On Sunday, December 17th, members from the AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch went to Crocheron Park to help put mulch and leaf rings around the trees. We collaborated with Dana Gumb, a plant expert. Dana claimed the we worked together, cooperated with each other, and improved our efficiency. One group of our members were raking leaves and bagging them, one group of members was loading the mulch, and the last group of our members were acting as a transporter. We stacked the packaged leaves and fertilizer under the tree using a handcart to form a covering ring. At the end of the activity, Dana Gumb introduced the plants in the park to us and thanked us for our hard work and tremendous help in the park’s plants. Some trees that we saw there include the European Red Pine, the Crabapple, Mulberry, and many more. These trees provide a stable food source for the animals in the park like birds or squirrels.
Dana also told us how to see if a tree was rotting or not. He said if a tree was rotting the wood inside, it would be brown or black on the inside. However, if the tree was still healthy, the wood inside would be a shade of green. Dana showed this to us with both dead and living trees. He also showed us if a tree was alive it would have leaves and would be bearing fruit. If it was dead it wouldn’t have any leaves or fruit. As Dana was showing us the trees some AYLUS members found an all abandoned wasps nest. Dana passed the wasps nest around to show the other members how the nest looked like and the material it was made from. Then he showed a couple of AYLUS members a fungi growing off a tree. Dana said even though the tree was dying it was best that we leave the tree alone, because if we took the fungi off there would be a bear spot on the tree, which makes it vulnerable to bugs and diseases that the bugs bring. Then Dana showed us something called a root sucker. It appears if a tree is dying on the top but the roots under the dirt are still alive then the root suckers would appear and make another tree out of the roots of the dead tree. The Parks Department would find the biggest and healthiest root sucker and cut off the smaller root suckers growing on it. A protective tissue grows over the small cut and continues to grow. Afterward, if the root sucker is healthy enough it would grow into a brand new tree.
We all worked hard, and learned a lot through it all.It was a nice experience.
Our Volunteers:
Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 3 hours
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 3 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You: 3 hours
Sophia ShiHan You: 3 hours
Anthony Lin: 3 hours
Vicki Lin: 3 hours
Ioknor Lin: 3 hours
Ioklee Lin: 3 hours
Iokseng Lin: 3 hours
Jiayuan He (Mike): 3 hours
Jamie Chen: 3 hours
Chloe Cheng: 3 hours
Hannah Zheng: 3 hours
Emily Zheng: 3 hours
Muya Zhou: 3 hours
Aaron Zhou: 3 hours
Zhengyilan Fang (Elaine): 3 hours
Shiqi Zheng (Suki): 3 hours
Ian Yang: 3 hours
Owen Yang: 3 hours
Ethan Lin: 3 hours
Erica Li: 3 hours
Amy Liu: 3 hours
Zoe Zeng: 3 hours
Andrew Zeng: 3 hours
Austin Yuel: 3 hours
Evaline Yuel: 3 hours
Michael Chen: 2 hours
Chris Chen: 2 hours
Runyi Liu: 2 hours
Huaiqian Liu: 2 hours
Ryan Wang: 3 hours
Report by: Stephanie Shi Ran You, Sophia Shi Han You, Hong Hao Liu (Alfred), and Vicki Lin
