June 29, 2009
Monday
Ketchikan, Alaska - The Alaska Division of Forestry, Community Forestry Program announces a one day class on the biology of trees and proper pruning and planting techniques. The class will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at the Ketchikan Gateway Borough office at 1900 First Street.
Decisions made about trees are more successful when based on an understanding of tree anatomy and biology. This class is intended for anyone who designs, plants or cares for landscapes with trees including arborists, landscape architects, park and public works staff, groundskeepers and nursery professionals
The class will cover how trees function as complex systems and how to use this information when selecting, siting, planting, pruning, and maintaining landscape trees. A classroom presentation will be followed by a demonstration in the field and hands-on experience in pruning and planting trees.
More information and a registration form can be found online at http://forestry.alaska.gov/community/ or at the Division of Forestry office in Ketchikan located at 2417 Tongass Avenue, Suite 213.
Trees: Biology, Planting & Pruning
Registration fee is $35
Thursday, July 16, 2009, 8:00 ~ 5:00
Class location: Ketchikan Gateway Borough office, 1900 First St., first floor
Instructor: Jim Flott, Community Forestry Consultants, Inc. of Spokane Washington
Sponsored by the Alaska Division of Forestry, Community Forestry Program
Showing posts with label plant biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plant biology. Show all posts
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
What Makes Plants Grow
By Alexis Madrigal
To understand why fertilizer works, we need to get some basic plant biology out of the way. Plants need large amounts of three nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Combine those with water and sunlight and plants will grow.
In a natural ecosystem, nutrients are naturally cycled. Plants grow, using these substances, then they die. Microbes decompose them and new plants use the same nutrients to grow again. You know, the whole circle of life thing.
Agriculture gives us civilization exactly because it disrupts this balance. Humans use plants to mine nutrients out of the soil and then eat them. We can even measure the amount of nutrients that a crop can mine for us. For example, a hectare of maize in the US needs about 22 kilograms pounds of nitrogen per tonne of yield. We call this the plant’s mineral uptake. Problem is, the corn on the cob you’re eating is full of the nutrients that the next generation of plants would have used. We’ve taken nutrients out of the cycle, so we’ve got to replace them or the soil will be depleted.
Read more:
What Makes Plants Grow
Posted using ShareThis
To understand why fertilizer works, we need to get some basic plant biology out of the way. Plants need large amounts of three nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Combine those with water and sunlight and plants will grow.
In a natural ecosystem, nutrients are naturally cycled. Plants grow, using these substances, then they die. Microbes decompose them and new plants use the same nutrients to grow again. You know, the whole circle of life thing.
Agriculture gives us civilization exactly because it disrupts this balance. Humans use plants to mine nutrients out of the soil and then eat them. We can even measure the amount of nutrients that a crop can mine for us. For example, a hectare of maize in the US needs about 22 kilograms pounds of nitrogen per tonne of yield. We call this the plant’s mineral uptake. Problem is, the corn on the cob you’re eating is full of the nutrients that the next generation of plants would have used. We’ve taken nutrients out of the cycle, so we’ve got to replace them or the soil will be depleted.
Read more:
What Makes Plants Grow
Posted using ShareThis
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