Tree Planting : Soil and Tree Growth/Activities&action=edit&preload=Template:Otago Template Activities

=Course Schedule 2019=
 * Become a tree surgeon by studying arboriculture – a specialised field involving pruning, felling, transplanting and maintaining the health of trees and shrubs. New Zealand’s diverse and robust horticulture and related industries have experienced a steady growth over recent years and this means that qualified and experienced arborists are in demand, not only in this country, but across the world.Understanding soils and tree growth is part of the skills required to attain a qualification in arboriculture.The following lesson plans will guide you thru the activities and assessments we will be covering in each class and are designed to compliment the excellent resources on Moodle.Participants must be enrolled at Otago Polytechnic to access the Moodle resources and our interactive classroom activities.

Session 1: August 1

 * 1) Introductions and welcome.
 * 2) Icebreaker- Dreams.
 * 3) Navigating Moodle-Go to Tuhono-Click on Moodle Icon-Click on Tree Planting-Click on Modules-Click on Soil Characteristics and Tree Growth
 * 4) For overview of assessment: Click on Tree Planting Introduction.Students will receive written assessment next week.
 * 5) Show class the core text(ISA Arboriculture Text)and supporting text (Gardening Down Under)
 * 6) Read Introduction and physical properties-Page 37
 * 7) Work in small teams of 2 or 3 people and brainstorm why is soil important ? We will spend about 5 minutes on this and then share some ideas.
 * 8) Scroll down to Why Is soil important and what is it? Click on green Moodle book icon-Click on The importance of soil and watch video.
 * 9) Then watch presentation on soil components.
 * 10) Tree root myths
 * 11) Cool images of tree roots
 * 12) Then watch video -How Trees Create Healthy Soils
 * 13) What can we do to help city trees? Meet Kim in the nursery to brew up a compost tea formulated for tree health/kicking up soil biology in the rhizosphere.

Homework

 * ISA Chapter 3 Page 38(soil profiles)-page 40(stop reading at heading that reads Chemical Properties)
 * Have look on line at different opinions about the effectiveness of compost teas-What do you think?

Session 2: August 8

 * 1) Introductions and welcome.
 * 2) Icebreaker- Dreams.Importance of attendance and a bit of a review from last week.
 * 3) How did you go with your homework ? Did anyone do any further exploration about compost teas and their efficiency?
 * 4) Introduce assessment and go through.
 * 5) Bring up powerpoint from last week on Soil Components and Growth and allow 15 -20 minutes for students to do question one of assessment -must do on your own and in your own words as far as practicable.
 * 6) Refer to our Moodle resources now-How do soils form and what is CLORPT?
 * 7) Let's have a look at soil profiles-the most important information to take away from this power point is what issues you may face as arborists when you are tree planting in terms of what soil profile lies beneath. Refer slide 13.
 * 8) Moving right along we will now explore the physical properties of soil through understanding soil texture and soil structure.Watch powerpoint on Soil texture. Next week we will look at some hands on tests for identifying soil texture so bring in a soil sample if you like.
 * 9) Now let's have a look at soil structure and kick off with a powerpoint on soil structure, then look at short video on soil properties by clicking on Important soil properties on your Moodle page.
 * 10) The supporting notes on your Moodle are a great summary of the important point you want to absorb and are likely to help you when you are working thru your assessment -for example have a look at the heading-Supporting Notes - Soil Structure.
 * 11) Head to the nursery for a hands on activity before you head home.

Homework

 * Next week there is a timetable change as you are headed to a tree climbing competition so your soils class is from 9-11.
 * Your homework is to review the Moodle resources-especially if you are absent from class.

