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Deciduous Trees Need TLC After Tough Winters
The Detroit News - June 12, 2015
Nancy Szerlag: Gardening
Now that our deciduous trees, those that lose their leaves every autumn, have had plenty of time to leaf out after a brutally cold winter, it’s a good time to inspect them for problems.
Thinning of leaf production or under-sized leaves in any portion of the canopy indicate a problem that will only get worse. Part of the tree may be dying and this weakened area may make it vulnerable to strong winds and the heavy weight of snow and ice, long before the tree dies. It seems like every week the evening news features stories of downed trees after a storm hit. Sadly, in some cases these incidents result in injury or death. So if you have one or more mature trees on your property, it makes sense to get an on-site inspection from a certified arborist.
Needles browning from the inside out of an evergreen tree can be caused by several problems. Evergreens will drop their interior needles in response to drought. It’s the trees response to protect itself from total collapse. Michigan suffered drought conditions a couple of summers years ago, and trees often take a year or two to show the damage. A tree weakened from drought may also have contracted a disease or be under attack from insects and it often takes a professional to make an accurate diagnosis.
When an arborist treats a tree using a state of the art injector, the tree takes up the chemical in minutes. Soil drenching could take weeks. It takes a high-powered sprayer to properly apply chemicals to mature trees with rough bark and a thick canopy of leaves.
The Owen Tree Service website (owentree.com) contains a good listing of diseases and insects that attack trees and shrubs along with lists of trees to avoid planting if you have certain soil conditions.
Many small ornamental trees have short life spans of anywhere between 15 to 30 years, so you might want to take that into consideration when assessing the condition of a tree and how to manage a problem.
To find a certified arborist in your area go to the Tree Care Industry Association website at tcia.org, (800) 733-2622, and click on the box “Find a Tree Care Company.”
When purchasing trees, shrubs and other plants for the garden, save the tags so you can refer to them should a problem arise. Disease and insect damage is often plant species specific, so you may need to know what kind you have in order to treat it.
● Leonard
Owen Tree Service provides tree, lawn, and landscape services to the following cities and towns:
Genesee County, Michigan:
● Burton
● Davison
● Flushing
● Goodrich
● Linden
● Otisville
● Clio
● Fenton
● Gaines
● Grand Blanc
● Montrose
● Otter Lake
● Flint
● Genesee
● Lennon
● Mt Morris
● Swartz Creek
Lapeer County, Michigan:
● Almont
● Brown City
● Columbiaville
● Imlay City
● Metamora
● Peck
● Attica
● Clifford
● Dryden
● Lapeer
● North Branch
● Sandusky
● Hadley
● Mayville
● Otter Lake
● Silverwood
Macomb County, Michigan:
● Armada
● Clinton Twp
● Grosse Pointe
● Macomb
● New Haven
● St Clair Shores
● Centerline
● Detroit
● Grosse Pointe Farms
● Ray
● Sterling Heights
● Chesterfield
● Eastpointe
● Grosse Pointe Shores
● Memphis
● Romeo
● Utica
● Clinton
● Fraser
● Grosse Pointe Woods
● Mt Clemens
● Roseville
● Warren
● Harrison Twp
● New Baltimore
● Shelby Twp
● Washington
Oakland County, Michigan:
● Auburn Hills
● Bloomfield Village
● Ferndale
● Orion
● South Lyon
● Berkley
● Clarkston
● Franklin
● Madison Heights
● Ortonville
● Southfield
● Beverly Hills
● Clawson
● Hazel Park
● Milford
● Oxford
● Troy
● Bingham Farms
● Commerce Twp
● Highland
● Novi
● Pleasant Ridge
● Walled Lake
● Birmingham
● Davisburg
● Holly
● Oak Park
● Pontiac
● Waterford
● Bloomfield
● Detroit
● Huntington Woods
● Oakland
● Rochester
● West Bloomfield
● Bloomfield Hills
● Farmington
● Lake Orion
● Oakland Twp
● Rochester Hills
● White Lake
● Farmington Hills
● Lathrup Village
● Orchard Lake
● Royal Oak
● Wixom
St. Clair County, Michigan:
● Algonac
● Casco
● East China
● Harbor Beach
● Lexington
● Peck
● Allenton
● Clay
● Emmett
● Harsens Island
● Marine City
● Port Huron
● Berlin
● Clyde
● Fair Haven
● Jeddo
● Marysville
● Richmond
● Brockway
● Columbus
● Fort Gratiot
● Kimball
● Memphis
● Sandusky
● Capac
● Cottrellville
● Goodells
● Lakeport
● North Street
● St Clair
