Longtime friend Arlyn Perkey (US Forest Service, retired) sent this great set of photos from his property in West Virginia. Here's the story: In spring 2007 he planted 2 red oak acorns in a Plantra Tree Tube. Both nuts germinated and grew. In the spring of 2009 he lifted the tree tube, and replaced it over just one of the seedlings, leaving the other unprotected.
Arlyn took this photograph on May 7, 2009:
As you can see, the seedling outside the tube has leafed out and looks good. The seedling in the tube has not quite started to leaf out, due to reduced light conditions (BTW the reduce light helps reduce stress & increase growth later in summer). For the seedling outside the tube, this was the best of times.
Now here's the photo Arlyn took on May 22, 2009 about 2 weeks later:
(click on the photos to enlarge them)
Thanks to the red bandanna that Arlyn added for background you can see that the situation has completely reversed: The seedling inside the tube has leafed out and is growing well. The seedling outside the tube was completely stripped of leaves by deer and is trying to leaf out again... no doubt only to be browsed by deer yet again. Outside the safety of the tree tube, it is the worst of times for this young oak!
(It's also a great photo of the dappled sunlight coming in through the vent apertures in the walls of the Plantra Tree Tubes!)
Thanks to Arlyn for a great set of photographs. After 20 years of trying I know how hard it is to get the right depth of field to take photos like this. To see more photos of Plantra Tree Tubes "in action," visit our photo gallery http://www.plantra.com/photogallery/index.php
Posts
