Growing Trees from Cardboard

 Chapter one of a series from "Create a Backyard Nature Sanctuary for Pollinators (and other Insects), birds, wild life". 

My Theory of Growing Trees from Cardboard. 

Hello, my name is Bernie. I am a cardboardholic. I am addicted to cardboard. What does it mean to be addicted to cardboard? Here are a few behaviors to watch for.

I cannot pass a dumpster without seeking the sunken treasure of cardboard boxes. 

Large sheets of fresh cardboard make me drool. 

My weight resistance exercise comes from carrying armfuls of cardboard.

My pockets are nearly always full of tape pulled-off cardboard boxes.

Every week of the year more carloads of cardboard are brought to our yard than groceries.

And I’m a purist. No tape or colored cardboard will due except in a pinch. Staples are scorned. Thick is preferred over thin. Fresh and extra-large are heavenly, and their source once discovered, is held secure and secretive as Forest Fenn’s Treasure chest location. I’ll not disclose any clues nor write of “The Thrill of the Chase” as Fenn did. However, I will let you in on a secret theory of mine regarding cardboard and its surprising viability - renewing life.

But first, how did my propensity for gathering cardboard force me to tell all? Like any treasure hunter, one must cover one's tracks. If a treasure hunter repeatedly dives in a certain spot in the ocean, or a gold prospector digs in the same mine or pans the same stream day after day month after month - there must be some treasure there. Such a person is sure to be found out.

My daily trips carrying loads of cardboard down the sidewalk, and then covering nearly a third of an acre of our yard with it - finally drove one of my neighbors to break their usual Vermonter distance. With old Vermonter’s, six feet apart was always the distance you kept until you knew someone for 100 years.  “You have summer and winter together in Vermont before you really know each other.” 

This neighbor’s curiosity (though he claimed his wife urged him to find out), finally got the best of him and so he struck up a conversation with me as I came by his house along the sidewalk. My eyeballs were peeking out over an overloaded armful of cardboard teetering and threatening to slide this way or that or both nearly setting me to cussing.  

Given my propensity for not wanting to give away any clues as to my source of the precious materials I had unearthed from a dumpster - like a pirate scooping up jewels from a treasure chest - I was little in the mood for conversation or company. 

However, being how he was a neighbor and all, and being how my curiosity had long simmered over the many 50-gallon size barrels he had clandestinely carried down into his basement, I warmed to the idea of a secret swap. I’m guessing we both saw this as an opportunity to exchange shares of treasure - according to the Vermont version of the pirate code.

So after adjusting my bundle (refusing any help, not wanting the neighbor to get too close to my precious cargo), we both ambled along the walkway first in near silence, then both commenting on the weather. Me, “tis a bit chilly (later it would take twenty minutes before my frozen fingers would straighten out from their cardboard grasping position). Him, “Yup”. Then a number of paces later commenting about having just nine more months of winter before we might have some darned poor sledding. 

We walked on by a few more houses, both noting eyes peering out from behind slightly shifting lace curtains. I was used to being noticed by now, however my neighbor seemed a trifle uncomfortable and thus slowed his gait to appear separate from my deliverance. After clearing his throat, now feeling an expediency and resolve to uncover the mystery, he asked in somewhat of a hurriedly and uncharacteristic manner “Now what in tarnation, are you doing with all that darn cardboard you are hauling day after day?” 

Unprepared for the onslaught of the sudden challenge and a simultaneous gust of wind, I struggled to maintain the load balance. I spoke with unprepared honesty and transparency. “I have a theory” I began. 

And so, the cat out of the bag, disappointed that I had not yet bargained out a slice of his secret, I began to explain my theory. 

Well, I said. I have been hauling this here cardboard for quite some time, layering it atop areas of invasive plants like Goutweed (Bishops weed) in an attempt to kill them at least temporarily so that I can plant wildflowers and other native plants in their place. I also use it in a sandwich layer with other compostable materials in order to build up raised beds and hugelkulturs for growing vegetables. 

