RI Tree to Host Free Summer Tree Workshops

RI Tree is again hosting its free tree workshops—one of the organization’s most popular education sessions. We started these workshops a few years ago, and they have caught on with people. The two-hour workshops review the knowledge, skills, and equipment you need to conduct safe and rewarding interactions with trees, landscapes, and community forests. 

These workshops generate increased awareness and a better understanding of the beauty, benefits, and concerns associated with trees and a healthy canopy. The workshops also offer a chance to explore local trees and discuss critical tree issues. RI Tree staff conduct the sessions, which run from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The locations and topics of information, explanation, and discussion are below. 

• Champion Tour (Westerly @ Wilcox Park) July 18th

Visiting some Champion Tree specimens, we will present the program’s history and the process of nominating, scoring, and calculating a Champion tree’s score. The Helen Walker Raleigh Tree Care Trust, managed by the Rhode Island Foundation, generously supports the Walker Raleigh Champion Tree Program with a special grant.

• Preservation of Forest (Powder Mill) July 25th

These visits to the urban fringe forest will discuss preservation strategies and forest health issues. 

• Reading the Landscape (Newport @ Morton Park) August 8th

This visit to Morton Park will focus on the efforts of sustaining canopy in an urban park. These discussions will also focus on how correct planting, large tree maintenance, and physical infrastructure plays a role in providing well-canopied recreational spaces.

• Preserving Elder Trees (E. Greenwich @ Goddard Park) August 15th

A park stroll looks at tree structure and its relationship to health, maintenance, and performance. How a tree is treated in its formative years determines the capacity and need for future maintenance. If you have developing or established landscapes, this session can help determine appropriate care.

• Tree & Ornamental Training (Johnston @ RITree) August 22nd

This session focuses on pruning practices and strategies for fruit trees and young nursery stock.

You can register for these workshops at the RI Tree website, which features some of the other events, programs, and workshops we offer, as well as our tree care videos and blog.

Proper Planting Techniques Boost a Tree’s Survival Chances

Thinning crowns. Stunted leaves. Dying branches. These signs indicate a tree’s slow and steady decline over the years. But even dead trees have stories to tell. A closer look at a dead tree’s trunk often tells you what caused the tree’s demise.  Healthy tree trunks have solid, continuous bark. Ding tree’s tree’s bark, on the other hand, is broken or has sections missing. it’s a sign that something is wrong.

Bark defects are instructive if you know how to interpret them. They tell you that the tree’s sapwood—its “plumbing”— has died. Sapwood contains millions of rectangular tube-like cells stacked one on top of the other. They feed nutrients and water to the tree. That, in turn, supplies the leaves, stems, and roots with the nourishment they need to survive.

When a plant’s sapwood fails, however, the channeling of these vital plant elements slows. Eventually, it stops. That isn’t good for the tree. Bark defects suggest the tree has suffered from malnutrition and water loss for years. While that information is helpful, it doesn’t explain the tree’s ultimate demise. So, what caused that?

The tree’s trunk or root flare tells you what happened. If there’s no flute-like shape at the flare, someone may have planted the tree too deeply, damaging the tree’s root system and stopping vital nutrients from getting to the tree. That, in turn, set in motion a series of events that weakened the tree’s primary functions and internal structure. Eventually, it leads to its death.

If whoever planted the tree had used the proper planting techniques, the tree might have lived a long time. In other words, the tree’s death was avoidable. Unfortunately, losing a tree because of improper planting techniques isn’t uncommon. That’s why you need to plant a tree using the correct techniques. That boosts its survival chances and ensures the tree gets all the nutrients it needs to survive and thrive.

See our section on tree care tips to learn how to plant a tree correctly and how to ensure it survives during the early stages of growth.