Birch Bonsai Ready for Winter

Fall is in the air.

We have had some snow and the leaves have fallen from my white birch. Now I have to make sure it is prepared for the winter.

I have given it fertilizer and it is well watered. It will have to dry down a little to ensure it will not have root rot during the winter.

I usually just put the trees beside the house and cover them in snow. The roots will stay insulated and will not freeze to the -40C temperatures we will have.

This little tree had been in the greenhouse for one year and in a pot for 2 years before that. Next year I hope the bark will start to turn white, just like a mature white birch.

I think I have shaped the tree well and will have to continue the shaping next year.

Think I will get a couple more of these going next year. The yellow birch growing in the greenhouse have become too big too fast to make into bonsai, but they are in great shape to be planted out next spring!

You can always get your own trees to bonsai from the green house. Here is a site I found with some more info., but there is loads of info on the net.

Tree Plant on Tailings, Walking on Rock.

This evening the Porcupine Watchfull Eye group meeting was a field trip. I love field trips!

We met on the Carium road to visit the Coniaurum tailings rehabilitation area (map). While we were there we had a tree plant. We planted Jack pine, White spruce, Red pine and White pine.

In the picture we have Larry just finishing up planting a perfect tree - green side up! We also have Larry and Sylvie (Timmins Naturalists Members) plant with Laszlo adding a layer of mulch to help reduce grass competition around the tree. In total another 20 trees have been added to the rehabilitation effort this evening.

These tailing are covered with bio-waste from the Abitibi paper mill, then seeded to grasses, sedges and clovers and I guess what ever else blows in. There is wide variety of plant life greening the landscape.

A little fox is searching the tall grass for little critters to nibble on. No bears this evening. We also visit the site of soon to be bee hives. Last year the bee hives produced honey from the nectar found in the plants on the tailing. The honey turned out great, I am told. I have seen it but not tasted the sweet liquid.

The bears are kept at bay from the honey with the help of a solar powered electric fence. Poor bears.

We leave our little trees in their new home and head for the Simpson Lake trail (map). It is a trail in progress that will follow a path up waste rock to provide the traveler with a great vantage point.

Arbor Day 2009 Yesterday

It was a little cool on Arbor Day, but it would have been perfect if we were actually in the field planting trees.

This year we split up to be in 3 different locations. East end at the water park on Porcupine Lake, Gillies lake and west end at Mountjoy Historic Park. I was at the Mountjoy park with Ben and Kiri.

The last couple of years we have been asking for a donation to cover the cost of the tree seedlings and as a way of raising money for the Wintergreen Fund for Conservation. Millson Forestry Service gives us a very good deal on the trees, but they are not free.

Your donation also got your name entered into a draw for a bat box and a swallow house. Good homes for great bug eaters!

If you missed Arbor day and still want tree seedlings you can get many different sizes and species at the store. Seed soource is important. Trees that come from a local seed source will do better then those that come from a seed source other then here. Trees do not like to move north

, that is why tree seedling from local seed source will always do better then outside sources.

A little more then 1000 white spruce tree seedlings were handed out. That is another 1000 trees going in the ground to help the environment and help keep Timmins beautiful. Many told me they would also plant one at "camp".

"The best time to plant a tree is 100years ago, the second best is today"

Kiri, a Katimavik participant from Nova Scotia has been with us for the week, want to try her hand at creating a bonsai, or maybe she will just plant it here in Timmins before she leaves.

Tree Planting Today

A perfect day for a tree plant.  It was raining, but warm.

The Delta Class from THVS set up  a tour with Goldcorp to see some of the reclamation that has been going on. Part of the our included planting a tree. This was a great opportunity for me to finish the tour I had started at the greenhouse. We did not get to plant a tree during that visit. More on the greenhouse visit.

The rain stopped long enough for us to plant. Each student planted a tree. The area they were planting in had been tailings covered with a biosolid, a waste product produced at the Iroquois Falls paper mill. It grows grass great.

The seedling had some sawdust placed around the tree to help keep the weeds down while they establish. 

The seedlings were also a bigger stock with good root growth filling the 6inch pot they have been growing in. 

This summer Goldcorp expects to plant over 200 jack pine and white spruce seedlings with the help of those taking the tours arranged by the Chamber of Commerce.  

You can buy your own local seed source trees now, or wait for the the Arbor Week special at Millson Forestry Service.