Session 3: August 15

 * 1) Introductions and welcome.
 * 2) Last week we looked at soil texture and soil structure-Here is a nutshell of how you can distinguish between soil texture and soil structure.
 * 3) Now let's look at your Moodle Resources -The physical properties of soils - Go to Table of Contents - Go to Effects of Soil Structure and use the information to kick you off answering question 3 on your assessment.
 * 4) Now let's look at what good soil structure is. and continue with getting started on question 4 of your assessment.
 * 5) Soil and water relationships are important for tree growth especially for newly planted trees.Please take some time to read this article before proceeding with Question 5 of your assessment.If you prefer a virtual explanation of plant, soil and water interaction then you may prefer this short video.
 * 6) Before we head to the nursery for a hands on practical we will refer back to our Moodle information so Go to the green book icon titled the physical properties of soil and then under the table of contents go to Identify soil texture through hand texturing.We will watch this video and then head over to the nursery to see if we can identify some soil textures. Did anyone bring their own soil sample?
 * 7) If there is any time remaining then we can watch The Magic of Soil
 * 8) Good luck at the Regional Tree Climbing Comp !

Session 4: August 22

 * 1) Welcome and attendance
 * 2) Today we will look at plant nutrients and to kick us off we will go to our Moodle Resources so go to Soil chemical properties and click on Soil Nutrients and watch presentation titled Plant Nutrients.
 * 3) For those of you who prefer a visual explanation let's have a look at this video.
 * 4) It is a personal choice as to whether you use a organic or inorganic fertiliser and they all have pros and cons. With our work on The Living Campus we tend to be guided by Permaculture ethics and principles where we feed our soils with compost and organic fertilisers like the ones in the link found at our local garden centres.However in our nursery we tend to use all purpose fertilisers because they supply a fast acting, complete, soluble fertiliser ideal for feeding a wide range of ornamental flowers, shrubs and trees, as well as vegies, herbs and lawns. Feeds through both the foliage and the roots. Specially formulated blend of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements to encourage both healthy green foliage growth as well as flowers and fruiting.For instance Thrive is a reliable product
 * 5) Now we will head over to our nursery and collect our materials and tools and build a hot compost pile in our stacking compost bins. but first we will have a look at the seedlings you sowed a couple of weeks back-remember you used a commercial all purpose seed raising mix and a sieved compost seed raising mix from a recipe that we will use today.

Session 5: August 29

 * 1) Welcome and attendance
 * 2) Read this article Tea Time For Soil and answer the following questions.
 * 3) Biology@Work is a small company run by Ray Annan based in Central Otago. The primary focus and mission statement of the company is to deliver biological options for horticulture and agriculture ventures. #List 5 examples of the type of clients that Ray can service:
 * 4) What were three issues that contributed to the decline of the plane trees in the Octagon?
 * 5) “The use of fewer chemicals in our landscape is a win in anybody’s book”. List three examples from the ODT article where biological teas can reduce chemical/pesticide use:
 * 6) What can you do in your home garden to improve soil biology and general fertility?
 * 7) We are using a recipe for compost tea that took Ray more than 20 years to get right, what are the ingredients and what properties do they bring to the brew?
 * 8) What do you find most interesting about the ODT article?
 * 9) Guest speaker,Ben Fentiman talks about how compost tea is applied in the arboriculture industry.
 * 10) We will now have a look at your Moodle Resources and go thru a power point presentation on Nutrient availability - Revision and Extension. This can be found under your soil chemical properties heading.Nitrogen cycle?Atmospheric nitrogen cannot be used directly by plants and animals. Nitrogen needs to get converted to nitrogenous compounds.This process is called Nitrogen fixation.
 * 11) Soil pH is very important because it directly affects soil nutrient availability. Plant roots can only absorb nutrients after they have been transformed into certain ionic forms. Only within certain pH ranges can sufficient amounts of these nutrients be transformed into these ionic forms. When the soil pH is outside the desirable range (6.2 to 6.8), the nutrients are literally "tied up in the soil" and are not in a form useful to plants.Here is an example of a chart that shows the effect of soil pH on nutrient availabilityWhen the band across a certain nutrient starts to narrow at a particular pH then the plant will start to experience difficulties accessing that nutrient.Now please answer question 10 on your assessment and then proceed to the next activity.
 * 12) Read pages 68-76 in your Arb Cert study guide and have a crack at answering the questions.

