Archangel Ancient Tree Archive-This is amazing

Archangel Ancient Tree Archive

Meet David Milarch- a man who has undertaken a gargantuan and what some scientists and  foresters
had told him was an impossible task. He is collecting  genetic samples of the oldest, largest trees on Earth.

He and his sons  are then doing the near impossible-they are propagating and growing these trees

out and creating a champion tree archive. David is creating a Noah's Ark of  the world's oldest, largest

and most famous trees.

 

 David Milarch

Now for an interesting twist and some background information.

David Milarch is a third generation nurseryman. He used to live a wild life, he rode with motorcycle gangs,

drank and partied hard. An alcoholic for many years, he eventually suffered organ shutdown/renal failure.As he lay dying with his family around him,  he had a life changing near-death experience.

David had an out of body experience with what he described as "angels" He was escorted by 2 angels

to another place, a place of pure light. He could see a shimmering city in the distance and he badly wanted to go there. He said he felt so much love and pure bliss, he never wanted to leave.

 He was confronted by a giant Angel (archangel)? who told him he could not stay. " you must go back, you still have work to do" the giant angel told him. He returned to his own body, sat up in bed

 and told his family he was not going to die and he didn't. He recovered over the course of several months and waited for a sign of what he was supposed to do.  He said an angel returned one night-His bedroom was full of golden light and he was instructed to take paper and pen and go to another room. He did as instructed and when he awoke later,his pad was full of notes-This is part of what he had written:

The Earth's trees and forests were dying. Diseases, insects, drought and other

factors were decimating the natural order of things.The Earth and it's people were in danger.
David was commanded by the angel to clone the biggest, oldest and hardiest trees in the world. Trees that had lived hundreds and thousands of years.

The Earth and it's trees could only be fully restored to their natural order by planting trees grown from the giants of the forest.

David started the Archangel champion tree project in 1996 with his 2 sons, Jared and Jake.

They initially cloned a champion Sugar Maple and have not looked back.

Since then, they have propagated over 45 species of trees. Just to name  a few:

Coast Redwood-multiple trees/champions

Giant Sequoia-cloned 5th largest Sequoia in the world and other champions

Champion Oaks of Ireland and Britain
Bristlecone Pine-they cloned the Methuselah tree! The oldest single tree in the world.

Willow

Yew

The Archangel group has taken DNA from 60 of the most magnificent trees on the planet. They have cloned thousands of trees from this original DNA and are actively re-planting/re-foresting these champion trees.

This group of dedicated people did what the experts said was impossible.

Because of the cyclical  nature of their work, they take cuttings from ancient trees only part of the time.. Because every species is different, they have to find which method of propagation will work for each tree. It takes time to nurture and grow out propagated seedlings in their labs.

Clonal propagation of old growth trees at Archangel facility (location is a well guarded secret)

 Jared Milarch getting DNA from  the Waterfall Tree-Giant Sequoia

 

Meryl Marsh-Archangel Global Field Coordinator-Pictured with 5th largest tree in the world, Giant Sequoia

The Archangel Mission:

To propagate the world's most important old growth trees before they are gone.

To reforest the Earth with the offspring of these trees.

To archive the genetics of ancient trees in living libraries around the world for the future.

Whether you believe in the story of angelic guidance or not,

this is still  an amazing story of one man's vision and the willpower to make it happen.

To read more about this story go to: www.ancienttreearchive.org

There is a book written about David Millard. "The Man Who Planted Trees", by Jim Robbins.

 

The Earth's Oldest Trees

Graphic of the Earth's  Oldest Trees-Enjoy!

Pando, Xerxes and other strange words

Pando-one of the Earth's oldest organisms

But first, a little historical tree trivia-

Legend has it the the Persian king Xerxes was traveling with his army when he came across a Sycamore
tree of such size and beauty, he forced his army to stop and share his adoration of the tree.

He would not leave and spent several days in unabashed  admiration of this lovely tree.

The tree was adorned with gold, jewelry-bracelets, necklaces, robes of gold....etc. 

His impatient commanders and soldiers were beside themselves,  they threatened mutiny.

The story continues with Xerxes finally agreeing to leave the tree-only after a gold medal ,with a likeness of the tree on it, was made for him to wear  and only if the tree was left with a guard, to keep it safe.

Rumor has it he left one of his Immortals behind to guard the tree for the rest of his life.

