Dustin Bajer

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Death Grip. How Decorative Lighting Kills Trees

June 20, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

Girdling

Decorative tree lights biting into an elm tree on Whyte Avenue, Edmonton.

The Dark Side of Decorative Tree Lighting

Edmonton has embraced year-round decorative tree lighting, and it’s hard not to love it! An Edmonton Journal article from 2015 (Tiny white lights to adorn city tree year-round) states that the City’s forestry department “installed lights on 1000 city-owned trees in six business revitalization zones: Alberta Avenue, Beverly, Downtown, North Edge (107th Avenue), Old Strathcona, and 124th Street).” Walking Whyte, Churchill, or Giovanni Caboto amongst twinkling giant elms is magical, but it also has a potential dark side. If left unchecked, decorative tree lighting can cut into and even kill growing trees.

Death By Girdling

Beneath the bark of a tree lies a network of tissues that channel sugars, minerals, and water throughout the plant. When this flow of nutrients is interrupted by a cut or object wrapped tightly around the truck – a process called girdling – the tree can weaken or die. The danger of decorative lighting is that it can’t expand as the tree grows.

The same Edmonton Journal article goes on to state the “the lights are secured to the trees with zip-ties, and as the tree grows the zip ties will be loosened.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Though I’ve seen zip ties used to secure extension cords running vertically up the trees, the decorative lights are secured by continuously wrapping the tree’s trunk and branches. As such, the only way to loosen the lights would be to remove and reinstall them.

It’s a Matter of Time

But don’t trees grow super slow? Won’t it take years for decorative tree lighting to causes any damage? Let’s take a closer look – since most of Edmonton’s light wrapped trees are American elms, I thought I’d look into their rate of growth. Fair warning, the following segment contains math.


According to the City’s OpenTree data, (and some help from pi), the elms between 104th and 105th Street on Whyte have an average circumference of 51 inches. Though OpenTree doesn’t say their age, an Edmonton Journal article about the removal of diseased elms (between 99th street to 96th street) claims that they were planted sometime in the 40s. Let’s assume that the 104/105 elms are of a similar age.

Whyte Avenue Elms
Average Circumference = 4 feet 3 inches (51″)
Estimate of Age = 72 years
Growth rate of Circumference = 0.71″ per year

Since my Edmonton data is spotty, let’s turn to some old elms from our Southern neighbours. These trees may or may not be representative of an elm growing in Edmonton.

The Treaty Elm – Philadelphia, PE
Circumference = 24 feet (288″)
Age = 280 years
Growth rate of Circumference = 1.03″ per year

The Johnstown Elm – Johnstown, NY
Circumference = 16 feet (196″)
Age = 200 years
Growth rate of Circumference = 0.96″ per year

The math shows us that an elm can increase its circumference somewhere between 0.71 and 1.03-inches per year – which at first glance doesn’t seem like a lot. But consider that each strand of light wraps around the circumference of the tree 30 to 40 times! To prevent strangulation, a string of lights would have to increase its length by 30 to 40 times the annual growth of the tree’s circumference. That’s between 1.5 and 3.5 feet per year! 


Though most trees can handle a few years covered in decorative lighting, lights can’t accommodate 1 to 4 feet of annual growth it’s a matter of time before they tighten, bite into the bark, and interfere with the flow of sap. The only way to prevent this is to remove and rewrap the tree at regular intervals or to run the lights vertically – a technique called tracing.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Edmonton’s decorative tree lighting – it seriously adds something to the city – especially during long, dark winters. But I also love trees, and the math doesn’t lie – a string of lights can go from loose to snug, to deadly in a few short years.

Protecting Edmonton’s Trees

In the grand scheme of things, Edmonton’s elms are juveniles and could live for another two centuries. Considering that elms are already under threat from Dutch Elm disease and Elm Scale, it seems cruel to add strangulation into the mix. That being said, Edmonton’s not the fist municipality to use decorative lighting on trees. So in the interest of preserving our lights AND our urban forest, let’s see what other cities are doing.

