Watershed restoration is a young science. PCEI strives to
continually adapt our project practices as needed to be successful. One
ongoing practice we believe has helped our success in maintaining high
survival rates of plants across the board are the installation of tree
protectors (AKA blue tubes).
You may be asking why are the Tubes used? Why are they Blue? What
do they do? Well the tubes, made from type 2 recycled polyethylene,
serve a number of different functions:
Blue tubes speed photo synthesis (like a mini
greenhouse)
Trap moisture
Raise relative humidity
Protect from root predation (if installed properly at
2” deep)
Protect from animal browse
Protect from wind desiccation (drying out)
Protect from human maintenance operations (mowing and
weed-trimming)
Protex® tubes are reusable, and their size is
adjustable.
Blue tubes are generally left on for two growing seasons. PCEI
Watershed Staff, interns, and volunteers assess weather the two-season
rule is long enough and remove them accordingly. As well, these same
key players help us maintain the tubes on our project sites to ensure
that the tubes are indeed serving their purpose.
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