*I wish more trees and Arborists were treated like this! I also wish more wives appreciated their husbands

in this fashion-robes of gold, unabashed admiration,adoration, our likeness on gold medals.Glorious!
.My wife has heard this story a thousand times and refuses to budge on her "non-adoration" of me. I still  believe, somewhere hidden, she has a giant, gold medallion with my face on it.

Today I bring you the story of Pando. Pando is Latin for "I spread" and is the name for one of the
Earth's most massive and  oldest living organisms. There is a grove of Quaking Aspen in Utah, believed to be 80,000 years old, with arguments suggesting that number could be 1,000,000 years old.
This grove of Aspen in Fishlake National Forest, Utah  covers 106 acres of land. There are roughly 43,000 individual stems/individual trees.
What is truly astonishing -Pando is a single living organism. Each individual stem has the same genetic marker, they are all the same tree. Over thousands of years, trees continue to sprout up from the same growing, expanding root system. When a tree dies, the roots send up  sprouts  that grow
 into a new tree/stem.

A small portion of the grove that is Pando

Nature never ceases to amaze us. From the giant Redwood and Seqouia, ancient Bristlecone Pines, to the
venerable Oaks of Europe,one theme remains constant. We are all subject to the laws of nature.

 The saddest, most bitter  law of nature is this: all living things must one day die.

Pando is dying- It doesn't make it any easier knowing how long this ancient grove has been around.

We  all want things that are beautiful, mythical and make us happy to last forever.I know I do.

A combination of drought, disease and insect damage are killing off areas in this Aspen grove at a rapid pace. There is some hope-the Western Aspen Alliance at Utah State University is working with a

coalition of land  owners, foresters and conservationists on a plan to help keep Pando alive/healthy.

They will try to stimulate the root system of Pando by cutting some trees down and burning the ground in  other areas. As crazy as that sounds, it is a technique that creates a chemical reaction, causing roots to send up new sprouts.

Trees seem to be  a microcosm of human life. We both sprout  fast, get stronger and

sturdier with age. In between growing and aging we have bouts of sickness/disease. We get beat up, broken limbs, but we survive. As we both continue to age, our resistance to these problems weakens. We start to fall apart, the system  breaks down, leading to a long or short  spiral with the inevitable ending.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Enjoy those things and people  that are beautiful, mythical and make you happy, you never know how long they will be here.

Only time will tell if Pando can survive.

Conversations about Trees in Kansas

Conversations about Trees in Kansas

Welcome to Kansas- (an Indian word, roughly translated: land of few trees/the trees are dying) just kidding!

You would not believe the reactions I have received over the years from  out of state people when I tell them

I am an Arborist from Kansas. Some of the better stories:

In Japan, Kansas is apparently revered for it's beef, not it's trees or Arborists.

While in Japan I was watching a group of Japanese Arborists pruning street trees. I snapped a few photos

of them pruning Mimosa trees.They were an interesting group, in identical jumpsuits, identical hard hats, very professional. They were meticulously pruning, I was impressed. I went up and introduced myself  in my worst/halting Japanese. I explained I was a fellow Arborist from Kansas and was enjoying their expertise while pruning Mimosa trees. They understood I knew what type of tree they were working on and the fact that I was a fellow Arborist did not seem to impress them. However, the big boss did bow to me and said
"Ah,  Kansas beef, Kansas beef very good". That was about all the conversation I could get out of them

 and I was not entirely satisfied with it.

In Chicago, they seem to be convinced Kansas is still the Wild West, with cowboys and Indians and

firmly believe there are no trees  in Kansas . Years ago, while enjoying beverages on Front Street in Chicago and Second City, I had struck up a few conversations with fellow patrons. I was amazed to learn that Kansas was stuck in the Old West, we still had gunfighters, Old West saloons, Indians ready to attack anyone/anywhere and everybody lived on the prairie, except the fortunate who lived in the bigger cities.

They were excited to hear about how  I had to fight my way  through Indians on  my horseback ride  to the airport. I also explained there were a lot of   trees in Kansas  and they were mainly used by the Indians and outlaws to hide behind when they were shooting at you. All were equally glad to hear that things were better in the bigger cities.

I told them the good news about city life in Kansas-the Indians weren't taking scalps anymore, shootouts in the saloons were down and hardly anybody shot it out at high noon on mainstreet anymore. Chicago is a great city,  with nice people who enjoy a good story about life in Kansas.

