Remember the last session's blog post, where the arachnophobia was mentioned? Turns out we had better conquer our fears quickly, because there were worse things to worry over other than spiders. Spiders are definitely not the only bugs to worry about, and definitely not the only obstacle to face. The tree tending would actually have been much nicer, if excusing the fact that it was 90+ degrees Fahrenheit out, and if ants would leave us alone. If the ants weren't on the trees, they were definitely camping near or under the layers of dead leaves, twigs, and webs at the bottom of the tree. Yet despite the last session, we still were only somewhat well-clothed, with mainly just an addition of a hat and better shoes to work with (A.N. : Definitely have to wear longer pants next time; Ants crawling up legs is a no from me.) The conditions in which we worked in while tending to the trees turned out to be incomparable to the stubbornness of suckers. Luckily the pair of scissors we had were quite handy, although there was a slight problem: there was only one pair. Those without the scissors were forced to improvise with trowels and hand hoes, slowly attempting to break away the suckers by hammering it away from the tree carefully. Perhaps the greatest highlight of the encounter with such stubbornness was the battle between Courtney Chan and one particular water-sprout that refused to leave. It all started with a tree that had so many water-sprouts and bulbous marks on it that it looked as if it had contracted some sort of cancer. There was one prominent sucker that absolutely refused to budge. It turns out that the longer we worked on it, the more we realized the importance of making sure to get rid of suckers on a tree. The only way we were able to identify that it was a sucker was by how thin it was. It was long, yes, but it was very thin and obviously had been on the tree for a good amount of time. It was the only sucker left, and was pretty high up the tree. This seemingly daunting task turned into a test of perseverance, and Courtney Chan will not be intimidated. She managed to climb the tree using the bulbous marks on the tree as foot holds. However hard she hacked at it, it would barely budge. To save a bit of energy from hanging on to the sucker, we flipped an empty trash can upside down. She stood on it, hacking away and trying to remove the stubborn sucker. Here I must note that the scissors were being used by another pair of members, hence the explanation to why she couldn't have just used scissors. Roughly 20 minutes later, the pair that were using the scissors gave it to us after their task was done. The scissors did make it easier to deal with the sucker, but she continued to cut at it and hack it. Almost 40 minutes have passed, and the sucker is almost off! With a final hack and a rough tug, it comes off. Despite the pain and the heat, the tree was an accomplishment. It looks completely different and much cleaner compared to what it was before we tended to it. After this tree, the trees that we tended to after felt much more bearable. We almost felt invincible (until the next spider came along). Catch up with the story: Spidey Sense Read more on our next post: Session Three Read up on what to do before you start tree care Member Feature:
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AuthorLeilia Lin |