(Arboricultural-styled) 'Fact of the Day'

[armybloke]

I think I touched on this before but the home-owner that strives for a bowling green of a lawn, getting up at dawn to sweep both worm casts and dew off the leaves of the grass prior to dosing the ground with fertilizer still calls me to ask my advice on his surrounding trees and their health. Apart from them all being tightly clipped and their leaves caught in netting before they strike the ground (and ruin the look of his lawn) the mere mention that his OCD tendencies towards his lawn is the cause sends him in to irregular palpitations!

[Kveldssanger]

Busy these last few days, so facts are on hold. May get round to one later when the other half is asleep.

 

Got a book on black poplars, so will have one from that tomorrow at the very least.

[Kveldssanger]

I think I touched on this before but the home-owner that strives for a bowling green of a lawn, getting up at dawn to sweep both worm casts and dew off the leaves of the grass prior to dosing the ground with fertilizer still calls me to ask my advice on his surrounding trees and their health. Apart from them all being tightly clipped and their leaves caught in netting before they strike the ground (and ruin the look of his lawn) the mere mention that his OCD tendencies towards his lawn is the cause sends him in to irregular palpitations!

 

The guy is probably still in denial!

 

We fall so hilariously foul of over-indulging ourselves in natural systems. The sooner we learn to do the bare minimum required, the better.

 

Nature is not pretty either - it is functional. We shouldn't try to see nature through the human-constructed lens of beauty. The beauty in nature is its ability to self-order / self-regulate.

[Kveldssanger]

08/09/15. Fact #28.

 

The black poplar is considered one of the UK's most endangered trees. As of 2006, around 7,000 individuals remained (of which approx. only 600 were females), and many were aged around the 200 year mark - clearly therefore reaching their final years. Remaining black poplars are therefore declining yearly, with Suffolk alone losing one third of its black poplars between 1987-2006. As little planting (or natural regeneration of the species) has occurred over the last few decades and centuries, the species may soon succumb to extinction (within thirty years of the book being published).

 

The plight of the black poplar really came to public attention in 1994, where Radio 4 presenter John White raised the issue (this was soon followed by an article in The Daily Telegraph by Peter Roe). Roe launched The Black Poplar Hunt (in conjunction with the Tree Council and Forestry Commission), and from this hunt 250 poplars were mapped (that topped-up Edgar Milne-Redhead's survey and mapping of 1,000 or so poplars during the mid 1970s). By the late 1990s, around 2,500 poplars were mapped, of which 150 were female.

 

Source: Cooper, F. (2006) The Black Poplar: Ecology, History & Conservation. UK: Windgather Press.

 

(updates to these stats are welcome)

[tree-fancier123]

Sorry to hear this - was hoping to climb one someday - the two massive ones posted on here as reductions were like nothing I've ever seen

[Kveldssanger]

I know there are some true black pops nearby to me - might look to get some cuttings.

 

Anyone know of any trials looking to bring all the males and females together and making a woodland out of them? So all the different genotypes in the country in one place, thereby aiding with the outbreeding of any potential genetic drift. Could certainly help genetic diversity...

[Paul Cleaver]

I know there are some true black pops nearby to me - might look to get some cuttings.

 

Anyone know of any trials looking to bring all the males and females together and making a woodland out of them? So all the different genotypes in the country in one place, thereby aiding with the outbreeding of any potential genetic drift. Could certainly help genetic diversity...

 

no but that's a great idea

[Kveldssanger]

Wonder if one could get funding for it?

[Paul Cleaver]

Wonder if one could get funding for it?

 

first contact A A and Forestry Commission to see if anything already started, if not contact the Woodland Trust eg to see if they have the right type of land available.

 

For funding maybe Natural England - it might come under one of their schemes - I will ask a friend tonight - he works for them.

If so,it opens up the potential for any landowner (with the right land)

[Kveldssanger]

Shall do that today, cheers.

 

Let me know what your friend says, too. I'll ask someone I know at the FC direct.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Kveldssanger