My neighbor sighed, seemingly disappointed in this tame piece of insight to my goings ons. I suspect his wife would be even less accepting of this placid answer as she, like any good detective knows, the first answer rarely gets to the heart of the mystery.  

I knew this was my chance to pry into his seemingly odd hoarding of fifty-gallon barrels in his cellar. Notwithstanding the ole Vermont etiquette of allowing the last words to settle deep before laying new cement, I jabbed back, hoping to catch him off guard. 

“Now I suspect you are prepared to tell me a benign reason for filling your cellar with fifty-gallon barrels. But, spare me that and tell me the real reason - are you a rum smuggler? Expecting a run on maple syrup? Pickling that whopping load of zucchini your wife grew last summer? Come on give it up and I will tell you about my theory of growing trees from cardboard.” 

At first, my neighbor did not know if I was pulling his leg or raising the stakes in order to get at his secret treasure trove. I laid my cards down flat. "Knowing your secret and you knowing mine will be as fair a trade as any."

Well, he says, “Might as well be hanged for an old sheep as for a lamb.” And so we agreed each upon our word as Vermonters, to tell each other the heart of each our mystery.

By now I had held the cardboard tight to my chest for quite a long time. I had held my secret theory about growing trees from cardboard for a great deal longer. I had high hopes my theory would prove out and that I might patent and profit from the experiments and discoveries.

Before I started to explain, I slyly sniffed the air for any hint of rum, maple syrup, wine, or pickled zucchini that might have spilled on my neighbors clothes from the sloshing out of the fifty-gallon barrels. I was hoping for maple syrup but would be happy for a sampling of pickled zucchini as ours did not find the muster to push up through the many layers of cardboard the preceding summer. 

“You see”, I discretely whispered through channels in-between the cardboard, “I have done some research on the internet about trees. And I have observed a thing or two about how they grow. The cambium - a growth layer of the tree that makes new cells during the growing season, is what makes the trunk's branches, and roots grow thicker. After seeing sprouts of a new tree shoot up from cut down long-dead trees, I got to wondering, is dead really dead? When is a tree completely dead? Some trees like Cedar can live to be over 1600 years old. Who knows when they completely die.” 

Then I got to thinking about how cardboard comes from trees. And then I got to thinking about how if a new tree can sprout up from a seemingly dead tree, perhaps a new tree could shoot up from cardboard. 

The tree's cambium is a very thin layer only one or two cells thick. What if some of those cells had not yet died when the tree was processed into cardboard? I examined many a piece of cardboard under a microscope to try to find some living cambium cells. Though my tests are inconclusive so far, I was struck by finding that fresh cardboard seemed to have a different cellular structure than old cardboard. Thick cardboard in particular seemed to have an abundance of cells. 

Now call me quixotic if you like, but I think there may be something here that might make my pile of cardboard worth a lot more than a hill of zucchini. Hey, the world is your cow. But you have to do the milking - right? 

At this point, I could see the gears were turning in my neighbors mind. His expression said he wanted to hear more, but the Vermonter in him - “Better be ready and not go than go and not be ready” - caused him to hold his tongue. 

“Here is the kicker,” I said, trying to tease out his interest further so that I could gain more leverage to get a better taste of his secret. 

“Why don’t you tell me about your recipe experiments before I unleash the marvels of growing trees from fresh cardboard”, I blurted out while I still had him hooked line and sinker. 

Suffice it to say, over the conclusion of that winter and the next summer my neighbor and I got to know each other. He still thinks I am kinda weird, and I still think fifty-gallon barrels are a funny place to store _____. Now you did not think I was going to spill the beans (or maple syrup, or wine, or rum, or pickled zucchini) without you agreeing to tell me your secret - did you?

By the way, you may notice the Arbor Day Foundation is now mailing out starter trees as they always have, except that you will note when one arrives in the mail, that the package is no longer eighteen to twenty-four inches long. In fact, the Arbor Day starter trees now ship in 4"x 6" letter size envelopes containing small squares of fresh cardboard. 

