Category Archives: Science
Redwoods Like to Think Big
The redwood is the tallest tree on earth. Fact. How do they grow to this enormous size? They think big! It sounds silly but everything about their structure is set up to be huge. I have a 1 year old tree (see below). The strange thing about it is that its tiny. You would expect [...]
What’s the point of Grafting?
For a long time I wondered what the reason for grafting was. A sloppy graft seemed to be so disfiguring and pointless. However a graft is used to gain the desired qualities of a specimen tree. If the specimen tree is very straight, has many leaves or is a beautiful colour a graft can be [...]
How trees grow – Part 7 (Branches & Trunk)
Suprisingly height growth in a tree does not occur from the ground. If you made a mark on the trunk of a tree it would remain in the same place for the life of the tree. The branches extend from the buds and exisiting branches only expand in diameter, they do not lengthen. The trunk [...]
How trees grow – Part 6 (Buds & Leaves)
Buds are the primary source of new growth for a tree. They are one of the only parts of the tree which contains meristems. Meristems are areas of intense cell activity. This enables it to focus all its growing efforts into the new leaves which appear from the buds.
How trees grow – Part 5 (Roots)
Roots are the first thing to start growing in springtime. New fiborous roots start sprouting utilising the same meristems as buds.
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