The following decorative tree lighting guidelines are hand-picked  from the City of Portland’s Department of Parks and Recreations and Cincinnati’s Department of Urban Forestry:

  • Non-seasonal lighting can not exceed three years.

  • Lighting can not interfere with the routine pruning of trees.
  • “The preferred method of installation is ‘draping’ or ‘tracing’. These methods have been found to be the least harmful to trees.”
    • “The draping method may be used throughout the canopy” on branches one inch in diameter or larger.
    • The “tracing” method involves running lights vertically and attaching them with an expanding tape such as nursery tape or poly-chain-lock.
  • Cincinnati requires that lights are attached using the tracing method and fixed to the trees with eyelet screws rather than tape. “While it may be more time consuming to install the screw eyes and lights the first year, it is much faster to remove them and reinstall them the following years.”
  • “All work on the lighting shall be performed while the trees are dormant.”

Reporting A Tree (Update)

If it sounds like I’m being tough on the City of Edmonton I must apologise – the work they do it beyond exceptional as demonstrated by the fact that they’re caring for and maintaining an inventory of over 267000+ urban trees,  7400 hectares of River Valley, city-wide naturalization, and running Roots for Trees and numerous other community beautification projects! When it comes to nature and urban forestry, you’d be hard-pressed to find a city as ambitious as Edmonton. They wrapped 1000 trees in stunning decorative lighting! 100 trees! How cool is that?! Seriously! But there are many more of us then there are of them and we can help! So if you see a tree that has outgrown its lights, contact the City by calling 311 and they’ll send someone to check it out.

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Botany, Edmonton, Urban Ecology

John Walter Museum’s Edmonton Tree Walking Tours

June 14, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

John Walter Museum Edmonton Tree Walk - Dustin Bajer

Interesting and Historic Trees of Edmonton

On July 25th and August 8th, the John Walter Museum will be hosting a walking tour of interesting and historic trees of Edmonton.

Both tours will begin at the museum at 6 pm with stops in the river valley and Legislature grounds before heading towards Jasper Avenue. This walking tour will cover approximately 5km (2.5 hours) with a break at the halfway point.

Reserve Your Place

You can register a spot on either tour by visiting the City of Edmonton’s Online eReg or by calling 311 with the respective course codes below:


(Sold Out/Finished)

July 25, 2017, pm – 9 pm 
Register Online or Call 311 with Course Code 605478


August 8, 2017, 6pm – 9pm
Register Online or Call 311 with Course Code 
605479


Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Events Tagged With: Botany, Edmonton, Urban Ecology, What Grows Here?

Edmonton Needs a D&B Beer Scene

June 13, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

Dandelion Problem Or Local Drink Waiting To Happen?

In June of 2016, the City of Edmonton enacted an Herbicide Ban with the aim to “eliminate non-essential uses of herbicides on city-owned land”.  It’s been a year since and despite the fact that some people are losing their shit, I’m proud of my City for sticking with their decision – going so far as piloting a herd of goats in one city park.

I will admit that I’ve noticed and increased in dandelions in City parks, though, as an urban beekeeper I’m not in the least bit bothered. I like dandelions – they are beautiful to look at, good at breaking up poor and hardpan soils, and edible.

There’s an idea in permaculture design that the problem is the solution. Permaculture pioneer Geoff Lawton is famous for saying “you don’t have a grasshopper problem – you have a turkey deficiency”. The problem is the solution.

Young dandelion leaves make a lovely salad green while petals an exceptionally pleasing when steeped to make teas and wine. But for this post, I’d like to turn our attention to the root-cause. What if we don’t have a weed problem? What if we have a root beer deficiency?

Burdock (Arctium lappa, Arctium minus)

Dandelion roots can be used alongside another noxious weed that’s taken up residence in Edmonton – burdock.

