POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Rutgers University Department of Landscape Architecture lecturer and nursery owner Steve Kristoph visited the Point Pleasant Beach branch of Ocean County Library on March 31, presenting a lecture on the benefits and maintenance of shade trees.
Kristoph, who owns Steven Kristoph Nursery in Millstone Township, started by explaining the monetary value that shade trees provide for towns like Point Pleasant Beach and its residents.
“If you need something concrete to share with others about the economic value of trees,” he said, “a study that was done in Portland, Oregon talked about how houses were sold at a higher dollar amount because there were trees on the property or nearby.”
The study, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, said that homes with street trees sold for an average of $7,130 more and 1.7 days faster than those without them, with nearby homes within 100 feet of street trees selling for an average of $1,688 more.
“Trees are a good investment for public dollars,” said Kristoph. “Each dollar spent on tree planting and care can generate two to five times that investment.”
For example, “in Indianapolis, each dollar invested in community trees returns $5.55 in benefits; in New York City, the return is $5.60 per dollar,” according to the Arbor Day Foundation.
Kristoph cleared up common misconceptions about planting shade trees as well, saying, “it’s that layer of roots right below the ground level where all the activity is going on.”
“Fill kills,” he said, encouraging attendees to leave the root bulge at the bottom of the tree uncovered when planting. “If you cover that up, the tree loses its ability to respire…All the activity is occurring in the upper 6 inches of soil. If the tree grows into the ground like a telephone pole (i.e. too deep), that’s a problem.”
“There was a county agent from Mercer County who put out a brochure that said volcanoing trees is killing them,” Kristoph said, addressing the common warning against forming a cone, or “volcano,” of mulch around a tree’s base when planting it. “Probably not quite true, but this is the deal: we all remember the drought of 2024 — hot as hell, and we went for months without any water…In the summertime, this (black, brown or red mulch) gets so heated up, if we get the lightest amount of rainfall evaporates away from it.”
Kristoph also spoke about the different diseases and blights that affect different common trees, including Dutch elm disease, beech leaf disease and infestations of the emerald wood borer and spotted lanternfly.
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