In the harvest and shipping season of 2006 we here at Kuenzi Turf & Nursery made several changes when excellent advice was given to us from one of our respected customers.  The three largest changes were the addition of a 'Specimen' grade size being added to our availability list, all trees larger than 2" caliper and our 'Specimen' grade are spade dug, and implementing a more costly tree wrap to prevent scaring of the bark. 

    The specimen grade addition was a step we felt was necessary to differentiate our quality of tree from others in the market place.  To learn and see what a specimen trees looks like visit Emperor I photo page in our Ornamental Varieties & Photos web page. 

    Upon being asked to dig our larger upright Japanese Maples with a spade we have found many new reasons why this has been a great shift in our operation.  To see the benefits of  spade digging these large trees view the pictures below.  We have found when all things are considered the spade dug tree is hands down containing more roots than a hand dug ball.  So once again our mission here at Kuenzi Turf & Nursery is accomplished in growing, digging and shipping a quality tree to our customers that out performs our competitors.

We use a better quality twine, though more expensive it eliminates scared bark and allows our quality Japanese maples be shipped in a quality fashion.

All trees larger than 2" caliper and larger or specimen are dug with a Dutchman 28" spade and put into a 26" (22 degree) basket.  With the wire basket crimped the top dimension of the ball is  26", bottom dimension of 16" and 20" tall.

Notice the amount of large roots from this Bloodgood Japanese Maple that are still at the bottom of our 28" spade.  Digging with a spade allows us to capture more of these important tap roots that you wouldn't be able to contain with a regular hand dug ball.

Notice on a different Bloodgood Japanese Maple there still are many roots coming out of our 28" spade.

Here you can notice the amount of large caliper roots that are on the side of the spade.  When all things are considered  we are finding the spade dug tree is hands down containing more roots than a hand dug ball.

Shaping to ensure a quality looking spade dug tree.

Tightly crimping the basket to ensure a strong protected ball to withstand shipping and transportation.

A beautiful specimen Bloodgood Japanese Maple, which is well balanced when dug with a 28" spade and put into a 26" (22 degree) basket.

Our spade dug trees are loaded onto many pallets, carefully pulled from the field and staged ready for shipment.

Each spade dug tree is carefully lifted with a forklift and from our loading dock carefully driven into a truck.

The spade dug trees are tightly organized to eliminate shifting during shipment.