CNGA Looseleaf Dec 2018 Jan 2019

6 colorad o nga.org LooseLeaf December 2018/January 2019 MEMBER PROFILE How did you get started with the company? My career in the nursery industry began with a three-year apprenticeship in Switzerland. After several internships with nurseries in England and the U.S., I settled in Oregon where I worked for 10 years as a farm manager with J. Frank Schmidt & Son. A little over four years ago, I started my current position with Northwest Shade Trees, a company that was founded by J. Frank Schmidt in 1973. We are a wholesale tree grower that serves primarily the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain regions of the westerrn U.S., offering more than 300 varieties of B&B specimen deciduous shade trees and conifers. What are your most popular trees in the Colorado market? The biggest seller for us in Colorado is the Rocky Mountain Glow ® Big Tooth Maple. Other top sellers include Bakeri Blue Spruce, Goldenrain Tree (Koelreuteria), Redpoint ® Maple, Espresso™ Kentucky Coffee Tree (Gymnocladus), Bosnian Pine, Honeylocust, and Hot Wings ® Maple. What are some of your special nursery practices? If you visit our 350-acre nursery, you’ll see a perennial grass covercrop between our rows of trees. This practice reduces compaction from vehicles and equipment, helps control weeds, and keeps the dust down. It provides better working conditions when the ground is wet, and adds a more pleasant look and feel to our nursery. Another special feature are our raptor poles. Ninety poles scattered throughout the nursery provide perches for hawks, falcons, and a variety of other birds. The raptors are daily visitors and help suppress the rodent population. How important is pruning in your operation? One of the distinguishing features of our trees is the uniform shape and consistent quality from year to year. We attribute this to our pruning practices, which we’ve been fine tuning for 20 years. For example, many of our trees end up in urban street environments where limb height and a straight trunk are criticially important. With our pruning system, we consistently deliver symmetrical, perfectly formed crowns that set us apart as an industry leader in specimen trees. What are some best practices for tree survival? There are three most important practices. Begin by selecting the right tree for the right place. If you get this wrong, the tree is unlikely to perform well and survival is in question. Second, planting at the proper depth in well-prepared soil is vital for good root growth. And third, supplying the correct amount of water during the first two years is paramount for successful establishment. Improper watering is the number one reason why newly planted trees die. What are your biggest challenges? We’re facing two critical shortages. The first is labor. It’s so hard to find the labor we need, especially among younger generations. Essentially our work is agricultural, which is not as appealing as other career options. The second is the supply of liner material. We continue to see big shortages, which can be traced back to the recession when growers scaled back production and some went out of business. Since it takes about a seven-year process from planting the rootstock to selling a 2-inch B&B tree, it’s difficult to catch up to today’s strong demand. Northwest Shade Trees, LLC 7737 54th Avenue N.E. Brooks, Ore. 97305 503.463.1700 shadetrees.com Consistently High Quality, Symmetrical Trees Interview with Martin Hanni, General Manager Harvesting a large caliper Cladrastis kentukea (Yellowwood) Amelanchier Spring Flurry in glowing fall color Perching red- tailed hawk on raptor pole