The ability of plants to regrow is one of nature’s greatest magic tricks.
If you scroll through any social media platform nowadays, you’ve probably encountered “life hacks” where vegetables like lettuce, bok choy, or celery magically regrow from little more than scraps.
But perhaps lesser known are the native trees growing right here in Pennsylvania that can complete similar feats from naught but a trimmed branch. Now, ecologists are tapping into this talent as a simple and inexpensive way to regrow our streamside forests.
The process is called live staking; in which cut branches – the “live stakes” – are harvested from living trees or shrubs and then planted straight into a stream bank. Sounds simple, but there is a method behind this magic.
First, you need the right plant – not all trees can sprout from pruned limbs alone! The best tree species for live staking are those that exhibit what botanists call adventitious rooting; these are plants which can grow roots from non-root tissues. In other words, a branch that was meant to reach for the sky can instead grow roots to dig deep in the soil.
Living on stream front property also requires a tree or shrub who likes “wet feet,” and can tolerate – or better yet, thrive – in water-logged soil.
Timing is key as well. The best time to harvest and plant live stakes is in very early spring, just before the tree wakes up from a winter of dormancy. The goal here is to convince the live stake to invest its precious energy into growing new roots. If the live stake has fresh buds or leaves, it will instead divide its ever-limited resources between these two activities, ultimately lowering its chance of settling and surviving in its new, streamside home.
But with the right species, the right conditions, and the right timing, live staking becomes an incredibly cost-effective way to plant a lot of trees in a short amount of time. Traditional burlap wrapped or bare root saplings are not only expensive, but they also require quite a bit of muscle to plant.
Conversely, planting live stakes is cheap – even free if you’ve already got the right shrub growing! – and light on the labor. Simply use a piece of rebar to create a pilot hole and then plunge the live stake down into the resulting hollow.
A handful of live stakes harvested from the Penn State Extension Master Gardener’s nursery in Cacoosing Meadows Park, Township of Spring.
Harvesting live stakes is a renewable practice as well. When done in moderation, the pruned shrub will thrive and continue to branch out new growth each season. Better yet, harvesting and planting live stakes requires only a basic understanding of gardening, making it an engaging and accessible activity for volunteers of all ages!
It’s no wonder then that the Penn State Master Watershed Stewards (MWS) – a Penn State Extension program providing training and resources to support volunteer-based restoration and environmental education – have established a network of live stake nurseries across the Commonwealth.
One such live stake nursery exists right here in Berks County! With financial support from Pennsylvania American Water and in partnership with the Township of Spring and Berks County Conservation District, the Berks County chapter of MWS established their own live stake nursery at Cacoosing Meadows Park in the fall of 2021.
Volunteers are all smiles while harvesting live stakes from the Cacoosing Meadows Park nursery, which will later be planted as part of Berks Nature’s on-going stream restoration work.
Volunteers amidst the live stake nursery and its 90 woody shrubs, representing six species native to Pennsylvania.
A volunteer trims a live stake recently harvested from the Cacoosing Meadows Park nursery.
Tucked up along the Cacoosing Creek in the back of the park, 90 woody shrubs grow within the protection of a tall, deer-exclusion fence. Six native species are represented: silky dogwood, red osier dogwood, ninebark, button bush, elderberry, and pussy willow.
According to Matt Neumaier, the Master Watershed Steward Coordinator for Berks and Schuylkill Counties, maintaining the established nursery today only requires an investment of sweat equity: the occasional shrub replacement, some pruning, and basic care with which any gardener would be familiar.
In return, the MWS can harvest several hundred live stakes from the nursery each year, which are then immediately replanted along streams across Berks County.
As storm surges and flooding increasingly plague our boroughs and neighborhoods, the call for stream restoration and flood mitigation thunders ever louder. The MWS partner with agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers at Blue Marsh Lake and local municipalities like Alsace Township to regrow streamside forests using live stakes, which help buffer our waterways from excess stormwater runoff and increase the mitigation capacity of these floodplains.
Berks County’s Master Watershed Stewards are Looking for Projects!
Does your town or borough have a stream in need of some new trees? Live stakes could be your budget-friendly solution! For more information and to begin collaborating, contact:
Matt Neumaier
Master Watershed Steward Coordinator for Berks and Schuylkill County
mpn5547@psu.edu
Recently joining this list of partners is Berks Nature.
On a Saturday in March, Berks Nature staff and members of the Tulpehocken Creek Watershed Association (TCWA) joined a mix of new and existing MWS volunteers at the Cacoosing Meadows live stake nursery. It took just 45 minutes to fill their buckets with about 100 hearty live stakes, ready to take root in their new home; many would be set in the soils of Angelica Creek, while others were later planted along the Schuylkill River at the Ontelaunee Wetlands Preserve.
The mood at Angelica Creek Park was cheery and bright, despite the cloudy skies and dreary weather; after an exceptionally cold winter that kept many imprisoned indoors, the group was all too keen to breathe in spring and dig their hands in the earth.
At least 50 live stakes were planted in short order, with some volunteers even donning waders to cross the creek and plant live stakes on the opposite shore. This planting builds upon Berks Nature’s long-term effort to reforest Angelica Creek’s floodplain.
“It’s really cool that this live stake nursery exists here in Berks County,” remarked Brooke Leister, a Land Specialist at Berks Nature.
Leister was able to connect with Neumaier and arrange this year’s live stake plantings following a serendipitous announcement during one of the TCWA’s monthly meetings, “The Master Watershed Stewards that have gone through the class are now active in local watershed groups, so they’re taking what they learn and brining it out into their community.”
This is how we heal the land and protect the environmental services that keep our communities healthy and safe. No hidden wires or false mirrors for this magic trick; just passionate people, grassroots action, and, in this case, some adventitious rooting.
Live stakes harvested from the Cacoosing Meadows Park nursery were later planted at along the Angelica Creek in Angelica Creek Park, and on the banks of the Schuylkill River as it flows through Berks Nature’s Ontelaunee Wetlands Preserve. Brooke Leister, Land Specialist at Berks Nature, instructs volunteers before planting begins at the Ontelaunee Wetlands (pictured above).
Volunteers from the Maiden Creek Watershed Association planting live stakes at the Ontelaunee Wetlands Preserve.