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UGLY TREE CONTEST" --Spotlighting Over-pruning and Topping of Trees
| Name | James F. Hodges | | Situation | Horticulture Extension agents use newspaper articles to distribute useful plant care information on a timely basis. Some subjects are difficult to describe or illustrate in written form. Also, dry facts are not as likely to maintain reader interest long enough to make a point. Every year I include in my articles information on over-pruning of trees and shrubs such as Crape Myrtle and discuss the negative effects of severe topping of trees. The frequency of topped trees is on the increase despite 25 years of scientific data to indicate it is detrimental to trees. The subject is very important because thousands of dollars are spent each year on excessive pruning that does not help the shrub or plant. Many professional tree pruning companies do not follow good pruning procedures and ignore good arborist's recommendations and do not wish to change.
| | Response | I persuaded the Greenwood Index Journal to include photos with my articles and started an ugly tree contest to spotlight the problem for our community. I included starter photos with my first article and requested photos of ugly trees to be sent into me. I ran the contest for more than a month and mentioned it in two additional columns before announcing the winner/loser in my fourth article with a photo of the winning/losing tree. | | Impact | I measure my article successes by the number of comments and feedback I get from people in the community at various functions. When I have a good article, I will usually get 3-5 comments about it over the next week or generate 2-3 specific phone questions the following Monday. I received over a dozen calls from people who had identified an ugly tree and would send in an entry. I actually received seven entries, some with multiple tree candidates.
The number of comments I received doubled during the contest, with several callers impatient for the winner to be announced. All the responses I received thought the photos were very useful and enjoyed the contest. An educated public will help in the process of convincing tree care companies to seek better methods for tree care. I have received a number of calls concerning proper pruning methods from homeowners concerned with tree problems who have read my articles.
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Last update4/24/2008
This website is maintained by Bryan Smith.
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