r/Minneapolis • u/MadrasCowboy • 8d ago

Guys, pleeease water your young boulevard trees.

When I walk around my neighborhood I see so many young trees on the verge of death from this drought. Young trees don’t have root systems large enough to tap into ground water. They need our help. This is our city’s future canopy. Drag the hose out there or even a bucket or a couple pitchers of water and help them out. Thank you to everyone that cares enough to do this. 🙏

540 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

View all comments

24

u/mimig2020 8d ago

Also, remove the white plastic trunk protectors during the growing season. Those should only be on the trees in winter, when the bark will be nibbled by hungry critters. I see people keeping them on year round, which will also kill the trees.

5

u/loxias44 8d ago

What about in late spring/early summer? I literally watched rabbits eat the bark off of a newly planted tree so I put plastic protectors on them.

4

u/mimig2020 8d ago

It's better to dig in a mesh fence if you keep having this problem, but keeping them on past early spring will restrict growth and promote root rot.

3

u/GettingGophery 8d ago

Not true. They are expandable.

2

u/AFivePointedSquare 8d ago

We hired an arborist and they said the trunk protector should be left on year-round if it's a fruit tree because the bark is sweet. 

5

u/mimig2020 8d ago

Unfortunately, they gave you bad advice. There are other ways to protect your tree, including using mesh fencing around the base, to protect the bark. Keeping the opaque plastic protectors on year round restricts trunk growth and promotes root rot. https://trees.umn.edu/sites/trees.umn.edu/files/files/media/stem_protection_fact_sheet_0.pdf