Zoom: The Radicle Underground

About this Zoom talk

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Instructor: Peter Del Tredici
Date: Saturday, October 9; 10am-12pm
Price: free for Arboretum members, $10 non-members
Location: virtual, on Zoom. A Zoom link will be e-mailed to registered participants 24 hours before class begins.

In this beautifully illustrated slide lecture, Harvard botanist and urban ecologist Peter Del Tredici explores the structure and function of woody plant root systems. Understanding what goes on below the ground will help not only people become better gardeners but will enhance their appreciation of how forests work.

Peter will also examine the contributions that symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi make in promoting the growth and survival of individual plants and forests. On a practical note, the lecture will cover the pros and cons of various methods for “packaging” root systems in commercial nurseries and basic planting techniques.

Peter’s botanical career started in 1972 as a technician running the research greenhouses at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts where he studied nitrogen-fixation in non-leguminous plants. In 1979, he started working at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in Boston and continued there until his retirement in 2014. During those 35 years, Del Tredici served as the Assistant Plant Propagator, Curator of the Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection, Editor of Arnoldia, Director of Living Collections, and Senior Research Scientist.