The best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago, the second best time is now!  Get into the habit of planting a tree every year. If you do not have a place to plant your tree I am sure I can point you in the right direction where trees are needed.

Oh yes. One lad asked about the foot print in the mud. What had made the print.  While we were all talking at a story board I could see far in the distance the animal that had made the mark coming closer. The class was distracted from the discussion while the large sandhill crane flew over the group.

Today in the Greenhouse

Seedlings that had been started early in the new year have been moved out of the greenhouse and into a shadehouse.

This means there is more room in the greenhouse to start some more seedlings. I am told we are now starting black spruce.

In the picture is the seeding machine with Mindy, again. If you have been following this blog you will have seen her near the seeding machine a number of times.

What is going on in the picture?  The sheet (insert) of jiffy pellets is placed on the conveyor. A template is place on top before the inserts continues under the seeder. A "cruchunk" of the machine drops seeds into a tube which travels down to the jiffy pellet under the insert. It continues down the converyor where it gets watered before traveling another conveyor to the greenhouse bench.

The jiffy pellets will expand once watered to provide plenty of rome for roots.

Mindy - did I get it right? Dan you are looking good!!

Delta class teaching old Muddy Mark

Once again the Delta class from Timmins High and Vocational School came for a tour of the greenhouse complex.

I enjoy having the older kids that ask good questions and have that keen interest to understand the forest.

I was surprised that they knew the White pine is Ontario's arboreal emblem, our provincial tree. 

Wonder about the other Ontario Emblems and Symbols

It was a perfect day for the class to come. In true teenager style they wore running shoes and even one in shorts, while the dusting of snow fell from the sky onto the muddy, very muddy ground. You just got'a love rubber boots!

While walking from the back to the front the class taught me about (oh I know I am not going to get this right but here is my stab at it) potoku, a cree word. It is the area between the snow and the ground where the mice and little creatures forage for food.  We could see in the field where this happened this past winter. You could see the trail on the ground from hole to hole.

The greenhouse is green and very hot. It is wonderful to come into the greenhouse on such cold days. Ask the people working there how nice it is . . . cloudy days are not bad, but it can get pretty hot in there on sunny days.

I wonder what they were impressed by the most?

Hollow White Birch - What is it good for?

Solid birch stem that is hollow due to rot. What is it good for? What can you do with them?

You have seen the pictures I have of birch bark with all the wood rotted out. The birch bark has natural oils and chemicals to preserve the bark from rotting. In the case of these pieces of white birch the rot has started in the base of the stem of the tree and rots from the ground up.

What is created I call a "culvert" Cedar and spruce can also produce these culverts.

So what are they good for.

Number 1 - they make great natural growing pots. Last summer two very large "culverts' were bought to plant trees in for a Grand Opening. A bottom can be put on them to be used indoors, or just put them on the ground to give elevation to some of your plants. Sit on the patio and plant a tree in it.

Number 2 - a great natural table leg. One would be wonderful with a glass top sitting in the living room. Two beside each other with a glass top would be twice as good.

Number 3 -stand it up and frame something special. You will have to stop it from rolling, but sit it on a shelf or a piece of furniture and let it frame that special something you have. I have tipped one up and and placed some of my natural treasures inside. I have a turtle shell, natural bored rock, and arrowheads that would look nice displayed in the hollow birch.

Number 4 - I think it would make the nice face to a clock.

When I get a chance I will get more pictures of them close up and put them on the Muddy Mark webstore.

Can you think of other uses?

Muddys' Emporium

Christmas Trees - Real vs. Fake

What is the best for the environment? What is better in the long run?

Well, there is plenty of information out there. It all seems to confirm the best way to go is REAL!

REAL is best.

What is making a move to even more environmentally friendly is the rent a tree movement. Some bigger centers are starting to offer rent a tree. It is a live potted tree that can be rented.

Even better is the large potted tree that would be planted after christmas.

At the office we have a real tree in a big pot. It is more of a bonsai Japanese black pine, but with decorations it looks like a great christmas tree.

The City of Timmins takes the real tree one step further. Trees are collected and mulched, which makes them useful again!

Plan ahead for next year. Find a source for a real potted tree and reserve it now.

I have a spruce tree on my front lawn, now 20 years old, that spent about 6 years in a pot before being planted. It gets the lights every year outside, but for one year it was a great tree for Santa to put presents under.

Christmas Trees Growers of Ontario
The Great Debate
Statistically Speaking a US website
Rent a christmas tree