Storytelling aside, we do use cardboard expansively for killing grass, as well as killing invasive Bishop/Goutweed and other invasive plants in order to plant native plants in their place. We use multi-layers of cardboard overlapping at the borders, leaving it in place for a full year to kill back grass. For Goutweed, we are finding that at least two full years are required, sometimes more. And even then some remaining root material may survive and grow - but the newly planted wildflower seeds have a least a chance to germinate and to grow enough to compete with unwanted plants.

              The best way to recycle is to Re-Use. 

Preparing an area for Wildflower Planting.

This year and next spring/summer we will try a recommendation by Prairie Moon Nursery. They advise, “While smothering will eliminate surface plants, a large weed seed bank may remain in the soil. Once an initial smothering period [using cardboard] has occurred, removing the cover from the site will allow weeds from the soil seed bank to germinate. Replace the cover to kill the newly germinated seedlings. This on-again-off-again cycle of germination and smothering can be utilized to prepare even the weediest pastures.” View the timed cover and uncover intervals under “smother/solarize example” at                                 https://www.prairiemoon.com/blog/site-prep 

 In the fall (2021) we will plant native wildflowers in the prepared area. 

Sheet mulching.

We also use cardboard for mulching and to help reduce or eliminate the need for ‘weeding’ around bushes, berry plants such as raspberry, and some perennial flowering plants. Usually, we cover the cardboard with wood chips or pine needles for additional mulching and for improved aesthetics. In the case of the raspberry plants, we cover the rows in-between to eliminate the need to mow the rows. 

Photo: Larch Tree from Intervale Conservation Nursery, mulched with cardboard and wood chips. 

   In addition, we use cardboard in a sandwiched application in new raised beds and in hugelkultur mounds. (We will describe our hugelkultur mounds in more detail in a later post.) We start with a layer of cardboard, then add layers of materials like coffee grounds, wood chips, wood shavings, and leaves, and sometimes more cardboard beyond the first layer. 

Jan 2022 POSTSCRIPT: Christmas Trees Wanted for Regeneration Experiment. By all means, if you know of a hungry goat, I do not wish to impede upon any goat's dietary delight - give the goat your Christmas tree. However, if you do not know of such a critter with a taste for the balm of Gilead, then please consider dropping off your Christmas tree (any day or time) into the driveway at 320 Browns Trace, Jericho, VT.

We will use them to provide shelter for birds until spring at which point my experimentation with tree regeneration will continue. Not aware of my experiments in this realm? Ah, well, check out this not (yet) 'scientific journal' article about my efforts to grow trees from cardboard. You may laugh at first but read (the article) to understand my research and revolutionary but well-reasoned theory.

Though I am not ignoring Redi's experiment (1665) results (that life is necessary to produce life), I am hypothesizing that there is some life left in what is generally thought to be lifeless products derived from trees or in the case of Christmas trees, actual trees that have been cut off their roots and ceremoniously placed in arid environments, adorned with ornaments and soon after heaped onto the garbage pile. My goal is to find more methods to utilize discarded materials for greater social use.

Planting trees using traditional methods.

We have planted one or more of the following trees:

*Yellow Birch

Hemlock 

White Pine

Balsam Pine

*Larch

*Northern White Cedar

*Serviceberry 

*American/Eastern Redbud

McIntosh Apple

Liberty Apple

Washington Hawthorn

Sargent Crabapple

American Mountain Ash

*Purchased from the Intervale Conservation Nursery (Locally grown).

We planted about 40 trees in all. We removed an invasive Norway Maple.

Watch for more posts from our series, Create a Backyard Nature Sanctuary for Pollinators (and other Insects), birds, wild life

Comments received by email: 

My FPF membership is with the Underhill Forum, but I like to read Jericho's Forum when I have time. Wow, what a TERRIFIC storyteller you are! Thank you for that fantastic story about Cardboard and the Barrels. I don't know if you storytell[ing] professionally, but I hope you do - and when the pandemic is over I get to hear you in person.

Thanks for transporting me! And giving me chuckles.

yours in love of cardboard,

P.M.

Underhill