Month: July 2020

Prevent your dying maple tree from becoming an extreme hazard to your property and wellbeing. By knowing what to do when your maple is in decline, you can save it from an otherwise early death.

toddsmariettatreeservices.com gathered information on how to identify when a maple tree is in decline, what is causing it to decline, and how you can nurse it back to health.

Maple Tree Diseases, Problems, and Solutions

To save a dying maple tree, it helps if you know why the tree is dying. When inspecting a dying maple tree, consider the following symptoms, their meaning, and what to do:

Chlorosis of Maple Tree Foliage

Your tree’s leaves should remain vibrant green (or red depending on the species) until the beginning of the fall season (when cooler weather sets in). If they are losing their color prematurely, this may be a symptom of:

• Poor soil drainage
• Compacted soil
• Poor root growth
• Damaged roots
• High soil alkalinity
• Nutrient deficiencies in the tree

Treatment for chlorosis varies depending on the cause. Consider the following measures to reverse this condition in the next growing season:

• Poor soil drainage requires the introduction of mixed layers of soil, the Installation of subsurface tile drains (sections of perforated pipe buried 12 to 18 inches below the soil surface), or working large quantities of organic material into the soil surrounding your tree.

Note: Take extra precautions to preserve tree roots when tilling or aerating soil within your tree’s root plate.

• Compacted soil and poor root growth generally occur hand-in-hand. You can reverse soil compaction by working large quantities of organic material into the soil surrounding your tree. Once the organic material has been worked into the soil, keep the entire root plate covered with a 3 to 6-inch layer of organic mulch.

Tip: The addition of earthworms will significantly speed up this process. They will draw organic material into the soil as they tunnel through it.

• Damaged roots can present a challenge as they are a gateway for a disease to quickly infect and severely compromise the health of your maple tree. Damaged roots from digging or lawnmower activity should be cleaned and treated with tree paint or pruning sealer.

• High soil alkalinity and nutrient deficiencies in the tree can be corrected by adjusting the soil pH and soil enrichment with organic material. The ideal soil pH range for maple trees is between 5.5 and 7.3. It can be lowered by using organic mulch, which coincidentally, will provide nutrients to your tree.

Water Sprouts and Tree Suckers

Water sprouts are a tree’s attempt to grow more branches, often after injury. If the tree is in decline or roots have been damaged, suckers may grow from the roots or base of the trunk. When suckers grow higher on the trunk, they’re referred to as water sprouts and usually appear at the site of a pruning wound, a crack, or some other damage.

Water sprouts and tree suckers deprive a tree of essential nutrients and energy. Even though this is typically an emergency response by the tree to heal or survive, they do more harm than good.

After removing water sprouts and tree suckers, address the injuries or deficiencies that prompted their growth.

Mushrooms on Your Maple Tree

If mushrooms are growing on your maple tree’s trunk or roots, you may have a severe problem. The presence of mushrooms and mushroom conks is a sign that the pulp of your tree is rotting. The fungi that produce mushrooms (the fruiting body of the fungus) flourish when fed by decaying organic material.

• Prune and dispose of branches with mushrooms growing on them.
• Have the tree treated or removed by a professional tree service when mushroom growth is located anywhere on the trunk or roots.
• Sanitize all equipment used on infected trees with a 1cup of bleach to 1gallon of water solution to prevent the spread of disease to other trees and plants.

Tip: As millions of spores can be produced and released by a single fruiting body, it is recommended to call a professional tree service to remove and dispose of them.

Read more about the significance of mushrooms growing on a tree at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/mushrooms-on-trunk-means-your-tree-dying/

Splitting Tree Bark

Tree bark splits or cracks for several reasons, and you cannot simply fix it. However, you can protect your tree while it compartmentalizes the damage and protect it from further damage by taking preventative measures.

While bark splitting is a common occurrence on younger trees, all trees are susceptible to bark splitting when exposed to the following conditions:

• Sunscald (Southwest Winter Injury)
• Frost Cracks
• Environmental Conditions (Drought)
• Herbicides (Glyphosate Products)

Bark splitting may also be caused by the swelling of the trunk or branch when infected by a rapidly reproducing pathogen.

