The Growing Importance of Roots (pun intended).
Landscape professionals, of all stripes, are increasingly focusing on the importance of tree root health and development, from propagation to planting, in the longevity and durability of landscape trees. Three 2016 surveys, conducted by a national arboriculture web site (see link below), showed that only a limited number of wholesale tree growers, nationwide, are incorporating consistent and sophisticated methods of improved tree root structure and distribution throughout their production schemes. AZT was one of 23 nationwide nurseries that responded to the survey. In 1990, AZT began our Root Management Program and we were encouraged to see the topic getting wider attention. Like AZT, about 40% of those who responded indicated that they had developed their individual methodologies in consultation and collaboration with arborist and other horticultural professionals.
Availability Trumps Price and Quality
Quoting the survey, “Growers indicated that availability was the most common complaint by nursery customers, followed by cost. Quality of root systems was pretty low down on the list of complaints.” The perennial disconnect between tree availability and tree demand will forever be a part of the tree producer/buyer dynamic. The more unfortunate news is that customers under value the importance of quality roots and their role in long term survival of trees. This is a blind spot shared by portions of the landscape design, construction and municipal entities, especially when caliper alone is a driving determinant in what tree is actually planted. Because trees fail, as a result of compromised root systems, months, years and even decades after they are purchased and planted the cause/effect nature of these problems are lost to the casual observer or attributed to more easily explained “recent events”. In reality many of these problems go all the way back to the original tree growing practices used in the nursery.
Cost and the False Equivalence
The expectation that quality may be more expensive is entirely reasonable. The survey suggests that some growers are concerned that the additional cost associated with producing quality root systems cannot be passed along to buyers in a price driven marketplace. Our experience is exactly the opposite. By incorporating root quality measures, at every level of our production, and by properly training our staff, we improved the rate of tree growth which allows us to reduce our overall production time while providing a superior quality, with improved tree viability. Clearly, growers need to be vigilant about labor efficiency and have good staff management, but it is our experience that trees with high quality root systems can be brought to market at very competitive prices.
Relationship and Nursery Stock Growing Methods
Landscape professionals (Certified Arborists, landscape architects, municipal urban foresters, and landscape contractors) report that quality of nursery stock is the number one reason for choosing a grower, species availability is second and strong existing business relationship is third, with location and price much lower priorities.
Beyond the Grower
Projects are typically awarded to the lowest bidder, challenging contractors to be price conscious in their tree/shrub sources in order to offer the most competitive bid. Municipalities, landscape architects, contractors and developers need to be educated to better influence landscape tree buying habits with regard to total quality and not just the above ground tree specifications. Root defects are a ticking time bomb for a landscape project that is only revealed years after planting. And while growers can work diligently to develop quality root structure, long term survival is also heavily impacted by planting practices and care once the tree has been installed in the landscape. The landscape design and construction community must be involved in the correction of root defects at planting time, either by doing the work themselves, training/supervising field staff, or with written specifications regarding root examination and, as needed, corrective action. Ideally, specifications for root quality should be written into the bid request or landscape plans.
Challenges
Timing is everything and it frequently works against quality landscape construction. Too often, by the time landscapes are installed, most commercial construction projects are drawing to a close and there is more emphasis on finishing work quickly, to get their Certificate of Occupancy, than finishing correctly. These conditions foster hasty purchasing decisions that rarely emphasize tree quality.
The greatest impediment to purchasing quality trees is that “no other nursery customer in my area seem to be concerned about root quality.” Greater emphasis on producing trees with high quality root system will not be fully realized until the marketplace demands them. Until then, growers like AZT and others will continue to emphasize the importance of root management as part of our overall commitment to quality.
Quality remains our guiding principal at Arid Zone Trees.
Tree/root quality, like durability and longevity within the landscape, are no accident. Our commitment to producing premium quality desert adapted landscape trees goes back to our initial planting in 1981. Our development of clonal propagation methods that gave rise to ‘Variety AZT’ was the next step in our quest to find and grow better desert trees. The logical extension from ‘Variety AZT’, that primarily focused on the phenotypic/horticultural qualities of desert trees, was our Root Management Program that focused producing root systems that were worthy of the trees we have selected to grow.
Nurseries Speak Out On Tree Root Defects
Nursery Quality: Challenges and Solutions for Growers (Responses)