofits to raise millions of dollars for our Minnesota communities! If you missed out yesterday and still want to support Tree Trust, please visit our website. Thanks to all who supported us yesterday.

Volunteer this fall!

Have you ever volunteered with Tree Trust? Would you like to? We are looking for volunteers to help plant trees as part of our annual GreenFutures plantings. The first will be on Saturday, October 6 in Eden Prairie at Forest Hills Park and the second will be in Fridley on Saturday, October 13 at the Springbrook Nature Center. 

Tree Trust staff and Tree Trainers train volunteers on-site on the proper method of planting a tree so no experience is necessary - just be willing to learn, have fun and enjoy the outdoors! Plantings are family-friendly, so feel free to bring your kids  as long as they are well-supervised. Check out the volunteer page of our website to learn more and sign up!

Are you interested in becoming a Tree Trainer? Tree Trainers learn how to lead other volunteers and students in planting trees properly at Green Futures and Learning with Trees plantings. Tree Trainers have to attend a training and volunteer at two events per year. We just happen to have a Tree Trainer Training this Saturday, September 29 with a few openings left. Sign up here!

Green Futures gives volunteers a chance to actively participate in improving our local environment. In addition, individuals can support the program through contributions to the Green Futures Fund. Nearly $50,000 has been donated to Green Futures since 2008 and each dollar donated by individuals is matched by a local family foundation.

Each $150 in the fund plants another tree for a total of over 720 trees planted in the Twin Cities to date! Trees planted through Green Futures are six- to ten-feet tall well-established trees which have a much greater chance of survival than seedlings.

Please consider joining us for an event this fall. Volunteering with Tree Trust is a great, hands-on way to give back to the community!

Individual Employment Placements

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) has two sub-programs, the Youth Conservation Corps and Individual Employment Placements. You have already seen a blog entries about the Youth Conservation Corps, but probably know less about Individual Employment Placements. For the individual placement portion of the program, SYEP staff works with a variety of community partners like libraries, governmental agencies, businesses, and nonprofits that are able to provide employment experiences to youth participants. Youth work in these community organizations and learn skills in the areas of customer service, childcare, janitorial, and administrative, among others.

Some examples of organizations where Tree Trust youth are placed this summer include ARC's Value Village in Richfield, Intermediate School District 287 in Plymouth, South St Paul Library in Hastings, Feed My Starving Children in Eagan, Independent School Districts 192 and 196 in Rosemount and Farmington, and the City of Brooklyn Center. There are 89 sites in total and 317 youth participants from Dakota and Hennepin Counties in the Individual Employment Placement portion of SYEP.

Providing this program allows Tree Trust to increase the number of youth we serve, provide more variety of experience, and work with youth who may not be able to participate on the Youth Conservation Corps. If you are interested in hosting a Tree Trust participant at your workplace next summer, please contact us.

FREE E-cycling Initiative to Benefit Tree Trust

OceanTech, an organization dedicated to providing environmentally responsible electronics recycling, is offering its 3^rd Annual Educators’ E-cycling Initiative from now until November 1, 2012. For every pound of e-waste collected by schools during this time, OceanTech will donate one cent to Tree Trust!

Electronics that are not properly recycled can release damaging chemicals into our environment, harming plants, animals, and people. OceanTech reuses collected items when possible, and works with a variety of recyclers to recycle all possible components following EPA and Hennepin County guidelines.

In addition to the great benefits to the environment that their work already has, OceanTech wants to support our community environment with every pound of electronics that they collect from area schools. Last year OceanTech collected more than 200,000 pounds of used electronics from schools across Minnesota. This year the goal is to bring in 500,000 pounds, which would raise enough for Tree Trust to hold a community planting in the metro area!

OceanTech has specific methods they prefer to have used for preparation and transportation of items. In some cases there may be fees assessed for logistics and loading. Contact Josh Heath at OceanTech with questions or for more information.

