Month: September 2020

Prevent your trees from dying after severe weather leaves them in tatters. By knowing what to do after weather events damage your trees, you can take swift action to save them and protect your property.

toddsmariettatreeservices.com gathered information on what to do and how to assess the condition of your trees, deciding what to do with them after sustaining catastrophic storm damage, and how to prevent it.

Damaged Tree Assessment

Once a severe storm has passed, take a look at your trees. The faster you can identify damages, the faster you can take action to secure their safety and start their recovery. Some emergency situations include:

Leaning Tree – This usually indicates that the root plate has destabilized, leaving the tree unanchored to the ground.

Hanging Branch(es) – Sometimes, branches break but remain attached to the tree or get caught in lower branches.

Cracked Trunk – The weight of the tree swaying in the wind can cause vertical cracks (splits) in the tree trunk.

Damaged Bark – When large sections of bark are damaged or lost during a storm, the tree can end up girdled and dying.

Defoliation – In storms with sustained high winds, a tree may lose a great portion or all of its foliage.

Windthrow – This condition occurs when a tree is blown over, pulling up the roots as it comes down.

Windsnap – This condition occurs when a tree crown breaks off the trunk due to high winds.

Soil Erosion – Another potentially dangerous situation is when the soil is stripped away from a tree’s root plate by floodwater, leaving large areas of roots exposed. The tree could suddenly destabilize and fall.

These and many other scenarios should be addressed by a certified arborist or professional tree service. In emergency situations, they are better equipped to prune, cut, or remove affected trees.

Arborists and Professional Tree Services

Unfortunately, severe or catastrophic weather seems to bring some bad characters along with it. If you are approached by people with a chainsaw offering to remove or repair your tree, politely decline and reach out to a professional. You can find or verify an arborist’s credentials in your area by visiting one of the following:

• ISA – International Society of Arboriculture – treesaregood.org/findanarborist
• ASCA – American Society of Consulting Arborists – asca-consultants.org
• TCIA – Tree Care Industry Association – tcia.org

When seeking a professional tree service, answer the following questions before making your decision:

• Is the company licensed to work in your city or state?
• Is the company recognized by national, state, or local organizations?
• Is the company insured and/or bonded?
• Does the company have local references?

While vetting a tree service in an emergency situation may seem ludicrous, it is necessary. If you allow an uninsured or unlicensed company to perform any services on your property or on your behalf, you can be held liable for damages and/or injuries resulting from that work.

Tree Risk Assessment

Can your tree be saved? Storms can leave your trees looking like there’s no hope. Major limbs snapped, foliage stripped away, or damaged bark may leave you with the impression that your tree is doomed. However, trees have an amazing capacity to recover from storm damage. Before deciding to remove your tree, ask the following:

Before the storm, was the tree healthy and thriving?

If your tree is healthy, did not suffer any major structural damage, and poses no immediate threat, it will likely recover over time. Prune out damaged areas, consult a tree professional with any doubts, and allow the tree to recuperate on its own.

Has the tree lost major limbs or its leader?

When a tree suddenly loses major limbs or its leader, it will be significantly more difficult for the tree to recover. When the tree does recover from such injuries, it may end up as a stunted or deformed version of the original.

Has the tree lost more than 50% of its crown(branches and leaves)?

When a tree loses more than half of its branches, it may be unable to produce enough foliage to sufficiently photosynthesize enough nutrients to nourish the tree.

Are the wounds left on your tree recoverable?

A tree can compartmentalize and close over wounds. However, this process takes time, and the more extensive the damages, the more likely the tree is to be successfully attacked by insects and diseases.

After pruning away damaged limbs and branches, have your tree assessed by a tree professional to help you determine its survivability.

Is this your opportunity to replace a nuisance tree?

If you consider your tree as the wrong species for its location (too tall, too messy, invasive roots, etc.), this may be the best time to remove the tree.

Time to Make a Decision

Using the above information, questions, and professional evaluation, you can make a well-informed decision about the fate of your tree(s). Most of those decisions will fall into one of the following three categories:

My Tree is a Keeper

• Damage is minor
• Light pruning required
• The tree is young enough to quickly recover

Wait for My Tree to Recover

• Damage is extensive but not apparently fatal
• Prune broken branches and give the tree time to recover
• Avoid removing healthy limbs and branches
• Consult a tree professional to assess the tree

Remove My Tree

• If the tree was already infested or diseased
• The trunk has vertically split
• Windsnap has severed the upper portion of the crown
• Most of the branches have been lost
• Too much bark was stripped away in the storm
• After allowing time to recover, the tree has only declined

Tip: When pruning your tree after a storm, never cut the main (upward) branches back to stubs or to the trunk. This practice is known as topping, and the branches that replace them will grow weakly attached and more likely to sustain damage during a future storm.

Trees and Storms

While trees are incredibly resilient, severe weather events can create some incredibly dangerous scenarios, exposing weaknesses in tree crowns, trunks, and roots.