As split bark presents an opportunity for successful attacks by disease or insects, call on the expertise of a professional tree service to assist you in protecting your maple tree as it compartmentalizes the damage.

Read more about the causes and treatment of splitting bark at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/tree-bark-splitting-can-i-fix-it/

My Tree Is Leaning

When your mature tree can no longer hold itself to the land or has broken away from its roots, it may lean before suddenly falling. This is a tree emergency and should be immediately removed by a professional tree service.

Younger, lighter trees can be cabled or staked in an attempt to stabilize them. This process may require several growing seasons before the tree’s root plate can successfully re-establish itself.

During this recovery time, the reason(s) for the tree’s destabilization should be diagnosed and corrected to avoid future occurrences.

Dieback

A sure sign that your tree is in distress is when branches begin to lose foliage, become brittle, and die. This often occurs when the branches in question are diseased or infested (these branches should be pruned from the tree).

However, when this condition is widespread throughout the canopy, it is referred to as dieback. Dieback occurs when:

• A pathogen is disrupting the tree’s hydraulic system
• Boring insects have consumed sufficient xylem or phloem to impede the back and forth flow of water and nutrients from the tree’s foliage to its roots
• The tree is suffering from severe drought conditions
• The tree is partially or entirely girdled

Unfortunately, by the time a tree shows signs of dieback, it may be too late to save it. However, the following may help it partially or wholly recover over several growing seasons:

• Promote the tree’s health by watering, fertilizing, pruning, and mulching it.
• Have the tree inspected and treated for boring insects and/or disease by a professional tree service
• Increase watering frequency during drought conditions
• Remove any roots, ropes, fencing, or vines that are circling the tree, restricting its water and nutrient flow

When treating a tree, keep in mind that as a tree’s health declines, it becomes vulnerable to secondary attacks by insects, pathogens, and even weather conditions. Always be on the lookout for multiple symptoms when diagnosing your maple tree’s problems.

My Tree Is Self-Pruning (Cladoptosis)

While maple trees are among those species that have a tendency to self-prune, consider the following causes when diagnosing your tree:

• A branch has become too shaded and can no longer sufficiently photosynthesize
• Poor pruning practices have left the canopy too dense, obstructing light from reaching inner branches
• Disease has debilitated the branch leading to its decline or hydraulic failure
• The branch is infested, triggering self-pruning as the tree’s defensive measure
• Climbing vines are blocking enough sunlight in the canopy to trigger cladoptosis

Cladoptosis occurs when there is a problem with your tree. If you are unable to detect the primary cause, get a professional tree service to help you before a falling branch causes catastrophic damage.

Saving a Dying Maple Tree

In this article, you discovered several of the conditions your maple tree may be dying from, and how to resolve them to save your tree.

By knowing what to look for, how to quickly treat your tree problems, and when to seek help, you can add countless years to its lifespan.

When you ignore or neglect to treat the often subtle signs of distress your tree displays, you may be sentencing it to certain death.

Sources:
web.extension.illinois.edu/focus/index.cfm?problem=chlorosis
ipm.illinois.edu/diseases/series600/rpd641/
canr.msu.edu/news/what_to_do_about_compacted_soil
extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/water-sprouts
plantclinic.tamu.edu/2013/11/15/cladoptosis-an-interesting-phenomenon/

Are you thinking about having a tree or multiple trees removed from your property? If so, it’s essential you hire the person and company to do the job. When searching for the right tree removal company, make sure you know these three things about whom you’re working with.

Are You Licensed and Insured?

The biggest mistake home and business owners make is trusting in someone who is not a true tree care professional. Even if their intentions are well-meaning and they think they can handle the job, you should only entrust such a big project to someone with the proper certifications. Failing to do so will put you, your trees and properties at real risk and make you liable should anything go amiss.

What Type of Experience Does Your Staff Have?

Becoming an expert arborist takes years of experience. As is the case in many fields, there is no real substitute for experience. It takes years to develop a keen eye for knowing the best ways to safely remove trees and branches. You really don’t want to trust in a green arborist (cheesy pun intended) when choosing a tree removal company.