If you’re not familiar with burdock it’s a large biennial plant with heart-shaped leaves and purple/pink flower clusters that turn into hooked bracts (burs) when mature (the inspiration for velcro). Like dandelion, burdock has an extensive list of culinary uses. Sidenote: If you go to an Asian grocery store (such as T&T or Lucky 97 here in Edmonton) burdock is referred to as “gobo root”.

Locally, burdock is abundant in the River Valley and some of the older neighborhoods including, Old Strathcona, Riverdale, Rossdale, Boyle, and McCauley.

From the City of Edmonton’s website:

Great burdock originates from the temperate regions in Europe. In the Middle Ages, it was favoured as a vegetable and the roots are still commonly used in Asian cooking. It can also be found in a variety of herbal supplements.

Dandelion and Burdock (D&B) Beer

D&B Beer is thought to have originated in Britain in the middle ages and is made by fermenting a tea made by boiling the roots of dandelions and burdock. The flavour is “mildly bitter and aromatic). You can buy a non-alcoholic version at some local grocery stores, but we’re going to make the real deal.

The clip and recipe below are from RiverCottage.net, though, I would anyone making D&B Beer to experiment. A quick Google search yields various approached to dandelion and burdock beer – here’s one that also uses nettle (another local noxious weed). I’ve made dandelion wine using petals and have an abundance of honey laying around the house so I’d probably incorporate both.

Contact me, if you make a batch! I’d love to hear how it went. There’s a lot of exploration to be had. How might dandelion and burdock integrate into a traditional brew? I’d love to see a local brew-pub make a batch – Situation Brewing’s daily cask comes to mind. How about a distilled version? Strathcona Spirits make a mean gin that already features “rogue-picked Seaberry (Seabuckthorn) from the streets of Edmonton” – is rogue picked dandelion and burdock out of the questions? D&B could be an Edmonton thing – an authentic Edmonton flavour.

Basic D&B Beer Recipe

 

Dandelion and Burdock Beer (D&B) Recipe from RiverCottage.net

Scrub and finely slice the burdock and dandelion roots.

Put them in a large pan, pour on 2.5 litres boiling water and add the carragheen.

Boil for half an hour; experience the aroma of an unpromising vegetable stew.

Take off the heat, add 2 litres cold water, the sugar, treacle and lemon juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Strain the liquid into a clean fermenting bucket, cover and leave to cool.

When your brew reaches room temperature, pitch the yeast.

Cover and leave to ferment for up to a week, until the specific gravity is down to 1010.

If you want to be safe, carefully siphon into strong swing-top bottles at this point.

The flavour of dandelion and burdock seems to follow a bell curve of: too sweet, horrible, really rather nice, horrible, poisonous – with the ‘quite nice’ occurring at the 3–4 week point and extendable by keeping it in the fridge.

The flavour is mildly bitter and pleasantly aromatic.

 

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Craft, Edmonton, Food, Urban Agriculture

You Are ‘Where’ You Eat – The Watershed Diet

June 12, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

You Are Your Watershed

A watershed is the area of land that captures, soaks up, and channels water towards increasingly large bodies of water. We think about watersheds as wetlands, streams, creeks, lakes, and rivers but they’re also forests, trees, soils, animals, and you.

You are 60% watershed – you’re a small pond capturing water from the environment – a small pond with legs. From this perspective, a 150-pound person walking hill is 90-pounds of water flowing against gravity.

Eating Beyond Our Watersheds

Each day, a few litres of watershed passes through your body via foods and liquids you consume – even bread is 40% water.

Much of our food is imported from distant watersheds – the banana I ate for breakfast, as an example, was 74% Ecuadorian water. In fact, in 2013, Ecuador smuggled 4.11 millions tonnes of water disguised as 5.55 million tonnes of bananas out of its local watersheds.

