This Bud Is For You - If You Want A Straight Tree

On 23 June 2009 this Autumn Blaze Maple was tubed with a 4 foot tall Plantra Vented O-Style Tree Tube.

As you can see in 11 weeks there was a tremendous difference in growth.

The untubed maples are shrubby and about 17-20 inches tall and the tubed maple is 5-1/2 FEET tall with a gun barrel straight stem.

Given the fact that all 1,000 maples in this picture are under two feet and the Plantra maple is well over 5 feet, I think it is safe to say the Plantra Tree Tube made a difference. I would go so far as to claim statistical significance. If the difference is great enough - all you need is one!

Quite a difference - an important difference, but not what I want to call to your attention.

My purpose is to explain some of the hidden mysteries of plant growth in a well designed tube.

The next image is a close-up of the leaves and buds that formed just at the point the maple was emerging from the Plantra Tree Tube into full sun. There is something odd about that picture - it looks upside down. Can you see it?

Notice the dark bark has developed above the younger looking green bark.

Normally you would expect the newer parts to look newer and the older parts to look older. Not in this case.

The lower - older - stem parts were protected from intense sun, strong winds and scouring sand, so the plant kept the protected area photosynthetically active. There is chlorophyll in the stem inside the tube. This effectively increases the leaf surface area and the growth potential of the plant. Not sure if I have every read that observation before.

But that is not what is truly interesting here. Let us look at the next set of leaves below the dark stemmed area.

The first thing you will notice is the angle of the leaf stalk or petiole. It is angled upward because it developed in the restricted space of a tree tube. Next again notice the photosynthetically active green stem.

But wait... there is more.

The most significant difference between the two images is that in the upper picture small branches have emerged between the stem and the leaf stalk. Scroll back up and take a look.

In the lower picture all we have are two leaves. This two leaves only pattern continues exactly the same down the stem for all of the new growth in the tube.


Why is this significant?

• It means the grower has a labor-free method to control the height of the first branches
  
• It means the plant has not wasted energy producing useless branches
• It means the grower has far fewer branches to prune
• It means the stem it straighter
• It means the stem is stronger - no narrow crotches or included bark
  
• It means the stem has a more appealing form for a veneer or landscape buyer
• It means more growth due to excellent air flow within the tube to replenish CO2 consumed in growth
• It means no excess of fungus harboring moisture trapped by over crowded leaves and branches
  

There will of course be a dormant bud at the leaf site, but it will not form a branch under normal conditions.

Branches do not form readily in the tube because of the absence of blue light and a surplus of red light. Not all tubes take this important plant response to account when designing products. At Plantra we try to think of everything.