Please help us recycle used electronics for FREE and benefit our Twin Cities community in the process!

Tree Trust partners with Groupon Grassroots

Tree Trust is partnering with Groupon Grassroots to raise money to plant trees through our Green Futures program! What is Groupon Grassroots? An offshoot of the popular Groupon deal-of-the-day website, the Grassroots initiative is "a new way to discover local causes, rally together, and lend a helping hand." It provides an opportunity for nonprofits to raise awareness for their cause, reach out to new donors, and raise money to support their mission.

For Tree Trust, this partnership will help spread the word of our Green Futures initiative and help us get more trees in the ground in our community!

If you are already a Groupon subscriber in the Twin Cities metro area, you will receive email notification of our campaign. Tree Trust must have 65 people contribute $10 for us to benefit at all. 

Since this benefits our Green Futures campaign every donation will be matched dollar for dollar by our anonymous donor, doubling your impact!  And if that isn't enough, once we have raised enough to have a community planting event, you can plant trees with us as a volunteer.

Consider contributing to Tree Trust via Groupon. New donors will be more likely to give once they see that others are excited about a cause. Your contribution of just $10 will help us plant trees, attract new donors, and raise awareness of our efforts!

Volunteer with Tree Trust

TREE TRUST VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES beginning in May.

Please see the information below and click on the link associated with each event. All of these events will take place rain or shine. If you wish to be notified of future events, we recommend you subscribe to TreeNews, our paperless newsletter. You can sign-up on the left side of the front page of our website at www.treetrust.org. 

UPCOMING VOLUNTEER EVENTS 

What:  REFOREST ST. LOUIS PARK COMMUNITY PLANTING

When:  May 12^th 9am-Noon

Where:  Oak Hill Park, 3201 Rhode Island Avenue South, St. Louis Park 55426

Sign up here:  http://tinyurl.com/ReForest-SLP-Planting

Nothing beats going home dirty on a lovely May morning after planting trees! We can’t promise the weather will be perfect, but we can promise you’ll have a great time planting trees in a pretty fantastic park. We’ll be planting about 45 trees around the park, plus mulching and watering. You’ll learn how to properly plant a tree and make some new friends. We’re looking for 40-50 people for this volunteer event. Our planting opportunities fill up fast, so if you’re interested sign up now! Planting events are family-friendly, so feel free to bring your kids. 

P.S. This planting is part of St. Louis Park’s Arbor Day event and runs concurrently with the Minnesota Tree Climbing championship. If you’ve never seen professional tree climbing against a clock, you should stick around after planting to check it out.

What: MINNEAPOLIS TREE DISTRIBUTION

When: May 12th multiple shifts - 6:45-11:00 am, 11:00 am-4:15 pm

May 13th multiple shifts - 7:45 am-12:00 pm, 12:00 pm-4:15 pm

May 14th 2:45-7:15 pm 

If you're interested in volunteering Saturday or Sunday but the timing of the shifts doesn't work quite right for your schedule, please contact Karen at karenz@treetrust.org.

Where:  City of Minneapolis Impound Lot-51 Colfax Avenue North, Minneapolis

Sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/MPLS-City-Trees 

 

Did you know that the City of Minneapolis has to remove thousands of trees each year lost to pests and disease? Did you know that the greatest opportunity to increase the tree canopy in Minneapolis is on private property? Help distribute 1,900 trees to Minneapolis residents as part of the annual three day tree distribution. We’ll need volunteers to not only help get trees into vehicles (great physical and mental exercise) but also to facilitate traffic control and check in. We’ll need around 20 people for each shift on Saturday and Sunday…got a group? Sign them all up!

We’ll also be starting Weeding Wednesdays along the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis this June…join us for a couple hours of midweek, mind clearing, weeding experiences. Locations to be determined. Keep an eye on our website for location details.

Thanks in advance. We hope to see you at a few of our events!