Monthly Archives: March 2024

When Should I Fertilize My Trees?

Trees With Fertilizer

Whether it is around your home or your business, trees are a bonus. They provide beauty and shade, a habitat for nature, and more. For the most part, nature nurtures and takes care of them, they’re pretty self-efficient. But when you have new trees, or trees that are special to you, sometimes, you need help in caring for your trees, like professional tree fertilizer services

Is tree fertilizing necessary?

For many, many years, even decades, taking care of trees or any plant life was almost routine. But it seems the weather patterns are changing, and the soil has changed as well, not to mention the air pollution has increased. So, taking care of your landscape has had to change as well, but perhaps you’re not sure why your plants and trees are struggling. With the help of professional tree fertilizer services, you can get the natural beauty around your home or business thriving again.

What exactly are tree fertilizer services?

By choosing to use tree fertilizer services, they have the education, knowledge, and skills to determine what your trees need. They will examine the trees, test the soil, and determine what steps and treatments are needed to protect and/or stimulate the root system. 

Why would you choose to use tree fertilizer services? 

They know how to make sure the treatment is evenly distributed so that it is more effective to get the best results.  A tree fertilization program by a professional company that provides tree fertilizer services, or doing it yourself, will maintain your trees and shrubs, keeping them in vigorous condition and encouraging growth. 

Tree fertilizer services will keep your trees resistant to diseases and insects. As professional arborists, they will know how to make the soil and roots healthier so that the tree flourishes. You can choose to have a routine program for their services, or let them address your concerns by answering questions like, “When should I fertilize my trees?”

Here in Texas, the best times for tree fertilizer services are in the spring and fall, with the fall season of fertilizing the most important fertilizing. Why are fall tree fertilizer services so important? 

Tree fertilizer services during the fall season will supplement the nutrients that trees lose during winter weather, keeping them healthy. Especially if you’re a homeowner who rakes the leaves every fall. So, is raking leaves not good for the trees? This seems to be a right of passage, rake the leaves, the kids jump in the piles, and you rake them again. Some homeowners will bag those leaves and use them as decorations for Halloween. 

Well, for healthy trees, there isn’t any need to rake every leaf you see on the ground. If you do rake, mow the ones you don’t get and leave them be. You can even use the leaves you rake up as winter mulch around the base of the trees. Or add to your compost pile for mulch in your spring gardens. When it comes to doing your tree fertilizer services, only apply fertilizer when the ground temperature is at or above 55°F. This will help to sidestep unseasonal growth that could damage your trees.

What is the best way to fertilize a full-grown tree? 

During the growing season for trees, fertilizing services can help with any mineral deficiencies and make the tree resistant to diseases that can cause permanent damage. A good fertilizer should contain the following ingredients: 

  • Macronutrients such as: 
  • Nitrogen
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
  • Micronutrients such as: 
  • Iron Magnesium
  • Manganese

Each of these has different effects on a tree’s growth. Where professional tree fertilizer services can help you by advising you on the right formula for different trees. Not all trees need the same formulas or levels of fertilization. 

The steps you take in your tree fertilizer services are just as important as the fertilizer. Never over-fertilize! The recommended amount is between .10 to .20 pounds of nitrogen for every 100 square feet. Too much can burn the roots and the soil surrounding the tree. Apply the fertilizer by dropping or scattering it under the drip zone of the tree. 

What is the drip zone? 

The drip zone is the area under the outer circumference of the branches. This is considered the canopy and when it gets wet, the excess water sheds onto the ground along the dripline. 

Should you fertilize a struggling tree?

If you have a tree with any of the following, this is a struggling tree and it needs deep root tree fertilizer services to give it the right amount, process, and type of treatment: 

  • Defoliation
  • Slow growing
  • Fewer leaves
  • Smaller leaves than normal
  • Leaf color changes too early
  • Leaves dropping too early
  • Leaves that appear to be scorched
  • Tree canopy dying from the top

What is deep root tree fertilizing treatment?

Professional tree fertilizer services use a specialized application of the right fertilizer that will restore the struggling tree. This process includes using high-pressure equipment that injects, typically around 5” deep, a blend of nutrients and organic matter into the surrounding soil that will reach the trees’ roots

This process is done in a grid pattern to ensure that all of the root zone parts receive a sufficient amount of nutrients. They will continue this process under the tree canopy and extend just past the drip line. 

To The Root Of The Matter: Cost

Yes, professional tree fertilizer services are going to be somewhat costly, but is it worth it? Yes, if you want to maintain the beauty, shade, and natural habitat around your business or home. If you have new landscaping and have just had a few select trees planted on your property, professional tree fertilizer services will make sure they have a good start and can instruct you on how to care for them going forward.

What is the Deadliest Tree Disease?

large tree covered in leaves

What tree diseases are common in the area?

Property owners value their trees here, as they do anywhere else in the country. We plant them, feed them, water them, prune them, and battle the possibility of numerous tree diseases when needed.  Like the human body, many tree diseases can stunt the growth, even kill a tree. That leads many people to wonder what kind of tree diseases are in Fort Worth, TX?