Here are some numbers that I managed to dig up:

Wheat – 12% water
Meat & Eggs – 75% water
Milk – 87% water
Fruits and Vegetables – 80 to 96% water
Honey – 18% water

Exporting food between watersheds has an ecological impact. Globally, patterns of trade could be seen as wholesale changes to weather and rainfall patterns – causing rivers to dry up. California, a state prone to droughts, exported over 378 billions litres of water to China for cattle feed. If you consider all of the food it exports, especially fruits and vegetables, one could argue that California’s main export is water.

Watershed As Foodshed

A foodshed is a geographical area in which food is produced and consumed. So here’s my question – since the food you consume is mostly water, might a watershed diet be a useful way to think about local a desired local foodsheds? How closely should your watershed and foodshed align? As a geological feature, it’s less arbitrary than political borders or imaginary circles drawn concentrically around your kitchen (see 100 Mile Diet).

In truth, I’m not entirely sure what a watershed diet might look like. I’m not even sure that I could tell you what my watershed produces – probably not a lot of bananas. What would a watershed meal look like?Could it even be done? How would it change seasonally? If anything, it brings up more questions.

If 60% of me is North Saskatchewan Watershed, how does that change my relationship to the North Saskatchewan River? To the wetlands, ponds, lakes, forests, and animals I share it with?

If food was produced low in the watershed (downstream) and consumed high in the watershed (upstream) would the height of the river increase? – essentially giving us more water to grow more food?

 

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Edmonton, Food, Water

Report A Honeybee Swarm or Colony

April 4, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

Do Suspect That You Have a Swarm or Colony of Honeybees?

If you have a swarm of honeybees, text (780) two-three five – zero-two-two three. If you are unsure that they’re honeybees, please take the quick quiz below.

Honeybee Swarming

Swarming is a natural honeybee behaviour and occurs when a colony splits itself in two. When a healthy hive gathers enough resources, the queen and two-thirds of her workers will leave in search of a new home. The remaining bees will raise a new queen and continue at the original site. Swarming is how one honeybee colony creates another.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Beekeeping, Edmonton

What Grows In Edmonton? 100 Years of Backyard Experiments

February 26, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

What Grows Here? Donald Ross with a vegetable display. Edmonton.

Donald Ross (“Rosedale” neighbourhood) with one of his famous vegetable display.

Edmonton Gardeners Have a Long History of Pushing the Limits

A grafted combination Spartan, Honeycrisp, and Fuji apple tree trained espalier along the West fence my yard in the Edmonton neighbourhood of McCauley.

What Grows Here? Spartan, Honeycrisp, and Fuji apples in Edmonton.

One-hundred years ago, Edmontonians longed to grow apples. Today, the City has so many apples that not-for-profits like Fruits of Sherbrook and Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton (OFRE) work with the community to save fruit that would otherwise go unharvested. So what happened? In short, 100 years of backyard tinkering.

The plant varieties we currently enjoy are the result of thousands of formal and informal experiments; often performed in backyards by amateurs and hobbyists. In her book, “Why Grow Here: Essays on Edmonton’s Gardening History” Kathryn Chase Merrett outlines Edmonton’s strong history of backyard experimentation, plant breeding, and pushing the horticultural limits.

Edmonton’s Global Gardeners

Goerges Bugnet (1879 – 1981) famously developed hardy rose varieties that are now enjoyed all over the world. Robert Simonet (1903 – 1989) made a fortune breeding double flowering petunias, apples, apricots, lilies, strawberries, and corn varieties (among others). And gardener and community advocate Gladys Reeves (1890 – 1974) “may have done more than any other Edmontonian to promote tree-planting and gardening as an expression of citizenship” (link). But why so much experimentation and why Edmonton? I suspect that immigration is one piece of the puzzle. As a young city, many of us are only a few generations removed from the farm. For others, especially new immigrants – who bring with them their horticultural practices – trying to grow plants from “back home” expands our collective sense of what’s possible; think Edmonton early Italians immigrants trying to grow Mediterranean grapes varieties or Vietnamese refugees growing Cai Lan.

