Native Plant Salvaging and Reuse in Southwestern Deserts - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 401

FIGURE 23.1
Completion of sideboxing and attachment of cables for moving the boxed specimen involve machine and
hand labor.
23.2.2.3 Bottoming
After a period of time, the tree is prepared for the “bottoming” process. Within reason, the
interim between sideboxing and bottoming should be maximized. Generally, a minimum
of 3 weeks for plant stabilization is required to provide a guarantee for the salvage work.
Four to eight weeks is probably ideal depending on the time of year. The practicality and
effectiveness of continuing the watering in the field must be considered. This watering
is usually done by a crew with a water truck under difficult conditions. The amount and
duration of each watering with this scenario is not nearly as suitable for the plant as what
can be applied using drip irrigation in a nursery setting. The cost of truck watering is sig-
nificantly higher.
Placing the bottom on the box without causing the root ball to break apart is a very
challenging part of the process especially in sandy soils. The root ball is gradually undercut
and pulled over with a winching device and chain. Roots are cut as they are encountered
just as with sideboxing. The big difference is gravity; the winching process creates uneven
forces that tend to crack the root ball, causing soil to fall away and expose the feeder roots
vital to survival of the tree. Therefore, the winching of root balls and cutting of roots
become critical steps, with the soil type playing a major role in the result. Once the box has
been tipped over to approximately a 45° angle, the bottom is placed, nailed, and further
secured by bands proceeding vertically around the box. The bottom of very large box sizes
are carefully secured one board at a time using a tunneling method.
In most cases, a hole is cut near the bottom of the box side to allow any soil that fell away
during bottoming to be replaced and packed into the completed box.
23.2.2.4 Maintenance
The boxed tree is left for a few days to allow the soil to settle and moved to a holding yard
for ongoing maintenance. Proximity to the salvage site, machine access, and availability
of pressurized water are key factors in selecting the on-site nursery location. However, in
some circumstances, plants must be transported many miles to an available nursery site.
In most cases, the trees are lifted from the dug area by a wheel loader, placed upright on a