You, like many property owners, value your trees. They supply shade, natural beauty, and charming homes for your favorite local wildlife. Do you know how to keep trees healthy to prolong their vitality? New Leaf Tree Service shares some expert tips from our experience providing tree services in Louisville, KY.
Five Tips on How To Keep Trees Healthy
A well-rounded tree healthcare plan keeps consistency and resource provision at the center. That means when your property or climate can’t provide, you supplement your trees’ needs. Let’s explore five professionally recommended ways to secure tree health year after year below.
#1 Regular Pruning
Each specimen needs tree pruning every three to five years. Younger or more vulnerable trees may need pruning services more frequently. Book an arborist inspection in late winter or early spring to identify the trees that could use a clipping.
#2 Soil Health Management
Conduct a soil analysis near your favorite trees to assess the soil health in each area. You may discover that some areas lack essential nutrients or contain excessive amounts of a particular nutrient. Fertilization balances the nutritional content while replenishing essential elements lost to erosion or plant consumption. You should ideally analyze the soil every three to five years.
#3 Consistent Watering
Droughts come and go in Louisville, Kentucky. Dry seasons stress your specimens and stretch their resources to their limits. Tree watering is one tip that enables you to learn how to keep trees healthy.
When it doesn’t rain, run your sprinklers or drip lines near your favorite trees. Grass may die back but it will quickly regrow when resources are plentiful. Your beloved specimens don’t have this option because it takes years for a new tree to take an old one’s place.
#4 Pest Management
Most healthy, vigorous trees don’t need any help combating pests and diseases. They can easily protect themselves or survive these organisms via their natural defenses. However, saplings, recent transplants and wounded trees can benefit from some professional disease and pest control.
Young trees have softer tissues that opportunistic bugs and fungi can use as an entry point. Recent transplants must recover from the initial shock that comes with relocation. Wounded individuals have open gateways for opportunistic organisms to infiltrate their heartwood.
#5 Removal of Dead or Diseased Wood
If you leave dead wood lying around, you open the door for and invite those fungi and pests to overtake your trees. They can jump from the dead wood to a weakened specimen once they’ve pillaged the fallen branch or log for all its resources. Consider mulching or composting dead material so you can repurpose it to nourish:
- Flower beds: Mulch keeps weeds from getting a foothold and overtaking your plants while nourishing them to produce brighter, more vibrant blooms.
- Vegetable gardens: Your sun-loving veggies can draw more moisture and nutrients as needed with mulch and rich compost in their soil.
- Other trees: Keep the ground surrounding your favorite specimens moist and fertilized with a little help from your homegrown mulch or wood chips.
- Decorative shrubs: Mulch serves a similar purpose for shrubbery, making the bushes look neat and well-groomed.
When pulverized, dead wood enriches the soil instead of attracting potentially destructive organisms.
New Leaf Tree Service Offers Comprehensive Tree and Plant Healthcare Services in Louisville, Kentucky
Now that you know how to keep trees healthy, read up on the importance of plant healthcare services. Then, book a visit with one of New Leaf Tree Service’s arborists in Louisville, Kentucky. Call 502-419-9899 to discuss a time that works for you.