How to not kill a tree with Erica Jo

• Asia Tabb
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Asia Tabb is the Host and Producer for WITF’s The Spark.
  
  She began her start in radio when she joined legendary radio/ host producer, Doc Christian. She worked closely with Doc for her role on “The Gospel Express, on WHOV 88.1 FM and was a host for “Unrestricted Praise” at Praise FM.
  
  Previously she was an anchor in Shreveport, Louisiana at KTAL/KMSS. Asia also worked as a Multi-Media Journalist at WHP-TV here in Harrisburg, PA.
  
  Asia got her break into news at KTVO in Ottumwa, Ia. While the 2020 caucuses were gearing up. Asia followed many candidates through their campaign trail from Senator Cory Booker, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and 46th President of the United States Joe Biden.
  
  Asia was born and raised in Norfolk, Va. She graduated from Old Dominion University in 2018 with a major in Communications.
  
  Asia is extremely friendly so don’t be afraid to say hi if you see her out and about.

 Jeremy Long / WITF

Newly planted trees in the 700 block of North 16th Street in Harrisburg on August 2, 2022.

Aired; March 11th, 2025.

The weather has been warming up and spring is getting closer. Planting a tree improperly, especially burying the root flare too dee or planting in a hole that’s too small, can lead to the tree’s death or stunted growth. Erica Jo Shaffer shared a breakdown of the common pitfalls to avoid when planting a tree.

Asia: Okay, so let’s start at the very beginning. What are some of the common mistakes that people make when it comes to choosing a tree?

Erica Jo: Well, I think the first thing you need to do is look at where you’re going to plant the tree before you even get in your car and drive to a garden center, because you might wander around. I remember people would come in and say, I want a dogwood, because they know that word, but then they’re gonna plant it in full screaming sun and it’s not gonna do well. So looking around your property and deciding where you’re gonna plant a tree, and not only just looking there, look up. How many trees get like mauled because somebody planted them under a power line? So deciding where you wanna plant the tree and how big the tree should get are your first two things you need to do.?

Asia: How do you know that in advance? Because do you know typically how big a tree is going to grow?

Erica Jo:  See that’s the thing you got to work backwards okay I don’t know what tree you’re gonna get yet but say that you know that the tree is underneath the power line and it’s in hot screaming Sun and you want to make sure that you then don’t choose a tree that gets over 20 feet tall Wow so then you go to the garden center and be like look this is what I need I need a smaller growing tree that doesn’t get over 20 feet tall it’s screaming hot Sun I’m I’m probably gonna forget to water it. What do you got? and then have somebody show you what your choices are and then move from there.

Listen to the podcast to hear the entire conversation.