What is Tree Care?
Trees are living organisms and can get a weakened immune system similarly as an animal or plant would. Watering and mulching are easy first steps to ensuring your tree stays healthy. We have a few more tips to help your tree thrive
Watering
With our hot, dry summers, and tendency for drought conditions, proper watering is the best thing tree owners can do to help their trees.
Mulching
The importance of mulching is often overlooked, especially when trees are planted in an area covered with turf grass, but mulch is an easy way to manage soil moisture, temperature, and contribute nutrients to less-than-ideal soils.
Fertilization and Soil Amendments
Fertilization can be a touchy subject; most readily-available fertilizers are not designed to improve soil and feed trees in the long term. Some products, like “weed and feed” treatments, can actually harm trees. For sustainable, long-term improvement, a balanced mix of organic and inorganic fertilizers and soil additives yield the best results.
Trimming
- Timing
- Depending on your goals for trimming, it may be better to trim during different times of the year.
- Maintenance Trimming
- Maintenance trimming is what most healthy trees need to maintain their health and balanced growth and is generally recommended every two years for mature trees.
- Specialized Trimming
- Structural pruning is generally performed on young trees, structural pruning helps to establish balanced, healthy growth.
- Restoration pruning is generally performed when a tree has been topped, or has sustained other physical damage, restoration pruning can be used to guide it back to a natural shape.
- Retrenchment pruning is generally performed on older trees that have less vigor and ability to sustain new growth and can often benefit from directed trimming that reduces overall size and weight while maintaining health.
Tree Health Care
At all stages of life, trees can suffer from stress, damage, pests, and diseases. “Tree health care” refers to the use of organic and inorganic chemical application to address a health issue or bolster a tree’s ability to cope with a stressor. Plant health care needs are determined by a certified arborist and treatments are performed by specialized technicians.
Common types of plant health care include:
- Fertilization
- Soil Amendment
- Pesticide Application
- Disease Management
- Chemical Growth Regulation
Additional Resources
The International Society of Arboriculture has a guide on tree trimming and plant health care.
At Texas Tree Surgeons, we love trees and we love our community! We hope this blog on tree care will encourage you to annually schedule an arborist assessment to maintain tree health. We have additional resources on our North Texas Tree Owner’s Guide. If you would like immediate assistance with your trees please contact us today.