Re: Sycamore shape
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Sycamore shape
- From: C* D* <c*@fix.net>
- Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 16:03:58 -0800
>This message is to all of you who are knowledgeable about native California
>plants.... sycamores in particular. My other half and I always debate
>whether a tree should be shaped by humans or allowed to attain its own
>shape. He advocates for shaping it and I advocate for self-determination.
>Right now, we have some pre-adolescent California Sycamore trees -- they
>look more like huge shrubs at the moment, with many, many "trunklets"
>coming from the base and near the base. We want multi-trunked trees -- can
>we just leave them to self-prune or should we do "selective amputation?"
>
>thanks
>
>Nan
>
>PS These trees get almost no supplemental water, so they are basically on
>their own.
>**********
>'''''''''''''''''''''''
While I don't believe in self-shaping for a tree in a cultivated
environment, I also do not believe in massive pruning later in the tree's
life. If you have to do massive late pruning, you have the wrong tree in
the wrong place, in other words, a weed. But almost all trees can do with a
little guidance while young, just like your children.
Just down the street someone pollarded a Fruitless Mulberry. It is
of course coming back but the real problem is that it is too big a tree for
a small lawn and never should have been planted in the first place.
A sycamore is a large tree. You must have a half acre at least to
even plant one (in my opinion!). I like them as massive single trunk trees.
They get a trunk that can be several feet in diameter. It doesn't seem to
me that a multi-trunked one is practical. Are you sure you have the right
tree for your purpose?
It is my opinion that you must care what a tree will look like in
fifty or a hundred years even if you don't plan to be here!! I've seem
redwoods planted within ten feet of a building
!
I'm sending this reply to the group for expected rebuttals!!!
---Chas---
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It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
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