Reading a few articles online isn’t going to make you an arborist. But, if you insist on making your own diagnosis here is a good check list of things to look for. My preferred use of this info would be used as your tool for interviewing professionals. Here is a form you can print up. Here we go:
Continue reading Check List for a Tree Health Check-Up
Category: Sick Tree
Fall Color on Live Oak Trees? Senescence.
Live Oaks are semi-evergreen; so, why am I writing about fall color on a live oak? Sometimes live oaks will produce fall color. But, usually not in the fall. When it happens it’s in the winter. I was somewhere between Hamilton Pool and Johnson City driving between jobs when I ran across these shining examples.
Tree Struck by Lightning? What a Lightning Strike Really Looks Like.
It’s funny to me what gets “diagnosed” as lightning strikes. It seems to me the average homeowner thinks the only two afflictions known to trees are oak wilt and lightning. Hopefully, this simple post 
will shed some light for many of you wanting to know if your tree was struck by lightning, and if so, what you should do about it.
The main thing you need to look for is a narrow wound that stretches the length of the trunk from the upper canopy to the ground. Typically, lightning doesn’t strike the tree half way down the trunk. It hits somewhere out near the tip of the canopy. Then, the charge travels down the trunk of the tree into the ground. In this picture, the strike barely blew-off the outer layer of bark. Continue reading Tree Struck by Lightning? What a Lightning Strike Really Looks Like.
Soil Restructuring. An Important Part of Tree Care.
Soil restructuring is one of the most powerful tools we have for tree health management. The idea is to till the soil; improving its structure will allow valuable air and water to more easily penetrate the soil. While fundamental in gardening theory, this task is not easy at the scale of a large tree.
Continue reading Soil Restructuring. An Important Part of Tree Care.
Tree Fertilizer Part 1. An Introduction.
Fertilizing your tree will provide a big impact to the health of your tree in both the short term and long term. More than pruning, more than any other tree care service. There is a lot to know about tree fertilizers. This article is meant to be an introduction to tree fertilizer. I highly recommend you read my three other articles in this series: When to Fertilize trees, How to Apply Fertilizers to Trees, and What Products to Use for Fertilizing Trees.
Continue reading Tree Fertilizer Part 1. An Introduction.
How Summer Heat Stress Affects Your Trees
Summer heat stress is one of the number one tree killers I run into. Okay, realistically no tree ever dies from just one problem, but rather a cumulative affect of many stress factors. Heat and drought stress are stress factor that almost all trees in the central Texas area deal with on an annual basis. So, if your tree has some other factor stressing it out, the summer heat might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I see more trees die during the summer time than any other time of the year.
Continue reading How Summer Heat Stress Affects Your Trees
Is Ball Moss Killing My Tree?
I get asked this question very often. Ball moss is something that we’ve all seen and are all familiar with, but there are still plenty of questions surrounding it and what it does.
Herbicide Damage To a Tree. Weed-n-Feed for Your Lawn is Killing Your Trees.
Herbicide damage is one of the biggest tree killers I run into. Weed-n-feed products are the number one culprits. If you buy a bag of fertilizer from your local do-it-yourself store make sure that the bag does not have weed control mixed in with the fertilizer. Most weed control products will affect boad leaf plants and go unnoticed to grasses. Trees are in the broad leaf plant category.
Continue reading Herbicide Damage To a Tree. Weed-n-Feed for Your Lawn is Killing Your Trees.
Is my tree sick?
This may seem like a simple question, but it is not. Here’s the “X” factor that makes it hard to know if your tree is sick: trees have energy reserves. This means that when something afflicts your tree, the tree is going to fight a good battle without you ever knowing it. But, there are some subtle signs to look for. Here are the secrets you need to know.
Continue reading Is my tree sick?
What to do about a sick tree
Let’s face it. Tree health care isn’t on the same level as your primary care physician. Skipping past the fact that it would be unreasonable to expect technology to be on a similar level, the real issue is that trees’ best interests are usually not the primary consideration in the planning in our shared urban environment. Even still there are some fundamental ideas we can work with to improve any tree’s chances for survival. Proper pruning, applying timely treatments, improving soil environments and regimented monitoring are all tools that arborists have to help fight the fight for our green friends.
Continue reading What to do about a sick tree