Most planted trees in the Austin area are container grown trees. Most container grown trees develop girdling roots. If you’ve planted a tree, there is a good chance this is going to be an issue for your tree. Girdling roots are a serious problem. The end result is the tree literally choking itself. Tree death is the typical result from severely girdling roots. Even if your tree is lucky enough to survive, overall health and vigor will be poor. Behind construction and weed-n-feed damage, this is probably the third most prevalent and serious tree issue I run into out in the field (especially for transplanted trees). The picture to the left shows a typical looking girdling root. Keep in mind these aren’t always visible from surface level. Sometimes you have to dig down to find them.
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Tag: Sick Tree
Check List for a Tree Health Check-Up
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:
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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.
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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.
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