Southerners  tend to view Kansas Arborists with suspicion, us being from "up North" and do not seem

to be convinced we really have any trees in Kansas. I can't really blame them,we cannot compete with some of the magnificent old Live Oaks they have down south. I do respect their work ethic and the pride people take  in their trees in the south.

Years ago, while in Los Angeles, I struck up a conversation with a couple of dudes.

They were like-"dude, are you really from Kansas, "dude, like what do you people do there"

They thought it was really funny when I told them I was an Arborist.

They were like"dude, what do you do, there aren't any trees in Kansas, it's flat and only has grass"

I told them there were like 125 trees in Kansas and all the Arborists took turns watering them and watching them grow. That shut them up for a while.But  what really impressed them was when I told them a lot of the  grass growing on the prairie really wasn't grass, it was marijuana, and farmers were growing it everywhere.

 When they found out the best kept secret about Kansas was all the weed growing on the prairie, thousands of acres of it, they seemed pretty impressed. I explained Kansas State University was so famous as an agricultural mecca because scientists and researchers were experimenting with new and  more powerful strains of weed, that could survive the harsh prairie but was much more potent  than weed grown in California and Hawaii.

My LA bros agreed with this and said" Yeah, everbody knows about that, the Indians have been growing and smoking weed in Kansas for like a million years or so". Who knew? Those damned Indians! One more good reason for us to take their land.

Now that the news is out about weed being cultivated on the prairie,  I keep waiting for a mass exodus of bros from California to Kansas but have not heard anything yet.

It is fitting that I seem to relate to and interact well with  Arborists from the Great Plains States. We deal with a lot of the same disease issues and the extremes of heat, flood, drought, wind....etc. the only thing missing are rivers of fire and biblical plagues of locusts.

I was at an International Forestry Conference in Seattle. There were Environmental Scientists, Arborists, Foresters, Silviculturists, anybody that had anything to do with trees was there, hundreds of people

The keynote speaker asked all the Arborists from the Great Plains states to stand up.

There were quite a few of us that were in this massive ballroom. The speaker asked everyone to give us a round of applause. He stated we had one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

Whatever statistics he had read, because of extremes in temperatures, extremes in weather, insect and disease problems added in, being an Arborist in the Great Plains States and keeping trees alive and healthy  was like trying to have nice, green grass in the Mojave  desert.

I felt pretty good hearing that. I've often wondered what he would say if he knew there really are only 125 trees in Kansas and all the Arborists take turns watering them and watching them grow?

Kansas Arborists Winter Conference 2013

          

 Kansas Arborists Annual Shade Tree Conference 2013

I was able to attend the KAA  conference last week.  It was a great conference and we were fortunate enough to have Dr. Ned Tisserat as a keynote speaker.

Dr. Tisserat was the former head of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University.
He is now with Colorado State University as Professor and Extension Specialist.

Dr. Tisserat and his research team recently discovered and named Thousand Canker Disease of Walnut.

I have known Dr. Tisserat since 1993. He is an incredibly smart man, generous with his knowledge and time.

He is able to take  detailed concepts and break them down for less brilliant minds to easily grasp.

I routinely sent him cuttings and samples to the Pathology lab at K-State. I always had endless questions

and concerns, he always had time for me and my questions. When I was a City Forester, he was instrumental in helping me control a serious outbreak of Oak Wilt.( I never forget people who helped me)

Dr. Tisserat covered many subjects at the conference.A short breakdown:

Drought-We are still in the midst of a major drought, some effects on trees are immediate, we may see growth and health issues relating to this drought over the next several years. Other secondary factors/ pathogens are opportunistic, will move in or colonize trees stressed by drought-esp. Canker Diseases, most are associated with drought conditions.

Cankers/Canker diseases-

Hypoxylon- The most serious, a diffuse type canker, these are one of the few cankers that expand and grow rapidly. These generally lead to tree mortality. I see this on Oak trees after construction activity.

Also included in this diffuse canker category is Thousand Cankers Disease of Walnut.

Cytospora- common on stressed trees, we see quite a bit of this on Cottonwood, Locust, Willow

and Spruce trees.

Nectria- very common on Honeylocust

Botrosphaeria- Crabapple, Pine, Spruce, Rocky Mountain Juniper

Fusarium- Common on Goldenraintree

*Each one of these Cankers has it's own distinct symptoms and fruiting structures used for identification-their own very distinct signature.

