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Heavy equipment required for new Carpentersville tree

A new sugar maple tree in Carpentersville is so big it took a crane several hours to finally plant it into the ground Thursday.

The tree, near a parking lot across from Otto Engineering on Main Street, weighed in at 20,000 pounds, was between 25 and 30 feet tall and between 25 and 30 feet wide. Its trunk circumference is between 11 and 12 inches, according to Brian Killinger, head contractor for Dundee Landscape Nursery & Garden Center, which did the planting.

This tree came from Kaneville Tree Farms near Sugar Grove, is about 16 years old and replaces another sugar maple that died earlier this year from a soil fungus. The fungus, called verticillium wilt, came as a result of last year’s drought and this year’s extreme rains, Killinger said.

The diseased tree was between 20 and 25 years old and, due to its fall colors, was the favorite of Tom Roeser, Otto’s president and chief executive officer.

Roeser planted his favorite tree three years ago and didn’t want to wait for a younger one to mature this time around either.

“Our Main Street parking lot is the entrance to downtown Carpentersville,” he said, “and we’re putting in a big fancy tree so the whole place looks terrific.”

  A crew from Dundee Landscape & Garden Center plants a large sugar maple tree at Otto Engineering in Carpentersville. It replaces a diseased sugar maple that died earlier this year and was the favorite of Tom Roeser, OttoÂ’s president and chief executive officer. The new tree is twice as large as the old tree. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
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