While having trees can provide wonderful shade, beauty, and enjoyment, they can also be difficult to take care of throughout the year. Especially if you live in a place that has various seasons, you’ve probably seen that your trees require different treatment and attention during different times of the year. Here are a few ideas that you can try that will help keep your trees healthy during any part of the year.
Prune Regularly
Pruning isn’t just a process that keeps your trees from getting too big for your yard. It can also help your trees to be healthier and grow more. Pruning your trees can help them grow new branches and strengthen their roots. If you have fruit trees, pruning them regularly can actually help them produce more fruit during the warm summer months. If you’re wondering how often you should prune your trees, there are different guidelines depending on what kind of trees you have. Usually, you’ll want to prune your trees in the months of late winter or early spring. You may want to prune minimally throughout the year, but the big pruning process should occur during that time.
Protect It from Pests
Interestingly enough, pruning your trees can also protect your trees from bug infestations, as it prevents a better flow of air and light through the trees’ branches. There are also different kinds of oil sprays that you can use on your trees to protect them from bug infestations. For example, dormant oil is usually sprayed on fruit trees to kill insects and their larvae. You can also use other oils like neem oil, ultrafine oil, horticultural oil, and other summer oils that will help keep the bugs away. You can also spray vinegar in the areas around your trees, which will repel fruit flies and other bugs.
Feed the Roots
Feeding your trees’ roots is one of the essential ways to keep your trees growing healthy and strong. One way to do this is fertilizing the soil with different products, which will provide your trees with the nutrients that they need to keep growing. You can also perform deep root fertilization by injecting the plant’s root ball with nutrients deep down in the ground. This will help the nutrients to access the trees’ roots much more quickly. You can also use different kinds of mulch to protect the roots, keep temperatures cooler, or improve the overall look. Each of these ideas will help feed and protect your trees’ roots which will help your trees to continue to grow and flourish.
Hydrate
It is important to make sure that your tree is getting enough water. While this may seem obvious, hydrating your trees is essential for many reasons. First of all, in order to produce oxygen, trees need to be watered sufficiently. Trees also need sufficient water so that their branches and leaves are cooled and don’t dry up. Water also allows trees to transfer nutrients from the roots up the tree and throughout the branches. Make sure that you are watering your trees often enough. You may even want to install sprinklers, a hose, or a drip system so you can ensure that your trees get watered even if you’re not home. This will help them to live longer, produce more oxygen, and grow healthier.
Wrap Up Your Trees
Especially if you live in an area that has extreme weather and seasons, you may want to consider wrapping your trees in certain seasons. Certain tree wrapping products can actually protect your trees from suffering from extreme heat waves while still allowing proper hydration and airflow. Wrapping your trees can also protect them from damage that comes from winter weather, such as harmful light that reflects off the snow, or extreme cold and flooding. Wrapping your trees can even protect your trees from insect infestations to an extent.
Remove the Stakes
Often, new trees are planted with stakes to keep them from blowing over in strong winds or storms while their trunk is still weak. The stakes are generally made of wood or metal and are tied to the tree and hammered into the ground at a distance that will hold the tree upright. However, the sooner you can remove those stakes, the better. Usually, you should be able to remove your trees’ stakes after a year or so, depending on the kind of tree that you’re growing. Your trees need to be able to work against the opposition of the storms and sway in the wind in order to grow a stronger trunk. Therefore, removing your tree’s stakes can actually help it to grow healthier and stronger.
Watch Your Grass
Many yards have trees planted in the middle of the grass that have long since grown out of their tiny plots of dirt or original planter boxes and are now surrounded by grass. While this is a natural occurrence, having grass that grows too close to your tree’s trunk can actually choke your tree in a way. It can prevent your tree from getting the water, nutrients, and air that it needs since there isn’t any exposed earth or roots to absorb those things. If you notice that your trees have a lot of grass around them, try mowing it back, or even pulling back the grass or sod. There are even quicker ways that you can kill the grass in the surrounding area. You can put down rocks, cement borders, or stone pavers to create a little area of dirt where your trees can absorb all the nutrients that they need.
Remember that your trees are almost like pets. They require food and water as well as attention and care. Taking care of your trees can be not only a year-long process, but a life-long process that is very rewarding as you see them flourish, grow, and produce great bounty. If you follow these steps that have been suggested and put sufficient time and effort into caring for your trees, you’ll see that they’ll grow to be healthy and strong.
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