Month: May 2020

Why Pruning Trees Are a Necessity

Tree PruningAll home and business owners want trees that look healthy and will beautify the exterior of their properties. In order to achieve those goals, it’s vital to have a tree pruning plan in place.

What is Tree Pruning?

Put simply, like humans need to clip their nails, trees need to have some of their parts removed, including deteriorating branches and buds. Tree parts can wither away for a wide range of reasons, including from too much sunlight, too many insects living in it and from a severe storm and temperature fluctuations.

Why Should You Have Your Trees Pruned?

For starters, pruning diseased parts will provide your tree with a chance to grow safer, replacement branches and buds. What’s more, it’s important for structural reasons, since proper pruning can help your tree grow sturdier.

Of course, you may also have to prune your trees for safety reasons; perhaps there is a branch inching close to a power line or maybe one is becoming a  safety hazard that could land on your garage, parked car, shed or some other spot on your property.

Another reason could be to open walkways; after all, a business does not want a bunch of branches clogging up walkways and homeowners want to avoid branches, sticks and debris lying on sidewalks.

Ultimately ,having your trees pruned provides the best of both worlds – style and functionality. It makes your property more aesthetically pleasing, while also preventing safety issues caused by overgrown or diseased branches or buds. What’s more, pruning also increases air flow within trees, meaning you’ll have healthier leaves.

In the Wayne, NJ area, Big Foot Tree Service provides a wide range of professional tree care services, including tree pruning. To learn more about our services, contact us.

This post first appeared on https://www.bigfoottreeservice.com

How To Protect Trees

How to protect trees with mulch proper planting location and wind protection

Allowing a tree to fall ill and die can impact other plants in your yard, or result in catastrophic damage to your property and wellbeing. By knowing how to protect trees from planting to maturity, you are giving them the best chance to thrive.

toddsmariettatreeservices.com gathered information about the steps you can take to protect your trees from multiple threats and hazards.

Right Tree Right Place

Before even planting a tree, your first measure of protection for it is to select an appropriate species along with choosing the best location to plant it. When choosing a tree species, consider the following:

• Do you prefer an evergreen or a deciduous tree
• Is it a flowering species
• Is the species cold hardy for your location on the USDA plant hardiness zone map
• Is the species an overstory or understory tree
• Is the species known to have invasive roots
• Has the species developed resistance to any local pathogens or pests
• What problems are the species known to develop as it matures

Right tree in the right place means the tree is suitable for the light wind rain soil and height of the tree

Once you have determined the species of the tree you would like to plant, it’s time to find the right location. When selecting the location of your new tree, take the following into consideration:

• Is the location sheltered from the wind
• Does the location receive full sun
• Is the soil well-drained
• Is the location far enough from structures and other trees to avoid root damage
• Are underground utility lines far from the location
• Look up. Is there anything overhead that could obstruct or interfere with the tree’s growth

When considering the location for your new tree, keep in mind that a growing tree cannot simply move a few feet to the left. As you select a planting location, remember that your tree will be in that spot for many decades.

Building and Structure Placement

As your landscape evolves, the protection of your trees must be at the forefront of your plans and designs. The following will help you make informed decisions about changes to your landscape and hardscape.

• Buildings, sheds, and fences can serve as wind blocks
• Keep new underground water, sewer, cable, and electrical lines far from your tree’s root system
• Keep patios, walkways, driveways, and other features from encroaching on the root plate (within the drip line) of your tree.

Fences structures and landscape features can protect trees from soil compaction and other dangers

Roots exist to absorb oxygen, water, and nutrients for the livelihood of the tree. Much of this process occurs in the top 6 to 8 inches of soil within the tree’s drip line (edge of the canopy). Trees can be best protected by having trenching, construction, and feature installation done outside the drip line, away from the tree.

Read more about tree protection during construction projects at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/protection-instructions-construction-landscaping-hardscaping/

Protect Your Tree from Soil Compaction

Soil compaction occurs when foot traffic, vehicle movement, equipment storage, or natural conditions cause the soil to compact and harden. This condition is particularly deadly when it occurs in areas surrounding trees. Tree roots are unable to absorb oxygen, nutrients, and water from compacted soil, and under these conditions will cause hydraulic failure and death of the tree.

The following are ways to protect your tree from soil compaction:

• Mulch the entire root plate
• Divert all foot traffic away from your trees
• Avoid storing parts and equipment of any kind under your trees
• Keep soil moist (not wet)
• Fence off trees during construction projects

Tree roots can be protected from temperature swings and from compaction when they are mulched with organic material

Read more about the benefits of mulching and how it helps prevent soil compaction at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/proper-mulching-techniques-around-trees/

Protect Your Trees From Freeze

Whether your tree is evergreen or deciduous, there are some risks to leaving it exposed to sustained freezing temperatures (below 32 degrees) as it matures. Winter tree injury can appear as the following:

• Dried out evergreen foliage
• Broken limbs and branches from snow/ice weight
• Southwest injury or sunscald

Winter injury can be avoided by more efficient watering, tree wrapping, and bark wrapping. Taking steps to protect your trees in the first three to five years of growth will help it defend itself from injury as it reaches maturity.