Edmonton Gardeners Are Still Pushing The Limits

Edmonton gardeners are experimental optimists and always looking for new things to grow and ways to extend the growing season. Personally, I can’t resist trying new things – Last spring, I planted hardy pawpaw, persimmon, and magnolia trees in my backyard. It’s now February of the following year and things are still looking good for these Edmonton oddball plants.

Top: #Persimmon Bottom: #Pawpaw . . . #yegtrees #yegplants #yegarden #zone4 #usdazone4

A post shared by Dustin Bajer (@dustinbajer) on Feb 11, 2018 at 4:42pm PST

Share Your Backyard Experiments!

Are you working on your own backyard experiment? Do you have an Edmonton oddball plant? Maybe you inherited an interesting perennial, shrub, or fruit tree? A peony you got from your Grandmother? Perhaps you’ve been saving seeds or were given something special by a friend or family member? I’d love to hear and share what you’re working on!

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Gardening, List, What Grows Here?

The Trouble With School Gardens

February 23, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

The Challenges of School Gardens And Sustainable Food Edmonton’s Plan To Fix Them

Students plant perennials in a school garden in Edmonton, Alberta.

Students plant perennials in a school garden in Edmonton, Alberta.

Recent years have also seen an increase in schools interested in urban agriculture initiatives – especially school gardens. Traditionally run as extra-curricular activities or horticulture classes, school gardens are gaining traction in and around Edmonton. Not just nice to have, school gardens are tools for differentiated instruction, improving problem-solving, and cross-curricular learning. However, it’s not smooth sailing. As much as many of us would like to see a garden in every school, there are a lot of challenges. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, School Gardens, Urban Agriculture, Wix

13 Steps to Start Beekeeping in Edmonton

January 2, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

A Step-By-Step Guide To Beekeeping In Edmonton

If you’re thinking about keeping honeybees you’ve probably come across the City of Edmonton’s Urban Beekeeping Page. If so, you’ve read about four steps, city guidelines, swarm plans, PID numbers, and provincial agriculturalists. And if you’re like me, you’re probably a little confused, overwhelmed, and still unclear about what to do. Do not worry. For clarity, I’ve deconstructed and reassembled the Edmonton Beekeeping application process into a dozen baby-steps. By completing the following checklist, you’ll have everything you need to start beekeeping in Edmonton. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Beekeeping, Edmonton, How To, List, Urban Agriculture

11 Reasons Why The Magpie Defines Edmonton

November 13, 2016 by Dustin Bajer

Edmonton Magpie. The Bird We Love To Hate

I Magpie YEG. Picture of a Edmonton magpie on a green and blue backdrop.

I know of no other Edmonton resident more controversial than Pica hudsonia; often referred to as the black-billed magpie or an annoying jerk. While many of us resent its 4 am wake-up calls, others find the Edmonton magpie fascinating. It’s the bird that [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Urban Ecology, YEGPIE

Warre Langstroth Hybrid Hives Built in Edmonton Alberta

December 29, 2015 by Dustin Bajer 3 Comments

Alberta Beekeeping Supplies, Designed For Bees

Modified Warre, 8 Frame Beehives Handcrafted, solid pine beehives built and sold in Edmonton. Specializing in cold-hardy hive designs and dimensions for the conscientious hobby beekeeper.

Google Sketchup breakdown of a modified warre hive, 8 frame hive, top bar hive design.

Hive breakdown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 frame medium langstroth hive boxes for a modified ware hive. Edmonton, Alberta.

8 frame medium hive boxes are versatile, easy to lift, and ideal for Northern climate beekeeping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8-Frame, Medium Hives Supers (aka. Illinois Hives) 8 frame medium hive boxes are [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Beekeeping, Edmonton, Product, Urban Agriculture

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Dustin Bajer

Teacher, permaculture designer, master gardener, hobby beekeeper, consultant, and network nerd living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Read More

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