What’s Your Plan for the Job and How Will it Affect My Property?

In addition, you should know what their plan of attack is and what type of equipment will they be using. Moreover, how will the equipment affect the rest of your property? Could fallen branches destroy say your garden or lawn? These are things you’ll want to have ironed out before the actual work begins.

In the Wayne, NJ area, Big Foot Tree Service has built our repudiation by providing superior tree care, including tree removal services. To learn more about the ways we can help your property, contact us today.

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

Prevent anthracnose from harming your trees, shrubs, and turf, causing their decline and eventual death. By knowing how to identify this pesky fungal disease, you can take steps to control and prevent it.

72tree.com gathered information to help you identify the symptoms of anthracnose, what it infects, how to treat it, and how to prevent the disease.

What Is Anthracnose

Anthracnose is the name given to a group of fungal pathogens that attack a wide variety of herbaceous and woody plants in spring with cool and wet weather. Fungi overwinter (lie dormant) in dead twigs and fallen leaves. Cool, rainy weather provides perfect conditions for emerging spores to spread.

Anthracnose Symptoms

Anthracnose symptoms can appear differently depending on what part of a plant or tree it has infected. The following will help you positively identify an anthracnose infection:

Twig, Branch, and Stem/Trunk Symptoms – Anthracnose infections on twigs most commonly appear as small orange-brown blisters or as a brown band encircling and girdling the young twig resulting in shoot death.

In more advanced cases, anthracnose can cause open wounds on branches, stems, and trunks. These open wounds typically appear sunken, dark, and wet.

Leaf Symptoms – Tan to dark brown irregular shaped blotches develop on young leaves, and they are typically distorted, cupped, or curled. When there is a severe anthracnose infection, premature leaf drop can occur in spring. When this happens, trees will usually produce a second growth of foliage by midsummer.

An anthracnose infection may cause identical spots on mature leaves. Still, these leaves generally do not portray the cupped or distorted appearance. These spots on mature leaves are frequently accompanied by minor wounds from insect feeding.

For trees, these symptoms are typically most severe on lower and inner branches but can travel up through the entire canopy.

Fruit Symptoms – Anthracnose fruit rot is identified as brown to black, water-soaked, sunken spots on green and ripe fruit. These lesions can develop over time, depending on weather conditions during disease development.

Grass/Turf Symptoms – Anthracnose diseases are common and destructive problems in landscapes and golf course greens with creeping bentgrass or annual bluegrass.

Anthracnose may develop in grasses as a foliar blight, in which grass leaves are infected, or a basal rot, attacking leaf sheaths, crowns, and stolons.

Anthracnose symptoms in grass and turf can be highly variable. Consider the following:

•Yellow to orange spots in irregular patterns
•Small freckle-like spots
•Circular patches reaching a foot in diameter

Symptoms are typically most severe in areas that are stressed from low mowing, excessive traffic, or inadequate irrigation or fertilization.

These symptoms first appear on the oldest growth, which dies back from the tip. The disease then gradually progresses to the younger leaves.

As the disease progresses from the foliage to basal rot, the leaf sheaths, crowns, and stolons will be darkened and rotten.

Tip: Use a magnifying glass to identify acervuli. These black, saucer-shaped pads with protruding black spines (setae) are the disease’s reproductive structures filled with spores.

Anthracnose Disease Cycle

An anthracnose disease cycle starts when a host is infected in spring or early summer from spores in fallen leaves, infected twigs/limbs, and lesions called cankers. Leaf infections commonly progress to stem and bud infections where the pathogen continues to grow and cause dieback.

Dieback is frequently the result of cankers growing over multiple years and, unless treated, will result in hydraulic failure to foliage, the decline in health, and vulnerability to deadly pathogens and/or infestations.

Generally, anthracnose infections are not lethal to plants and trees. But, if the pathogen is left to flourish for multiple growing seasons, it will weaken its host, allowing other diseases or insects to successfully attack and kill it.

