This is an interesting observation on the maturity of trees, shared by my friend Leo Miranda-Castro:
The team’s restoration approach is guided by a deceptively simple idea: trees act their size, not their age. A hundred-year-old red spruce tree may stand just 20 feet tall. They can spend decades, even centuries, surviving in the understory, tolerating the shade beneath a dense hardwood canopy.
“Generally, red spruce is perfectly happy to lose the race to the top of the canopy,” says Humbert.
But once a gap opens in the canopy, caused by storm winds or human intervention, the trees can rapidly grow toward the light and fill the space. A strategy of patience.
This ties in with my own observations.
A few years ago I saw a Granny Smith apple planted in a non-gardener’s yard. He said something about how the tree just wasn’t doing anything.
I asked him how long ago it had been planted. He figured 6 years. Yet it was about the same size as when he had planted it!
If a tree is in an unfavorable location (this was mostly in shade) and isn’t fed, watered and mulched (his was none of the above), it doesn’t take off.
We had some fruit trees sit for about two years with minimal growth before we deep mulched and fed them with compost. The next year, they grew multiple feet.
Even though some will say “first year they sleep, second they creep, third they leap, it’s not a given. I have seen even first year trees take off when cared for well.
Here’s how we do it:
In related news, we’ll have a huge amount of bare root fruit trees coming into the shop in mid-January. Stay tuned.
Also, if you open up some light for a tree in the woods, you will often see it take off. This is something to remember if you have forested land on your property.
Go through there and look for trees you would like to see thrive, then cut down some of the undesired trees around them. You can even just drop the limbs and leaves on the ground where the other trees will feed on them over time.
If you find a persimmon, or plum, or pecan, or mulberry or whatever you would like to encourage, give it some light! Winter is a great time to do this.
