Grades and Standards for Nursery Stock

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Grades and Standards for Nursery Stock

• by Edward F. Gilman, professor
• Environmental Horticulture Department
• IFAS
• University of Florida
• http//hort.ufl.edu/woody/planting

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Florida grades and standards

• 1955 Passed by
• Florida legislature
• 1965 first edition printed
• Developed for more
• accurate communication
• between buyer/seller
• 1998 second edition a 10 step process for
  trees

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Grading trees

• Tree quality at planting can have a great impact
  on longevity in the landscape
• Four grades exist for nursery plants in Florida.
  These include
• -Florida Fancy -Florida 2
• -Florida 1 -Cull

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Florida fancy

• Single trunk
• Branch diameter smaller
• than 2/3
• No flush cuts/open injuries
• Crown full of foliage
• Root ball is appropriately sized

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Florida 1

• Requires some pruning to develop good structure
• Has minor trunk injuries
• Double leader in top half of tree

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Florida 2

• Trees are misshapen or require major corrective
  pruning
• Defects may take several years to correct
• Double leader on bottom half of the tree

defect
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Cull

• Defects are not correctable
• Lack vigor
• May have poor trunk and branch structure,
  circling roots, open wounds, flush cuts, or a
  loose root ball

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 1Grade trunk
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Florida fancy

• Single trunk
• Straight or with less than 5º bow

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Florida 1
Codominant stems

• Trunk forks in upper half of tree
• Bow of 5º-15º

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Florida 2

• Trunk forks in lower half of tree
• Bow greater than 15º
• Trunk has dogleg

• Three or more trunks in upper half of tree

Dogleg
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Cull
3 trunks

• Three or more trunks in lower half of tree.

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 2 Grade branch arrangement

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Florida fancy

• Large branches spaced at least 6 apart along the
  trunk
• No branch greater than 2/3 diameter of trunk
• No vertical branches

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Florida 1

• All branches equally dominant
• Branches are at least 4 apart
• One branch in upper half of tree may be greater
  than 2/3
• No branch tips are taller than trunk

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Florida 2

• Most branches vertical
• Major branches spaced 4 apart in two or more
  locations
• One branch in lower half of tree larger than 2/3

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Cull

• Vertical branching
• Narrow branch angles
• Major branches growing from same point or
  opposite from each other
• Major branches less than 4 from the ground

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 3 Choose appropriate tree matrix from
index
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Based on natural form of the tree

• Type 1- Spreading and rounded shapes. Ex- Live
  oak, sycamore, black olive.
• Type 2- Pyramidal shapes. Ex- Pin oak, southern
  magnolia, pine.
• Type 3- Columnar/ upright shapes. Ex- Loblolly
  bay, Italian cypress, stopper.
• Type 4- Vase shapes. Ex- Chinese elm, hawthorn,
  redbud.
• Type 5- Oval shapes. Ex- Ash, basswood, red
  maple.

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 4 Measure trunk caliper
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Measure trunk caliper

• Caliper- Trunk diameter measured 6 from the
  ground for trees up to 4 caliper, and 12 from
  ground for larger trees.

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 5Grade crown spread
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Grading for crown spread

• Measure crown spread
• Spread must be greater or equal to the minimum
  for the grade

Crown Spread Diameter The average of the widest
branch spread and that perpendicular to it.
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Type one matrix
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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 6Grade structural uniformity of crown
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Florida fancy

• Branches evenly distributed around trunk
• No major branch located directly above another

Crown full of foliage
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Florida 1
Small void

• Most branches evenly distributed
• One major branch located directly above another
• Not completely foliated- small voids present.

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Florida 2

• Branches not evenly distributed
• Several branches growing on same side
• Two or more branches located directly above each
  other
• Large voids in crown

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Cull

• Tree is one sided or flat sided
• Major branches growing from only one or two sides
• Large gaps in crown

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade given
  in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors
• Step 9- Downgrading factors
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 7Determine the lowest grade from steps 1,
2, 5, and 6
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Determine the lowest grade from steps 1, 2, 5,
and 6

• Step 1- Florida 1
• Step 2- Florida 1
• Step 5- Florida fancy
• Step 6- Florida 1
• Lowest grade Florida 1

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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors-takes 1
• Step 9- Downgrading factors-takes two
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 8Downgrading factors- Deduct one grade for
every true statement
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Tree with caliper greater than 1 requires
staking
Stake
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Root ball/container undersized
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BB root ball not properly secured
Materials used to secure BB root balls
BB properly secured
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Root-bound
Large roots growing around outer edge of root ball
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One or two roots growing out of container or grow
bag
Root greater than 1/5 diameter of the trunk
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Crown thin/sparsely foliated
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Tip dieback on more than 5 of branches
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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors-takes one
• Step 9- Downgrading factors-takes 2
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 9Downgrading factors-Deduct one grade if
two statements are true and two grades if more
are true
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Tree height shorter than min. or taller than max.
in appropriate matrix
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Flush cuts
flush cut
good cut
Callus forming only around sides of flush cut.
Branch collar no longer present.
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Branch stubs
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Open trunk wounds/ injuries
Open wound
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Graft unions not complete
Incomplete graft union
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More than lower 40 of trunk free from branches
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More than 5 of leaves are chlorotic or show
signs of pests and diseases
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Leaves smaller than normal
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Included bark between trunk and major branches
Included bark
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Major branches touching
Branches touching
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Steps for determining the grade of a tree

• Step 1- Grade trunk
• Step 2- Branch arrangement
• Step 3- Appropriate tree matrix
• Step 4- Trunk caliper
• Step 5- Crown spread
• Step 6- Structural uniformity of crown
• Step 7- Determine the lowest grade
  given in steps 1,2,5 and 6
• Step 8- Downgrading factors-takes 1
• Step 9- Downgrading factors-takes 2
• Step 10-Roots

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Step 10Grade root structure
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Cull tree if the following are true

• A root is greater than 1/10 trunk diameter, and
  
• it circles more than 1/3 the trunk, and
• it is in the top half of the root ball.

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Circling roots inside root ball
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Grades and Standards for Nursery Stock

• by Edward F. Gilman, professor
• Environmental Horticulture Department
• IFAS
• University of Florida
• http//hort.ufl.edu/woody/planting