Storm damage

Thunder storm season is upon us. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the damage they can do to your trees? In a word, yes. Although there is no way to completely eliminate the possibility of damage, there are steps you can take to reduce the risk.

A healthy and properly pruned tree will weather the storms much better than a stressed tree. Removing problem branches under controlled conditions before the storm hits will keep them from breaking healthy branches as they fall and avoid "rips" on the trunk as they are blown down. Additionally, pruning these branches will keep them from causing colateral damage to people and personal property such as houses, cars, other trees, etc.

A certified arborist should periodically inspect the health of your trees to check for obvious signs of future failure. These signs may include vertical stress cracks, heaving roots, disease and pest problems, competing or co-dominant trunks, limited or compromised roots, etc. Many reputable tree companies will send a certified arborist to inspect your trees for little or no charge.

How much water do my trees need?

Water: too much or too little? Trees need water. Seems obvious, but there are a lot of people who believe that since no one waters forest trees, their urban cousins don’t need any help either. But they don’t take into consideration the very different growing conditions of each.
Forest trees conserve resources much more efficiently than their urban counterparts. An organic layer of mulch holds moisture in the soil, natural wind breaks reduce evaporation, plus group shading and transpiration keep the overall forest temperatures cooler.
Urban trees often bake in the sun and have to compete with a thick layer of sod over their roots systems that absorb the reduced available moisture. Buildings, streets, lights, and other urban elements radiate heat, further adding to the depletion of water.
How much is enough? Too much is as harmful as too little. Over saturation of the soil can literally drown your trees by not allowing room for oxygen to penetrate into the soil pore space. A general rule of thumb is to do a deep-watering every 4-6 days during periods of drought for mature trees and every 2-3 days for smaller and newly planted trees. Less frequent, but deeper watering help train the tree to be drought resistant. The best time to water is in the morning. Click here for more information

What's killing native dogwoods?

Discula Anthracnose

There is a fungus that has been killing native dogwoods up and down the east coast. It started in the north east and has traveled down the mountain ranges and into the piedmont regions. Symptoms include lesions on the leaves and vertical water sprouts. Dead leaves may remain attached to the branch over the winter. Discula anthracnose is a leaf fungus that attacks the vascular system. The disease develops rapidly and may kill the tree. Treatment is only preventative; there is no cure once the fungus is present. The disease is responsible for killing countless native dogwoods throughout the eastern United States.

Borers

Borers do their damage by tunneling below the bark and disrupting the flow of vital nutrients, water and oxygen through the vascular system of trees. Borers attack oaks, maples, tulip trees, cherry trees, willows, and pines. Symptoms include staining along trunk or branches, fras (fine sawdust), sap on trunk, and dieback in canopy.
Borers are the larvae of beetles or moths. Females lay their eggs throughout the summer season in the bark. The larvae tunnel through bark, sapwood and heartwood as they feed. This disrupts the flow of nutrients and water through the vascular system. Dieback in the canopy soon results. Trees stressed by drought, poor growing conditions, mechanical damage, etc. are particularly susceptible to infestation. Borers often kill the tree.
Timing for treatment varies by species of borer. New advances have been developed that are not only more effective, but also reduce the number of treatments, reducing costs.

Mulch your trees

Mulch has so many benefits for trees. It adds valuable nutrients back into the soil. This is especially important in the urban environment where nutrients are often taken away with the raking of leaves and twigs. Mulch also regulates soil temperatures, keeping the root system cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. During droughts, it retains moisture within the root zone helping trees survive long periods without rainfall. A layer of mulch also protects roots from mechanical damage from lawn mowers, weed wackers and the like. Additionally, it helps keep weeds down.
Some tree companies, like Growing Earth Tree Care (see links to left) will deliver woodchip mulch for free of charge. This is the mulch they generate from pruning and taking down trees and is excellent for spreading out over your tree's root system. They only deliver full truckloads (approximately 14-17 cubic yards) so you might want to get together with some neighbors if you don't need that much. There is a right way and a wrong way to apply it. It's best to apply mulch in tree islands instead of putting rings around individual trees. See the earlier blog for more information.

When to think about tree disease and pest problems

Did your trees have insect or disease problems last year? If so, now is the probably the best time to contact your arborist to make sure you're pro-actively dealing with it this year. The timing of treatments are crucial when fighting harmful attacks. They have to be applied during the critical "window of opportunity" to be effective. Insects have life cycles and the treatments must be done at the right point in the cycle. But many tree owners call the arborist when they see the symptom in their trees. By this point, the damage is often done, and it is way past the effective time when something could've be done.
Insects tend to overwinter in the tree and are waiting for spring (like the rest of us). But they enjoy the tree in a completely different way than we do. To them, the tree's nothing but a good meal. That's when larvae start tunneling through the vascular system, etc.
Have your arborist look at your trees now, while they are still dormant. Once all the activity of spring starts, you want to have your plan of defense in place. More on specific diseases and pests in future blogs.

Should you mulch your trees?

Is mulch good for your trees? Well, it can either do a lot of good or a lot of harm. Spread it in a thin layer over the root system of your trees and it will regulate soil temperatures, recycle nutrients back into the soil, retain moisture -this is especially helpful during droughts. It can also keep weeds from taking over and improve appearances.
Apply it "vulcano style" over the lower trunks and you can do considerable harm. I've seen whole neighborhoods where one tree after another has had the mulch applied this way. A low-end landscape company must have had a blue light special. Either that or one homeowner had it done and everyone else thought they must know what they're doing, without bothering to find out if they really do.
Mulch should never touch the trunk of the tree where it can trap moisture and encourage decay to set in. It will also become a breeding ground for disease and insects to infect the tree. Additionally, it will promote weak root growth above the normal ground level.
Mulch is good for your trees, but only if you do it the right way. Instead of piling it up in a small ring like a doughnut around the base of the tree, spread it out like a pancake -thin and wide. It should be about 2-3 inched deep. Wood chip mulch is better than double shreaded. More on mulching in a future blog.