Thousand Canker Disease of Walnut-Unfortunately, this disease is headed our way.

There is a statewide quarantine on Walnut logs in Kansas, but that most likely will not stop

people from bringing in infected firewood from Colorado or elsewhere. As of this time,

there are no treatments proven to be effective. I spoke to Dr. Tisserat about this and some other disease issues. He feels it might be possible to treat Walnut  trees with Tree-Age or similar insecticide, but there is no research at this time.

One interesting point that he had is how many Walnuts there are in Kansas. They don't get a lot of attention, but they are in neighborhoods, parks, greenspace and woods everywhere.

Bacterial Leaf Scorch- This is a first for Kansas. Bacterial Leaf Scorch was found on an Elm and

diagnosed positively in a lab.Leaves yellow and appear scorched, tree is defoliated.

This is a fairly significant problem in Eastern states, but the first we have seen it in Kansas.

This bacterium is thought to be spread by insects, specifically  leafhoppers.

In most cases, slow decline of tree and eventual death of tree. Injections of antibiotics will supress symptoms, but are not curative.

Emerald Ash Borer-Is now here, will be a nightmare when beetle populations build.

This is what we can expect to see in untreated trees as populations build over time.
As the  USDA Forest Service map below clearly illustrates, Ash tree mortality rises rapidly as populations build.

I sound like a broken record, but if you have valuable Ash trees, you need to inject them with
Tree-Age insecticide for 2 years of control with a proven 99% success rate.

This is the short version of conference material. My personal thanks to Dr. Ned Tisserat for sharing vast amounts of information with us.

Ipsa scienta potestas est-

knowledge itself is power

Picture of me in Okinawa, Japan 2002. This giant old Ficus tree is close to Shuri Castle, the
palace of the Ryukyu kingdom. Unfortunately this picture does not do this tree justice.
The word massive comes to mind-huge spreading canopy, gargantuan trunk, with roots spreading out over giant stone blocks. Massive roots and trunk are pushing/bowing out giant stone blocks.
The height and girth of this tree lead me to believe it is easily 200 years old and most likely much older.
Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese Banyan or more common Banyan tree.

Tree Injections

Tree Injections

People have been injecting substances into trees for hundreds of years, with varied success.

The great Leonardo DaVinci is credited with drilling holes into apple trees and adding arsenic

to poison the fruit and the thieves who were stealing his apples. (No historical notes on the success/failure of his project)

Trees are amazing organisms. They have a vascular system, which makes it possible to inject chemicals directly into the xylem, the water-conduction portion of wood. This ties into the natural movement of water, sugars and starches throughout the roots, stem and canopy. Chemicals are spread efficiently throughout the tree by utilizing  this natural process.

The downside of any injection is we are drilling holes and wounding the tree to get chemical into it.

The question for me has always been: Is the cure causing long term problems for the tree?

When I first started down the path of Arboriculture, I was extremely reluctant to inject/injure trees.

In my original capacity as a City Forester, I witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of Dutch Elm disease and Oak Wilt. When I realized there were a select few chemicals that could control these diseases, I changed my mind. The risk is worth the reward. Trees injected preventatively, at the proper time with the correct dose of chemical can resist these diseases and will not become infected.
(Dutch Elm disease and Oak Wilt are vascular diseases that kill trees quickly).

As I began injecting trees for disease control, I documented some of  my experiences-
Pine trees are almost possible to inject-pitch in the wood quickly clogs injector tips/tees.
Even under increased pressure, they are still difficult and because the wood is diffuse porous, I question
the efficiency of transport and distribution. (We are typically spraying Pines with fungicide for control and
injecting fertilizers into soil and root zones).

Oaks and Elms transport water/chemical very efficiently. Wood is ring porous and will
transport larger volume efficiently.
*Using a macro-injection process, I had an Elm tree uptake 48 gallons of water and chemical in
38 minutes-this sounds crazy, but it pulled it that fast.

I also  found that the vast majority of injection holes closed within1 year,

when done correctly-drilled to the proper depth, using a clean, sharp bit.

The use of high-helix drill bits is also helpful.

There are several reasons for injecting trees, first and foremost is disease control.

Please keep in mind that chemical injections are not always necessary. Some disease problems and many insect problems can be controlled by spraying alone. Some of these issues are cyclical/cosmetic and do not cause serious or long-lasting problems for trees.