Session 5: September 5

 * 1) Welcome and attendance
 * 2) We will kick off with a walk about so you can measure some pH levels around your campus so grab a copy of your activity instructions and questions and I will meet you at the hot compost pile you made two weeks ago to check on it's progressWhat is soil pH and why is it important?
 * 3) I have asked a number of expert arborists about managing soils and trees in the real world.
 * 4) Steve.Rowlands@dcc.govt.nz from the DCC responded positively but was not able to come and speak to us this year. Hi Kim, Sorry for not coming back to you sooner.Not that I am disinclined at all, indeed - I value academic interaction with real world technicalities, having benefitted myself from such occasions, but the dates you have indicated have me oversubscribed just now. ☹The only local arborist I would venture to mention who I have dealings with might be Mark Roberts of Roberts Consulting who would have a lot more local experience than myself.As you are no doubt aware, the problems faced by Dunedin’s urban tree stock are pretty obvious - not only with hostile electrical superstructure but particularly substrates which are subject to intense competition between roots and utility services.Having been relatively newly appointed I am at the start of my journey looking to grow and protect the urban forest and hoping to begin utilising more modern approaches with regard to substrate provision/amelioration/construction (Amsterdam tree soils etc). I would be more than happy to get something lined up for next years intake, if that helps? Kind regards,Steve
 * 5) So I had a good lead to investigate Amsterdam tree soils-has anyone heard of this soil management technique?
 * 6) Mark Roberts is a respected tree consultant and regarded compost tea application as an occasional treat- "all good then - re the the compost teas (and/or sugar supplements) because there is no carbon / no substance to them they only serve as kick-start, energy drink kind of thing and once they are done they are done… so just like with people, fine as treat but problematic if they are used often - but you knew that… sorry"
 * 7) Sean from Eco trees reckons that offering fertilisers or soil conditioning for trees is not really a done thing compared to the US and Canada where there are companies who advertise that tree and shrub fertilization should be done when soils have been altered by construction, or where soil and organic matter has been depleted due to raking of leaves and twigs.
 * 8) Fertilizing & Root Zone Revitalization
 * 9) Read this explanation about the value of Deep Root Fertilisation -it seems convincing.
 * 10) But then there are people who say that it is not necessary and that the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) recognizes this as a gardening myth, and yet many ISA certified arborists still sell the service? This is what the ISA says:“you don’t need to perform “deep root fertilization” to reach their root system-most of the trees’ fibrous, absorbing roots are in the top eight inches of soil”
 * 11) If you are interested in myths about tree care then check out the following link-Top 7 Myths of Tree Care Debunked
 * 12) Ok so now back to your assessment-And why did we do that pH testing of various soils and medias earlier? I was hoping for a result that would indicate that a lot of our soils in NZ lean toward the acid end of the pH scale."On the pH scale where 1 is most acidic and 14 is most alkaline, most New Zealand soils lie within the range of pH 5-7.Soil pH of 4.8-5.2 is considered strongly acidic, and 6.6-7.5 is considered neutral. Many plant species are less tolerant of strongly acidic soils. Nutrients are less available to these species if the soil solution is too acid."Read the whole article hereLook back on question 10 and your pH diagram where Phosphorus availability starts to decline at about 6.4 ish. and keeps declining.So this is where you will start to value your soils knowledge of being able to assess your soil texture and pH to guide you to the correct amount of lime to apply to more acid soils depending on the soil texture.Check out page 16 of this handy PDF from AB Lime. In fact who would like a printed hard copy-hands up!And answer question 12 if you have not already...
 * 13) What is humus?And proceed with answering question 13 and #check out this one-year-status video of the Humus Formation project. It includes setup, a time-lapse of the first 365 days and some microscopy sequences.
 * 14) Cation exchange and fertiliser application rates.
 * 15) Now meet me in the nursery for another hands on practical.

