10 Tips on Making Sure Your Trees Stay Healthy Part I featured image.jpg

10 Tips on Making Sure Your Trees Stay Healthy Part I

Here in Vermont, we are blessed with many big, beautiful trees all around. Having trees like this in our yard provides immense value. They provide much-needed summer shade and protect us from the environment. Taking care of the trees in your yard is like an investment. If you take proper care of your trees, they are likely to be around for generations.

Here at Wise Oaks, we understand how important your trees are for you. That’s why we offer a wide variety of tree services to help keep your trees in good condition and looking great. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for your trees!

Keep Your Trees Healthy

We generally think that trees don’t need much help to stay healthy, and this is usually true. If you have planted the right trees for your environment, they should do fine fending for themselves, with no extra fuss on your part. However, there are some things you can do to give them a helping hand (as well as some things you definitely SHOULD NOT DO).

#1: Be Careful Where You Dig

Probably one of the most common causes of the death of mature trees is when digging with heavy equipment. Even if you’re digging from a ways away, you can damage a tree's roots and cause it to die in a few months or years. Always mark off an area of at least 10 feet around big trees during construction projects that involve digging.

#2: Understand the Needs of Your Trees

What kind of soil does your tree best thrive in? How much water does it need? Does it get a suitable amount of sunlight? Understanding all these factors are the key to helping your tree do more than just stay healthy, but thrive. To get help understanding the conditions best suited to your tree or to find out if you need to water it a bit more (or less), call Wise Oak in Southern Vermont today and we’ll be happy to help.

#3: Protect Your Trees’ Bark

Tree bark is the living armor of your tree. When it’s damaged, it makes it easier for fungi and bacteria to infect the tree and make it start to rot. Things that tend to damage tree bark are:

  • Lawn equipment — Have you ever hit your tree with a weed whacker or bumped it with a lawnmower? Doing so can cause serious damage to its bark, so take your time and be extra careful around your trees.

  • Sprinkler heads — The high-power sprinklers in your yard can actually damage bark as well, so be sure to redirect the spray so it doesn’t force a powerful stream of water directly at the trunk.

  • Vehicles — Trees near driveways and roads are susceptible to be hit, bumped, and broken by cars and trucks. To address this, it is recommended to safely remove low-hanging limbs and attach small reflectors to them to help make the trees more visible at night.

  • Rubbing branches — It’s not just humans that cause damage to trees — other trees can as well. When you see branches that are intertwined or rubbing against one another, this can cause a wound to the bark. To address this, we recommend giving us a call and scheduling a pruning for your branches.

#4: Water Effectively

Watering your trees effectively does not mean watering them a lot. Nonetheless, even a well-established, mature tree can still die from an extended drought. It’s important that, especially in times of drought, you do everything you can to support the overall health of your trees. During the winter months your tree will be dormant, so unless it’s still a sapling, it will not likely need any extra water. However, during a drought, you want to give your trees a good soak occasionally to help it get through those hot, dry days.

#5: Regular Mulching

Except for trees in woodland situations, it’s important to mulch around the base of your trees. This will help protect your trees from your lawn equipment as well as suppress weeds and maintain the moisture in the soil. All you have to do is apply a 1- to 2-inch layer of wood chips, pine needs, straw, or other biodegradable mulch around the base of your trees. Mulching can play a significant role in keeping your trees healthy and happy.

Ensure Optimal Tree Health With Professional Landscaping

From tree trimming to other types of tree care services, Wise Oaks in Southern Vermont is proud to offer full-service arborist solutions to our local community. We understand how important your trees are for you, which is why we’ll do everything we can to make sure that they are in good health. If you have a tree that is starting to fade or has been damaged, hire an expert arborist to take a look at it and devise a way of bringing it back to its former vibrance. Wise Oaks has served the Southern Vermont community since 2005, and in that time we have saved countless trees. We use the latest technologies and practices to ensure your trees are treated with the greatest care and the most appropriate practices for each particular situation. Call Wise Oaks today to schedule your appointment. We look forward to speaking with you!

Read Part II here.