|
To the Editor:
The young trees of Inwood and Washington Heights need your help. Adopt one.
This action will not cost you anything, but it will require that you bend down and get your hands dirty, fill some water buckets, and speak up on their behalf.
A good parent will weed the tree pit from time to time. Why should clover and crabgrass absorb all the rainfall? Your tree needs at least 20 gallons of water a week. So for economy’s sake, kneel down and pull those suckers out by the roots.
How you manage to schlep those 20 gallons of water to the tree when the temperature heats up and nature takes a break from raining may require ingenuity or a workout for your biceps and quads.
You must speak up.
When you see a dog owner leading their beloved into the tree pit, ask them to stop. The compounds in their four-legged friends’ urine and feces are not the beneficial ones found in cow and horse manure.
Dogs are meat-eaters and the acid in their refuse is harmful to trees. Trees, both young and old, are not bookends for heavy furniture, hitching posts for bicycles, or convenient resting places for a mound of trash bags.
The soil in the tree pit must remain loose, so that air and water can sink down to the roots. When the surface soil has become compacted by heavy weight, which includes foot traffic, the air and water remain on the surface and the tree struggles to survive.
We were lucky that the Million Trees Project was planned before this recession. Let’s give our city the bang for our buck by caring for these new trees.
Daryl Heller
|