You have to be careful, chemical companies market every conceivable type of chemical and injection process . There are always  people that want to sell you things, not because you really need it

or it is important for a trees' survival. There are also some fairly unscrupulous people posing as Arborists

that want to sell you a chemical "program" or just want to sell you a lot of crap you really don't need.

Methods of injection-(Processes)

Macro-injection uses a higher volume of water mixed with chemical and in my opinion, is the most

successful, long-lasting treatment process.

This is the process we use to treat trees preventatively for Dutch Elm disease, Oak Wilt and to treat trees

for Iron Chlorosis.
Pictured below is an American Elm I injected several years ago. Our company is still treating this tree.

It is alive and well, after Dutch Elm disease killed many of the trees on adjacent properties.

This picture illustrates the use of tees, hose and spacing of injection sites using the macro-injection system.

Pictured below is company owner Greg VanBooven using the Medi-ject system to treat an Oak for Iron Chlorosis. This is very common on Pin Oaks and other trees in the Kansas City metro.
 Iron Chlorosis causes leaves to yellow and growth is stunted, mainly a soil PH issue and inability of trees to assimilate Iron and Manganese because of soil PH.
Another example of a macro-injection system, using a high volume of water and chemical.

Micro-injection- I am not a big fan of micro-injection. Small, pressurized capsules are used to get chemical into tree. While it has it's uses on small trees or trees with limited root access, I question the efficiency

and have seen limitations firsthand. I have no pictures of this process, we typically do not use it.

I have used it in dire circumstances to treat for Oak Wilt and it did work, also to inject fertilizer into trees

surrounded by asphalt and concrete, to keep them alive/buy time. I was not a big fan of this methodology/philosophy, but had a client that was insistent.

He wanted to keep trees alive until he could get other trees planted and growing.

*Emerald Ash Borer and preventative Ash injections-

This is just starting in our area. As beetle populations build, it will be a major issue for all

varieties of Ash tree in the next 2-4 years.

There is a chemical and an injection process that will work extremely well to treat for Emerald
Ash Borer. 

The Arbor-Jet system is combination of micro/macro principles. 

Using the chemical Tree-Age, we can treat preventatively for 2 years of control.

When done properly at the correct rates, there is a 99.9% success rate.

Pictured below is the Arbor-Jet system we will be utilizing to inject Ash trees for EAB prevention

If you have questions about tree injections, contact me at brad@vanbooventree.com

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders"
Gautama Buddha

Pruning Japanese Maples

Pruning Japanese Maples

Japanese Maples are fantastic trees. Each tree is a work of art, from the small, delicate laceleaf 

trees to the larger, spreading upright varieties. When deciding to have these gems pruned, it might be a good

idea to talk with a Certified Arborist. I  have pruned hundreds  of these magnificent specimens.

 There are some tips and tricks to achieving your pruning goals without taking anything away from the form or causing harm to the trees.

Things to remember- The bark of Japanese Maples is thin and soft. Be careful with your pruning tools.
It is very easy to nick or peel bark if you are not paying close attention.

Make proper pruning cuts at branch collars-Being thin-barked, Japanese Maples are a little finicky about

pruning cuts-improper pruning cuts lead to decay!

If the tree is large or mature enough to be climbed, wear soft soled shoes that will not tear or damage bark.

I have seen some beautiful large, old trees that people had climbed in and caused extensive damage from

their climbing  boots.

Remove deadwood, crossing and rubbing limbs, limbs dragging or touching the ground (common on weeping trees)

Less is truly more with these rare and delicate beauties. You never want to remove a large portion of the canopy. This is unnecessary and can damage the health of the tree.(Think hand pruners and loppers, not chainsaw).

If tree is unusually thick in the canopy, remove inner foliage/layers.

I found two pruning illustrations that I would like to share. These were in an article written by Cass Turnbull of Seattle. I met Cass several years ago at an international forestry conference in Seattle and enjoyed her views on pruning. 

Look deep into nature

"Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better"
Albert Einstein

Pruning Illustrations-A picture can be worth a thousand words.
I would like to share these pruning diagrams. This is a great way to understand what
typically needs to be done to either small or larger sized trees when pruning properly.
The first diagram (below) is a smaller tree needing corrective pruning /subordination.

 In all cases of pruning, we are trying to correct problems and ultimately create a better tree.
 Pictured below is a larger sized tree with the diagram showing  work typically needing to be done.