Your awareness and understanding are of the most crucial factors regarding your trees after severe weather. Consider the following:

Power Line Safety – Along with tree damage, downed or damaged power lines can pose a severe threat of electrocution. When power lines and trees interfere with one another, it can leave the tree energized. Keep your distance from such situations and contact your utility company or 911 emergency services.

Property Damage – When a storm-damaged tree falls on your property, damaging your home or other structures, the following will help you sort out the situation:

1. Move everyone to safety
2. If anyone was injured, call emergency services
3. Contact your insurance company
4. Photograph or video all damaged areas from multiple angles
5. Contact an emergency tree removal company
6. Contact a plumber to evaluate your home for potential leaks and hidden damages
7. Contact a roofing company to evaluate and repair any damages to your roofing system

Other trees on your property should be evaluated for structural damages.

Be Patient – After a severe storm passes through your area, city officials and response teams need time to organize and properly respond to the destruction left behind.

City crews, utility crews, and tree care companies will first focus on eliminating hazards to life and property. Afterward, the often daunting task of debris removal, including fallen branches and entire trees, will take place.

Responsibility – The responsibility of storm-damaged street-side trees varies from city to city. To determine whether you are responsible for street-side trees bordering your property, contact your city’s arborist or forester.

Tree Preparation for Storms

One of the greatest ways to help your trees survive a storm is to prepare them for one. While a storm’s impact is unpredictable, there are ways to give your tree a fighting chance. Consider the following:

• Keep your tree sufficiently watered
• Fertilize when needed
• Mulch the root plate
• Prevent or eliminate insect infestations or diseases
• Annual tree inspections
• Crown thinning and seasonal pruning

Tip: Remove trees in rapid decline or that have already died. When these trees fall in severe storms, they can cause catastrophic damage to structures and other healthy trees.

Read more about preparing trees for storms at toddsmariettatreeservices.com/tree-preparation-storms-hazardous-weather/

Trees Surviving Storms

In this article, you discovered how to assess the condition of your trees after severe weather events, how to determine a course of action for your damaged trees, and preventative measures to take before a storm.

Knowing how to assess your trees after severe weather events, you can help them recover or make informed decisions about their removal.

When you ignore storm-damaged trees, you create the possibility for catastrophic damages when your tree suddenly falls on your home or car.

Sources:
texashelp.tamu.edu/browse/by-type/naturally-occurring/severe-weather/trees/
extension2.missouri.edu/g6867
agrilife.org/treecarekit/after-the-storm/repairing-storm-damaged-trees/
static.colostate.edu/client-files/csfs/pdfs/FINAL_Storm_Damage_Quick_Guide.pdf

Prevent your trees from dying when metallic wood-boring beetles infest your area. By knowing how to identify these destructive beetles, you can take action to protect and treat your trees.

72tree.com assembled the following information on metallic wood-boring beetles (jewel beetles), the damage they cause to trees, how to protect your trees, and who to call when you identify their presence.

Metallic Wood-Boring Beetles (Buprestidae) – Jewel Beetles

Jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles are members of the Buprestidae family of beetles, consisting of over 15,000 known species. The larvae of this immense beetle family are known as flathead borers. These beetles possess the following traits:

Appearance – Beetles have six legs and short antennae. Nearly all adult jewel beetles will have some metallic coloration on their body. In contrast, the brightest coloration typically appears under the wing covers (elytra) or on the insect’s underside.

Size – These beetles are generally cylindrical or elongated to oval, with lengths from .12 to 3.15 in; most species are under .80in.

Feeding Habits – Adult beetles of the Buprestidae family feed on their host tree’s foliage, causing little damage to the tree.

The larvae of these beetles burrow through the bark, roots, and stems of multiple species of trees and woody plants to reach the cambium (water and nutrient delivery system of the tree).

Some of the more well-known jewel beetles include:

•Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)
•Golden Buprestid (Buprestis aurulenta)
•Bronze Birch Borer (Agrilus anxius)
•Red-legged Buprestis (Buprestis rufipes)
•Flathead Apple Tree Borer (Chrysobothris femorata)
•Anthaxia (Anthaxia)
•Oak Splendor Beetle (Agrilus biguttatus)
•Eurythyrea austriaca (Linnaeus, 1767)

Note: Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta uncovered that jewel beetle color results from light-reflecting properties of the cells comprising their external skeletons. This research suggests that a jewel beetle’s color results from its physical structure (cell alignment) rather than pigment’s light-absorbing properties.

For important information about the emerald ash borer, read 72tree.com/emerald-ash-borer-tree-damage/

Metallic Wood-boring Beetle Life Cycle

As with most beetle species, their life cycle can be separated into 3 distinct phases, including:

Adult – In spring and summer, adult beetles emerge from their host and feed on its foliage while searching for a mate. Adult jewel beetles are typically short-lived, living only for a few weeks.

Egg – Females lay eggs in crevices in the bark of the same or a nearby tree.

Larva – After hatching, larvae bore into the host until reaching the nutrient-rich cambium of the host tree, where it feeds, grows, and pupates.

Most species have one generation per year or take multiple years to develop. However, some species may produce multiple generations per year.