Anthracnose Treatment

Due to the ease in which anthracnose spreads and infects plant life, once identified, fast action is required to prevent a wide-spread, severe outbreak. The following will help you reduce transmission of the pathogen:

•Apply a broad-spectrum, non-toxic bio-fungicide safe for organic use directly on and around infected areas
•Halt all overhead watering practices and install drip lines where possible
•Carefully prune and destroy all infected foliage, stems, and branches
•Collect and destroy fallen leaves, twigs, and debris from beneath infected trees, shrubs, and plants throughout the growing season and summer months
•Sanitize all pruning and gardening equipment after each use with a one part bleach to 4 parts water solution
•Call a professional tree service to treat cankers on tree trunks (tree removal may be required in more severe stages of infection)
•Do not walk through or work on your garden, lawn, or shrubs when they are wet
•Avoid composting infected foliage, fruit, cuttings, or stems
•Thoroughly clear debris from gardens and from under shrubs and trees in the fall to reduce overwintering opportunities for fungal spores

Read more about treating and eliminating fungi at 72tree.com/how-to-get-rid-of-tree-fungi/

Anthracnose Prevention

While it can be challenging to prevent, the following measures will help you protect your garden, bushes, and trees from anthracnose:

•Use western grown seeds which have not been exposed to anthracnose
•Plant disease-resistant species when possible
•Water, fertilize, prune, and mulch your plants and trees to promote their health
•Apply liquid copper sprays weekly throughout the growing season
•Apply sulfur powders weekly throughout the growing season
•Apply neem oil at the first sign of budding, then weekly throughout the growing season

Note: Neem oil is an organic, multi-purpose fungicide, insecticide, and miticide eliminating all stages of insects while preventing fungal attacks.

Anthracnose Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention

In this article, you discovered what anthracnose is, how to identify it, and measures to treat and prevent it from harming your landscape.

By taking swift action to halt the progression and prevent anthracnose infections, you are preserving the health of your grass, plants, shrubs, and trees.

Allowing anthracnose to spread without treatment will leave the plant life on your landscape in poor health and susceptible to more deadly pathogens and infestations.

Sources:
extension.umn.edu/plant-diseases/anthracnose-trees-and-shrubs
content.ces.ncsu.edu/anthracnose-in-turf
ipm.illinois.edu/diseases/series600/rpd621/index.html
missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/diseases/anthracnose.aspx

This article was first published on: http://www.72tree.com/symptoms-of-anthracnose/

Although a tree stump may be an eyesore in your yard, you may be wondering whether it’s a necessity to have it removed, or whether you can wait for it to decay or make it a problem for a later day. Although by definition it is not necessary to have it removed, it is the prudent course of action to do so. Here’s why:

Tree Stumps Are a Safety Hazard To Humans, Pets and Equipment

Tree stumps cause a safety issue to homeowners, especially when it is dark out as it can easily trip someone. What’s more, if you have small children and/or pets roaming around and playing in your lawn daily, a tree stump can cause injury.

In addition, a tree stump makes lawncare more difficult, and could cause a great deal of damage to your lawn mower if you accidentally run over it when trying to work around it.

Tree Stumps Attract Pests and Unwanted Plants

Whether it’s carpenter ants looking to feed on decaying wood or other insects in search of food, a tree stump often serves as a home to unwanted pests and insects. Carpenter ants may even set up shop right in the stump and lie down nests. And of course, anytime there is dying wood nearby, you have to worry about termites coming by, as well as microbes and other organisms appearing during the decomposition process. Intrusive plants like mushrooms can also develop, which could be a hindrance to other healthy plants nearby that you want to flourish, as well as a dangerous draw for dogs and cats.

Tree Stumps May Not Be Done Growing

Another disadvantage of leaving a tree stump in place is that the roots may continue to grow, which could cause all sorts of damage to your property. For example, a new root could hit a pipe, or damage a walkway or other part of your home.

As the old adage goes “it’s always better to be safe rather than sorry,” and this is especially true regarding tree stumps. At the very least, you remove an unsightly presence from your property, and in all likelihood, you’ll be removing a hazardous liability from your premises.

If you’re in the Wayne, NJ area and need a tree stump removed, contact the experts at Big Foot Tree Service.

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