Protect trees from winter injury including dried out foliage broken limbs and branches or sunscald

Read more about winter protection for trees at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/how-to-protect-your-trees-winter/

Pruning, Cutting, and Emergency Tree Removal

One of the most critical measures of tree protection is pruning. As your tree matures, it can develop abnormal growth, become infested, suffer from a disease, and be damaged during severe weather events.

Pruning or cutting dead or diseased branches helps your tree direct its energy to new, healthy growth. When disease and infestations occur on the tree trunk, the only remaining option may be to remove the affected tree. This, at times, is the only way to save other healthy trees from suffering the same fate.

Tree protection includes periodic trimming cutting pruning and sometimes removal when a threatening disease or infestation is present

Read more about tree pruning, cutting, and emergency removal at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/right-time-cutting-pruning-emergency-tree-removal/

Tree Protection

Besides maintaining the tree(s) on your property, there are many other ways you can help protect trees in your community and around the globe. The following are ways you can participate in the reduction of demand for timber and help preserve our forests:

• Encourage stewardship
• Reduce the amount of paper you use
• Exchange paper products for those made of alternative material
• Recycle used paper
• Reuse gift bags
• Buy used wooden furniture
• Borrow, share, and donate books
• Switch to digital books and reading material
• Educate others
• Support reforestation efforts
• Plant a tree

Tree protection includes using less paper products and recycling the ones that we use

Any steps you take in the direction of tree protection and conservation add to a global movement to preserve our national and urban forests. Read more about encouraging stewardship and how tree ordinances are drafted and enacted at mortonarb.org/trees-plants/community-trees-program/protecting-trees

Preserving And Protecting Trees

In this article, you discovered information about how you can protect your trees from hazards and how to participate in the protection of trees in our urban and national forests.

By taking steps to protect your tree from its planting to its maturity, you can avoid the dangers of a sick or dying tree, causing significant damages when it falls.

Ignoring steps to protect trees can result in expensive damages and the abrupt loss of invested time and effort.

Sources:
canopy.org/tree-info/caring-for-trees/protecting-trees-from-freeze/
treessc.org/how-to-protect-a-tree/
extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/protecting-trees-during-construction-7-420/
selectree.calpoly.edu/right-tree-right-place/
extension.umn.edu/soil-management-and-health/soil-compaction

Todd’s Marietta Tree Services

200 Cobb Pkwy N Ste 428 Marietta, GA 30062
(678) 505-0266

The post How To Protect Trees appeared first on http://www.toddsmariettatreeservices.com.

Emerald Ash Borer Tree Damage

Adult emerald ash borer or agrilus planipennis with open wing covers

Prevent your ash tree from becoming an ecological hazard and infested by the emerald ash borer. By knowing how to confirm an infestation and who to call, you can protect surrounding trees and help in the effort to contain this tree-killing insect.

72tree.com gathered information on and how to identify an emerald ash borer infestation, how to protect surrounding trees, and when to remove your ash tree.

Emerald Ash Borer Information

The Emerald Ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is native to eastern Asia. It is a species of beetle that completes its life cycle by going through four distinct stages:

Eggs – This borer’s eggs are laid in clusters on ash tree bark and are very small at 1/25 of an inch, and reddish-brown.

Larvae – Growing to about an inch long, larvae are white, flat, and have a segmented body. This borer’s larvae feed on the cambium and phloem of its host under the bark, leaving S-shaped tunnels or galleries as they feed. Emerald ash borers in the larval stage are responsible for the damage that leads to the eventual hydraulic failure and death of the host tree.

Pupae – In this form, the beetle is transitioning to adulthood and does not feed.

Adult – Adults are about 3/8 to 5/8 of an inch long with metallic, bright green outer wing coverings. The adult emerald ash borer has a coppery red or purplish colored abdomen that is exposed when its wing coverings are lifted. Adults will fly up to a half-mile or more to find new ash trees to nest in. Adult emerald ash borers feed on the tree’s foliage causing little or no damage to the tree.

The emerald ash borer was first discovered in the U.S., infesting dead ash trees in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario in 2002. This beetle is responsible for killing millions of ash trees throughout the areas where it is found.

Unlike native beetles that kill stressed or weakened trees as part of the natural nutrient recycling process, the emerald ash borer kills perfectly healthy trees.