Metallic Wood-Boring Beetle Infestation Identification

While visual confirmation of adult beetles is best, the following symptoms indicate that a metallic wood-boring beetle infestation is occurring:

•Partially consumed foliage (Leaf notches)
•Chlorosis of foliage in sections of the crown
•Dieback of foliage and stems
•Frass (sawdust) found on the bark from burrowing activities
•D-shaped exit holes in tree bark
•Bulging or vertical splits in the bark (over larval galleries)
•Suckers and water sprouts growing in the crown, on the trunk, and/or from the roots
•Woodpecker damage (woodpeckers hunt beetle larvae)
•Squirrel activity (some squirrel species feed on beetle larvae)
•Adults found in traps

Combined, the beetle’s different stages’ feeding habits will leave a tree with damaged, wilting foliage, and in rapid decline.

As larvae continue to feed, they channel through their host’s cambium layer in a zigzag or ribbon pattern. This feeding ultimately leads to a partial or total girdling of the host, resulting in hydraulic failure and death.

Affected Tree Species – Some tree species especially susceptible to wood-boring beetles in the Buprestidae family include:

•Pine (Pinus)
•Spruce (Picea)
•Fir (Abies)
•Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
•Ash (Fraxinus)
•Beech (Fagus)
•Hazelnut (Corylus)
•Apple (Malus domestica)

Generally, Buprestidae prefer attacking trees and woody plants in decline or dying. However, a number of the species will attack “green,” flourishing specimens. An example of this is the emerald ash borer (EAB), which has decimated the ash tree population in many parts of the US and continues on the move.

Note: Many wood-boring beetle species seek, attack, and infest specific tree families like the emerald ash borer that attacks those species within the ash family.

Metallic Wood-Boring Beetle (Buprestidae) Control and Prevention

Due to their larvae’s hidden feeding activities, preventing a metallic wood-boring beetle infestation is not always possible. However, the following practices will help reduce the risk of an infestation:

•Select well-adapted species of trees not commonly attacked by wood borers in your area.
•Choose and prepare a suitable planting site to avoid tree stress, freeze damage, sunscald, windburn, and other stressors.
•Use proper watering and fertilization methods.
•Use proper seasonal pruning practices (winter/dormant season).
•Avoid mechanical injury to tree trunks from lawnmowers construction.

Your trees’ care includes the safe removal and destruction of infested, diseased, and dying trees from your property and surrounding areas.

Most of the time, wood-boring insects are secondary invaders (successfully attacking a tree already in decline). For a tree, the first line of defense against any infestation is to keep them healthy. Proper care of trees and woody plants discourages many borer pests. Good sap flow from healthy, vigorous trees, for example, defends the plant from damage by many borer pests.

If you have confirmed a boring insect infestation on or near your property, immediately contact an ISA certified arborist to evaluate your property’s risk and recommend a course of action.

Note: If you are inclined to use chemical treatments on your trees or as a ground soak, allow a professional to apply it. To chemically stop or prevent a boring insect infestation, such products must be applied correctly and at the right time.

Jewel Beetles (Buprestidae)

In this article, you discovered essential information about metallic wood-boring beetles, their appearance and life cycle, how to identify an infestation, and how to prevent or control these deadly beetles.

By taking swift action to prevent or control a jewel beetle infestation, you are helping all of the trees on and around your property.

When you allow a wood-boring beetle infestation to go unchecked, you can be responsible for devastating infestations spreading far beyond your property.

Sources:
texasinsects.tamu.edu/woodborer-metallic-woodboring-beetle/
extension2.missouri.edu/g7422
fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5320268.pdf
nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115304

This article was first published on: http://www.72tree.com/metallic-wood-boring-beetles/

As we’re witnessing more severe storms and hurricanes hit the southeast coast and even further up north, trees are susceptible to getting destroyed during a heavy storm. This can be dangerous for people and their homes. Removing dead trees before a storm hits is very crucial to the safety and protection of your family. Sometimes, a storm can rip apart healthy trees, and in this case, you’ll need to remove them from your yard.

At Big Foot Tree Service, we have the capabilities to help you remove those fallen trees after a severe storm has hit.

The Benefits of Storm Cleanup

While a severe storm can be frightening, the aftermath isn’t always so bad. Most of the time, the storms are time, but sometimes they can be very dangerous. Having a professional service come out and removing trees that have fallen after a storm can be very beneficial for you.

• Storm Cleanup You Don’t Have to Do Yourself
• Removing hanging branches and limbs
• Avoid future dangers of unstable trees

Our emergency storm cleanup crew can help get your yard cleaned up in no time, especially after a severe storm does damage to your property.

The Dangers of Not Removing Dead Trees

A severe storm can really do damage to your property. Fallen trees can affect electrical lines, the foundation of your home, and the roof of your house. If a severe storm doesn’t tear down your trees, but does hazardous damage, the trees could be susceptible to cause damage in the near future. Removing them as soon as possible is the best thing you can do in this situation.

If you have been through a severe storm where your trees have fallen or been damaged, please don’t hesitate to contact Big Foot Tree Service at 973-885-8000 today or visit us online for more information!

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