When good weather comes back around, you may find yourself needing to remove trees. They may appear small and lacking the fullness of leaves. There are ways to grow strong and healthy trees, but sometimes they cannot be saved and will need to be removed. Here are a few tips and tricks that will make you feel like a horticulture expert in no time.
Making Trees Grow Faster
Once you plant a new tree, you’ll need to remember the following to keep it growing healthy and strong:
Don’t Hit Your Trees
Trees are living organisms, and any time the bark of a tree is injured it can be detrimental to that tree’s overall health. While it may seem a minor error, any time you accidentally knock your tree with your lawn mower, edger, or weed whacker, open wounds are created. These open wounds are vulnerable to infectious pathogens that can really harm your tree.
Give Your Trees Space
When you’re planting your tree, make sure you dig out at least three feet away from the trunk. This is important because it ensures that any neighboring plants can’t steal essential nutrients from the tree roots.
Create a Healthy Root System
Trees need healthy root systems in order to pull nutrients and water from the soil. You want to make sure you have good soil to provide these nutrients. If the dirt around your tree is hard or of poor quality, take time to loosen it up and mix in compost, mulched leaves, or even coffee grounds.
Identifying Dead Trees
You might not be sure yet whether your tree is dead or dying. The following tests can help you determine the state of your tree:
- Bend Test: Bend a few of the small branches on the tree. If the branches snap quickly without first bending, the branches are dead.
- Scratch Test: Scratch off a little section of the outer layer of bark on the trunk of the tree. There should be a green layer underneath if the tree is still alive. If it is brown and dry, the tree is dead.
- Trunk Damage: When trees age, the bark should replenish itself. New layers of bark should continuously replace the old layers. If the trunk of your tree has layers with no bark, your tree might be dead or dying.
- Fungus: If your tree has fungus growing on the trunk, this may be a sign of internal rot.
Removing dead trees is important because, if your tree is dying or dead, it is more likely to fall over during a storm or in strong wind conditions. If your tree is rather large, it can cause extensive damage to the area around it. The team at Central Services is happy to help you with any issues you may have with your trees and provide you with advice and assistance. Check out our article on planting new trees to replace any that you have lost.