What are the most common tree diseases?

There are different categories of tree diseases, with most of them being fungal foliar diseases. Some of these can be lethal and others just make the trees ugly. To make it more challenging how to treat tree diseases, we need to know the difference between a treatable tree disease, a chemical injury, or an insect-caused tree disease.

The different categories of tree diseases include: 

  • Needle Rusts: Harmless to the tree and grows on the needle’s surface. 
  • Needle Casts: Forms and grows inside the needles, causing the needles to shed.
  • Needle Blights: Forms and grows inside the needles, which can cause the tree to die if not treated. 
  • Hardwood Leaf Tree Diseases: There are different types of foliar hardwood tree diseases and is one example of chemical injury and insect injury mimicking some tree diseases. This type of tree disease is often related to the weather, making it difficult to prevent and treat. The best prevention is raking and destroying the leaves that fall. 
  • Anthracnose Tree Diseases: This is a fungal tree disease that mostly affects the leaves and sometimes the stems.  Damage can be severe, and there are minimal ways to minimize the damage.  
  • Rust Tree Diseases: These are fungal diseases, affecting hardwood tree leaves, a common problem that typically isn’t serious.\
  • Leaf Spotting: Leaf spotting on trees isn’t an important issue for the overall tree, but it can make the tree ugly.  
  • Tar Spotting: Tar spotting tree diseases are found on maple and sycamore trees and isn’t actually “tar” but is a fungal disease. Rarely a detriment to the tree’s overall health but can cause the tree to prematurely defoliate. 
  • Powdery Mildew: A common plant and tree disease that is easy to recognize with a white patch or spot that appears like talcum powder. Powdery mildew tree diseases are more severe in dry, warm, weather with the succulent tissue being the most susceptible.
  • Leaf Blistering: Oak leaf blistering is caused occurs on most oak trees. Visible by a quarter-inch to half-inch spots on the leaves that turn a light green as the leaves expand. 

Other types of tree disease include pine stem tree diseases like rust, and hardwood stem tree diseases like black knot, cankers, decay, and wilt. 

What is the deadliest tree disease?

As with foliar and stem tree diseases, it is the diseases that afflict the fungal tree roots.  These types of tree diseases are typically lethal in the long term because they impact the tree’s ability to absorb water from the soil. Some of the more deadly tree root diseases include: 

Pine Root Tree Diseases

  • Annosum Root Rot: A problem most common in Arkansas,  but any area that has well-drained sandy soil is prone to Annosum Root Rot. 
  • Loblolly Pine Decline:  Referred to as LPD, is the result of the combination of disease problems, pest problems, and poor conditions converging, most common in older trees or trees that are stressed. 
  • Littleleaf Tree Diseases: Referred to as LLD, this tree disease primarily affects shortleaf pine with infected roots. 

Can diseased trees be saved?

Sometimes, yes, diseased trees can be saved if the disease is caught early. It requires proper pruning and trimming. Proper and timed fertilizing may be needed to bring the tree to a healthy level.  A tree with severe root and trunk problems cannot be saved and will need to be removed so as not to allow the disease to spread. 

Think of tree diseases as being similar to minor ailments like those experienced by humans when they get the common cold. If the disease isn’t addressed early on, it can lead to more problems like limb damage and an emerging pest infestation. 

Can tree diseases be prevented? 

Just as keeping the common cold at bay within your home, an ounce of prevention with your trees is the best way to avoid experiencing diseased trees. Some recommended steps for preventing tree diseases are: 

1. Remove Visible Deteriorated Shrubs and Trees

To prevent diseases from spreading to the healthy trees, you need to prune the limbs and remove any decay. Any tree that is dead should be removed. If you’re not sure a tree is dead, the services of a professional, licensed arborist or tree service are recommended. 

2. Keep A Clean Garden 

On a routine schedule, walk the perimeter of your landscape and check the condition of the plants, shrubs, and trees. As you become familiar with your garden and landscaping, you’ll become more observant of color or condition changes. Remove any fallen leaves to keep the garden clean and prune the affected branches and trees to contain any infected organisms.

3. Use Fungicides and Insecticides.

Spraying the trees within your landscape with a fungicide is a preventive measure in stopping diseased trees like fire blight, oak wilt, and other diseases. Using an insecticide will prevent diseases from spreading, killing any bugs and their eggs which will prevent spreading any contamination.

4. Keep Gardening Tools Clean

Your garden tools can collect any contaminating organisms and debris as you work your garden and landscaping. After each service, spray or wipe clean all the tools, including pruners, rakes, shovels, etc.). Using alcohol or bleach will thoroughly clean any disease from plants and trees, which will prevent plant and tree diseases from spreading. 

In Closing

In addition to the tips that we listed above, having a professional Arborist inspect your trees annually can be a huge benefit, the same as having annual inspections on the HVAC system or your roof. These annual inspections will allow you to stay on top of your landscape, allowing you to respond immediately to possible problems like tree diseases. In Fort Worth, TX, if you need to reach out to someone to take care of your diseased trees you can always call the professionals on our team. Reach out at (817) 717-7737 when you need assistance.