How to Maintain the Trees in Your Yard
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Trees play a key role in our landscape’s aesthetic. They not only add beauty and shade to our homes, but they also help cut energy costs, reduce air pollution, reduce soil erosion, and helps add value to your property. However, to enjoy all these, you need to properly maintain your trees.
Since trees don’t need regular maintenance, it’s easy for you to forget that they need your care to properly develop. But to enjoy all the benefits brought by trees, we need to take proper care of them.
Here are tips you can use to maintain your trees:
Know Your Trees And Their Diseases
It’s better to be fully aware of your trees and the diseases they’re most vulnerable to. By having this information, you’ll be able to know the best way to handle the situation once your trees experience a disease.
To detect the diseases at an early stage, you need to know your tree species well. To do this, have a background check to be aware of the type of trees you have. You can hire arborists, such as Tree Menders, in case of any troubles figuring out the tree or you want it maintained by professionals.
Water Properly
You need to water your tree properly to allow the soil around the roots to settle well. Watering will also provide moisture to the trees to facilitate growth.
If it's the wet season, newly planted trees might still need some watering because not all the water from rain is available to all plants. For older trees, on the other hand, they don't need constant watering.
In the hot season, for newly planted trees, they need to be watered daily for the first 1-2 weeks. After that, you can water after 2-3 days.
When watering the trees, casual soaking is more effective than frequent sprinkling with less water. However, don't over soak the ground; it should be moist.
Mulching
Mulching aids in the soil’s water conservation by reducing evaporation rates using the layer of organic material surrounding the tree trunk. In addition, mulching insulates the tree roots against extreme temperatures, conserves moisture, improves the soil texture, and controls weeds. Mulching can also protect the trunk when mowing.
To mulch, clear anything within a 3 feet (0.91 meters) radius from the tree. When spreading the mulch, be sure to leave a space, about 5 inches, around the tree trunk. To prevent the roots from rotting or messing up the soil's pH level, avoid using too much mulch.
Pruning
To keep your trees healthy and strong, remove any dead branches. For younger trees, only prune the dead and broken branches. For the older trees, you can prune excess branches to reduce competition for water and nutrients.
When pruning, make sure to cut the branches right where they’re attached to the stem of the tree to avoid leaving stubs behind. This will not only create a bad appearance in the yard but stubs are also harmful to the plants as they can develop diseases or attract pests and insects.
Also, remember to remove any sprouts or suckers from the trunk. Take note that there are parasites that create unnecessary competition for water and nutrients with the trees.
Protect The Roots
To protect your trees’ roots, you have to prevent soil compaction around the trees because the compaction limits water and oxygen supply to the roots.
Avoid parking cars or placing heavy equipment under the trees because, as time moves by, they slowly make the soil compact, killing the tree. Also, avoid changing the soil grade as it can weaken your tree.
Control Pests And Insects
If they’re not controlled, pests and insects can cause a lot of damage to trees. Pests like the gypsy moth, caterpillars, wood borers, and beetles are notorious. They can cause many damages like leaf skeletonization, galls on leaves, leaf rust, and powdery mildew. The damage caused, if not taken care of early, can even lead to the death of a tree.
You can deal with tree pests by using over-the-counter sprays or you can use homemade sprays, like pepper spray, herbal water spray, and soapy water spray.
Regular Checkups
To check if they’re in shape, have regular checkups of your yard. Trees don't actually need that much of our care because they can take care of themselves.
Check for any pests, insects, dead branches, or anything that’ll require your intervention. If you spot any severe problems, contact a tree arborist.
Conclusion
Trees add a lot of beauty and aesthetic to your outdoor for so little labor. It's a privilege you don’t get to enjoy with everything. With the above maintenance tips, you can stand back and enjoy all the rewards.
