Tree decline is often blamed on insects, diseases, or “mystery stress,” when the real cause lies below ground. This session provides arborists with a clear, repeatable framework for diagnosing subsurface issues, including compaction, fill layers, perched water tables, improper planting depth, poor soil structure, and legacy construction impacts.
Session Description coming soon!
All trees pose some level of risk. Fortunately, tree failures are uncommon—but when they happen, the results can be serious. This presentation explores the conditions that increase the likelihood of failure and other factors considered when assessing tree risk.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” - but what happens when prevention isn’t an option? This session addresses how construction activities impact soils and trees and presents real-world examples of mitigation measures.
New technologies, using massive datasets and machine-learning algorithms, are increasingly common in urban forestry. Yet, there remains some trepidation about artificial intelligence. This presentation explores applications of emerging tools (e.g. ChatGPT, object detection, sensors) and how these technologies may be used to improve urban tree monitoring and management.
Before everyone yells that there’s no such thing as dirt, let’s take a closer look at urban and traditional soil profiles, then we can discuss how a tree reacts and responds to its environment. After we have a better understanding of why I chose the word dirt, is there something we can do about it? We will start with the history of soil care, then move on to what we are doing now, straight into the future.
Description coming soon!
Healthy mature trees are vital to the ecosystem, improve the health and the residents’ quality of life. But healthy trees require healthy soils. Unfortunately, the building process and the usage of a site destroys the soil microbiome with compaction, pollution, pesticides, and depletion of organic matter. Soil
Tree stresses caused by environmental factors such as drought, cold, and flooding, are among some of the most common problems faced by trees in the Great Lakes region. In this presentation, Dr. Bert Cregg, Professor of Horticulture and Forestry at Michigan State University, will discuss abiotic problems that affect trees and the site conditions that often lead to them.
Dr. Cregg will present ways to deal with abiotic issues and suggest tree selections that may head off problems before they start.
Oak Wilt is exploding in Michigan for a variety of reasons. The Glyphosate/Stump Cup procedure, created by the presenter, is rapidly proving to be the least invasive, most economical, most effective, and most environmentally friendly method compared to other Oak Wilt remediation procedures. The Glyphosate/Stump Cup procedure has been demonstrated to be highly efficacious in such diverse situations as Michigan’s Critical Dunes, Woodlands and Forests, and Residential Landscapes. Several attributes about this procedure are encouraging.