Session 6: September 12

 * 1) Welcome to your final soils class ! We will power through some information to help you complete your assessment and then head to the DGB for a field trip. Let' get started.
 * 2) In terms of your assessment you will have enough information to have answered question 13.Just to refresh your memory let us go to your Moodle resources and return to Soil Characteristics and Tree Growth and scroll down to Soil biological properties and click -then go to your table of contents and click on humus and we will jog your memory with this short presentation.
 * 3) The chemical and nutritional benefits of organic matter are related to the cycling of plant nutrients and the ability of the soil to supply nutrients for plant growth. Organic matter retains plant nutrients and prevents them leaching to deeper soil layers. Microorganisms are responsible for the mineralization and mobilization of N, P and S through the decomposition of organic matter (Duxbury, Smith and Doran, 1989)Read the whole article here.Let us look at the helpful power point on organic matter under your table of contents again. Mulching with any organic material is great for weed suppression and holding moisture in your soil but as it breaks down you are depleting nitrogen so it is advised to try to counteract this nitrogen loss with a complete fertiliser. Here are some examples!
 * 4) Of all the components of soil, organic matter is probably the most important and most misunderstood. Organic matter serves as a reservoir of nutrients and water in the soil, aids in reducing compaction and surface crusting, and increases water infiltration into the soil.We think of organic matter as the plant and animal residues we incorporate into the soil. We see a pile of leaves, manure, or plant parts and think, "Wow! I'm adding a lot of organic matter to the soil." This stuff is actually organic material, not organic matter. Think back on your hot compost pile -we layered organic materials to create organic matter-until the pile has been processed by micro organisms it does not become humus or that nice dark organic matter.Here is a hand out that goes into more detail.#Answer question 14 and try to be as detailed as possible about how OM influences:water and nutrient retention, soil structure and soil organisms.
 * 5) Check out this vid on soil organisms!Soil organismsAn interesting part of this vid is the use of nematodes.We use a company called Bio Force that sells beneficial nematodes that can munch up grass grub larvae and vine weevil larvae that has shown up in some of our potting mix in the nursery. A great alternative to nuking the soil with pesticides!and many more products that could reduce pesticide applications.Part of this presentation mentioned an organism called mycorrhizaeHere is a product that is supposed to encourage Mycorrhizal Fungi and their symbiotic relationship with plants/soil life.
 * 6) Plants have thrived without human intervention for millions of years. However, to maximize growth and crop yields plants typically need a combination of three basic macro-nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. In addition, plants require a slew of other nutrients throughout their growth cycle.The majority of a plant’s nutrients are derived from beneficial organisms working in the soil surrounding the plant’s roots; this process is known as the soil foodweb (a term made popular by Dr. Elaine Ingham, a leading microbiologist).  In addition to supplying nutrients to plants, organisms benefit plants in a variety of other ways, including:
 * Retain nutrients in the soil, preventing them from leaching
 * Compete with, inhibit and consume diseases
 * Decompose plant residue, toxic materials and pollutants that kill plant roots
 * Form soil aggregates that improve water infiltration, root penetration and water-holding capacity of the soil
 * Once the nutrients are available, soil organism’s aid in a process known as mineralization, which is where nutrients are broken down and returned to their mineral forms. This allows the plant to take in the nutrients as needed.Read the whole article here

Homework

 * 1) Answer the last of your questions please: Hand in your assessment by October 17 please. Assignmment box is fine or just hand to me.
 * 2) Draw a picture of a tree planting and include all details mentioned in the question.
 * 3) Identify three different soil issues that you may come across when digging a hole for a tree and how could they impact on future growth?
 * 4) And finally explain three factors that influence nutrient availability for tree growth.