Just got back from Round Rock where the TX Forest Service and the TX
ISA held a joint conference as part of their ongoing education
efforts. I've been to enough of these things by now that I usually
don't hear much new stuff, but it always helps to get reminders of the
important stuff I already know.

Here's what was ringing bells for me this week:

There is very little, if anything, that an arborist can do to the
aboveground part of a tree to make it healthier. Perhaps certain
spraying can, but mostly it's treating a symptom, not a cause--e.g.,
insect problems can be controlled with spray, but healthy trees rarely
get much insect damage.

If you want healthy, happy trees, you need to have healthy, happy
soil. This DOES NOT mean fertilizing with some granular product that
basically amounts to dumping salt in the soil.

First, you need to make sure your trees are at the right depth. If
the tree was purchased and transplanted, or if your lawn had the grade
changed when the house was built, the flares at the base of the tree
are probably buried. It is extremely important to excavate the bole
and keep it exposed to open air. If girdling roots have developed,
they should be removed.

Next, the soil in most suburban lawns (and many others) is highly
compacted from construction and also from years of foot traffic (and
vehicle traffic in some yards--I'm talking to you, Kelso-ites). This
is a difficult problem to correct, but at a minimum compacted soil
should get top-dressed with compost (especially look for humates) and
maybe a product like medina soil activator. The compost will also
serve as your fertilizer--unless you have a very strange situation,
your soil has plenty of P and K, and only needs N to be happy. Too
much N is worse than not enough. The slow release of decaying compost
is the best way to make the soil and the trees happy. John Dromgoole
described one of his products that he formulates just for trees
(sylvan formula) and it includes composted wood chips, cornmeal,
greensand, cottonseed meal, compost tea, and seaweed (I think I left a
couple of things out, and might have mixed in one or two that he
talked about as good stuff for soil, but maybe not as part of the
above product). Any or all of these will likely improve soil, and none
are likely to do any damage unless you grossly exceed recommended
rates of application.

The area inside the tree canopy should be mulched with wood chips to a
depth of 3" (still keeping the base of the tree exposed to air). This
helps to alleviate the compaction while also retaining moisture,
invigorating the soil's micro-systems, and increasing root density.
As most AG regulars know, these are just a few of the benefits gained
by mulching.

Finally, irrigation should be infrequent and deep. A soaker hose left
on for several hours once a month is better for trees (and, only a
little more frequently, like once a week or less, for grass) than a
fifteen-minute burst from the sprinkler system every other day. A lot
better. Most irrigation systems barely penetrate the first inch or
two of soil, but to really water trees you need to soak your whole
lawn to a depth of 6" to 12", or even more. If you doubt this, place
a tuna can under your tree before the next irrigation cycle and see
how much water is landing in the tree's root zone. If it isn't at
least an inch, it's not enough. Another good test is to get a shovel
and look at the soil profile after the sprinklers run. You may be
surprised how little of the soil is wet.

More intensive efforts are available for extreme situations, but the
above steps will slowly turn things around for most trees in difficult
soil conditions. Keep applying the compost once or twice a year and
get on a good watering schedule; eventually, you will have much better
soil conditions and much happier trees.

good luck,
keith

Great stuff--copied and saved for future reference.

Thanks!

--
ie
ride fast, take chances.


"Treedweller" wrote in message
...
Just got back from Round Rock where the TX Forest Service and the TX
ISA held a joint conference as part of their ongoing education
efforts. I've been to enough of these things by now that I usually
don't hear much new stuff, but it always helps to get reminders of the
important stuff I already know.

Here's what was ringing bells for me this week:

There is very little, if anything, that an arborist can do to the
aboveground part of a tree to make it healthier. Perhaps certain
spraying can, but mostly it's treating a symptom, not a cause--e.g.,
insect problems can be controlled with spray, but healthy trees rarely
get much insect damage.

If you want healthy, happy trees, you need to have healthy, happy
soil. This DOES NOT mean fertilizing with some granular product that
basically amounts to dumping salt in the soil.

First, you need to make sure your trees are at the right depth. If
the tree was purchased and transplanted, or if your lawn had the grade
changed when the house was built, the flares at the base of the tree
are probably buried. It is extremely important to excavate the bole
and keep it exposed to open air. If girdling roots have developed,
they should be removed.

Next, the soil in most suburban lawns (and many others) is highly
compacted from construction and also from years of foot traffic (and
vehicle traffic in some yards--I'm talking to you, Kelso-ites). This
is a difficult problem to correct, but at a minimum compacted soil
should get top-dressed with compost (especially look for humates) and
maybe a product like medina soil activator. The compost will also
serve as your fertilizer--unless you have a very strange situation,
your soil has plenty of P and K, and only needs N to be happy. Too
much N is worse than not enough. The slow release of decaying compost
is the best way to make the soil and the trees happy. John Dromgoole
described one of his products that he formulates just for trees
(sylvan formula) and it includes composted wood chips, cornmeal,
greensand, cottonseed meal, compost tea, and seaweed (I think I left a
couple of things out, and might have mixed in one or two that he
talked about as good stuff for soil, but maybe not as part of the
above product). Any or all of these will likely improve soil, and none
are likely to do any damage unless you grossly exceed recommended
rates of application.

The area inside the tree canopy should be mulched with wood chips to a
depth of 3" (still keeping the base of the tree exposed to air). This
helps to alleviate the compaction while also retaining moisture,
invigorating the soil's micro-systems, and increasing root density.
As most AG regulars know, these are just a few of the benefits gained
by mulching.

Finally, irrigation should be infrequent and deep. A soaker hose left
on for several hours once a month is better for trees (and, only a
little more frequently, like once a week or less, for grass) than a
fifteen-minute burst from the sprinkler system every other day. A lot
better. Most irrigation systems barely penetrate the first inch or
two of soil, but to really water trees you need to soak your whole
lawn to a depth of 6" to 12", or even more. If you doubt this, place
a tuna can under your tree before the next irrigation cycle and see
how much water is landing in the tree's root zone. If it isn't at
least an inch, it's not enough. Another good test is to get a shovel
and look at the soil profile after the sprinklers run. You may be
surprised how little of the soil is wet.

More intensive efforts are available for extreme situations, but the
above steps will slowly turn things around for most trees in difficult
soil conditions. Keep applying the compost once or twice a year and
get on a good watering schedule; eventually, you will have much better
soil conditions and much happier trees.

good luck,
keith