Emerald Ash Borer Infestation Damage

New emerald ash borer infestations can be challenging to detect (they usually begin high up in the crown of the tree). By the time you detect signs and symptoms, the tree is already heavily infested, declining in health, and dying. However, if you can identify heavily infested trees, there may be enough time to protect and save lightly infested trees in the area or at least contain the spread. Consider the following signs of the beetle and symptoms of an infestation:

Signs of an emerald ash borer infestation:

Two woodpeckers hunting for emerald ash borer larvae beneath the bark exposing larval galleries

Larval Galleries – S-shaped galleries under the bark.

Exit Holes – D-shaped exit holes up to 1/8 inch wide. The size and shape of the exit holes are significant.  Exit holes wider than 1/8 inch, or round holes rather than flattened on one side (D-shaped), are not emerald ash borer.

Leaf Notches – Adults will feed on ash leaves from the outer edge in, leaving notches in the leaves.

Woodpecker Activity – Woodpeckers will leave holes in the bark, surrounded by light-colored patches, as they probe beneath the bark to feed on the larvae.

Squirrel Activity – Some squirrel species will dig into the bark as they try to feed on the larvae. They leave ragged strips of bark on the trunk or stems, exposing the S-shaped galleries formed by the larvae.

Ash tree symptoms of an emerald ash borer infestation:

Epicormic Shoots (suckers or water sprouts) – When an ash tree has been successfully attacked and is under stress, it can produce epicormic shoots on the trunk, roots, and sometimes in the crown on stems and larger branches.

Bark Splits and Deformities – Infested mature trees will commonly present vertical bark splits over the location of larval galleries. On young trees with thin bark, the area over larval galleries will often dry out and turn pinkish brown while presenting vertical bark splits.

Stress Crops – Trees under severe stress can produce massive seed crops. Unfortunately, under these circumstances, few of the seeds will be viable.

Ash trees produce stress crops when infested and dying from an emerald ash borer attack

Chlorosis – As the infestation progresses, the foliage will turn yellow, wilt, and fall off the tree.

Branch Death – As the tree begins to suffer hydraulic failure, branches will die, lose their leaves, and become brittle.

Crown Thinning – Perhaps the most telling of the symptoms is the way the crown thins from the top down, leaving dead and bare branches exposed as the condition descends the tree.

You can also determine if you may be at high risk of infestation by visiting emeraldashborer.info/documents/MultiState_EABpos.pdf to see if your region or state is under Federal quarantine for the movement of emerald ash borer regulated articles.

If you detect any or a combination of the above signs and symptoms, contact a certified arborist in your area to inspect and confirm your findings. The following link explains ISA certified arborists and how to locate one in your area – 72tree.com/what-is-an-isa-certified-arborist/

Confirmed Emerald Ash Borer Infestation

Native North American ash trees possess almost no natural resistance to the emerald ash borer. Death of infested trees is at or near 100% unless managed very early on for emerald ash borer control. Once you have confirmed an infestation, immediate action should be taken to protect trees in surrounding areas.

• Call the USDA Emerald Ash Borer Hotline at (866) 322-4512 for specialized instruction and guidance (specific to your location)
• Hire an arborist to inspect and treat neighboring trees
• If your tree is beyond saving, remove it immediately
• Prevent spreading an emerald ash borer infestation by having your felled tree chipped (this process is highly effective in eliminating the borer)

Larval stage of the emerald ash borer or agrilus planipennis

Because this killer beetle does not discriminate between sick or healthy ash trees, there is little you can do besides chemical deterrence to prevent an infestation. Preventative measures for this pest should be applied by an ISA certified arborist.

Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)

In this article, you discovered information about the emerald ash borer, signs and symptoms that identify it, and what to do if you confirm an infestation in your ash tree.

By taking immediate action to deal with a potential or confirmed emerald ash borer infestation, you are protecting the ash tree population in your area. Besides saving yourself from likely financial losses when you are forced to take action.

Ignoring the dangers of an emerald ash borer infestation can lead to the destruction of an entire region’s ash tree population, ecosystem, and cause catastrophic damages as dead trees begin to fall.

Sources:
ctpa.org/the-life-stages-of-eab/
ajc.com/lifestyles/environment/invasive-beetle-threatens-georgia-ash-trees-with-devastation/kTjy7UC4LocGRhSkHP7REK/
citybugs.tamu.edu/2015/10/23/recognizing-emerald-ash-borer-damage/
invasive.org/gist/moredocs/agrpla02.pdf
fs.fed.us/aboutus/budget/requests/DDBR428_Emerald_Ash_Borer_report_to_Congress.pdf
cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/26856.pdf
orkin.com/other/beetles/emerald-ash-borer

This article was first published on: http://www.72tree.com/emerald-ash-borer-tree-damage/

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