Is my Tree sick?

Why do my trees change color in the fall?

How can I help ensure my trees & Shrubs well being through winter?

Can I protect my trees from storm damage?

How can I rid my tree of insects?

When is the best time to work on my trees?

Why I should not top my trees to reinvigorate them or make them safer?

When done properly, pruning can improve a tree's healthy appearance, as well as increase the life expectancy of the tree. Proper pruning opens the canopy of the tree to permit more air movement and sunlight penetration.

Done improperly, pruning can decrease the tree’s life expetancy or even kill it. Because trees are living organisms, they can be profoundly affected by pruning practices. Tree care professionals adhere to accepted standard of practices when pruning trees.

The American National Standard for tree pruning, designated as ANSI A300, has been in existence since 1995. Its development was approved by the American National Standards Institute. This pruning standard should be followed in all pruning situations and all geographic areas. Knowing how certain tree species grow within a given environment may alter how the recommendations of A300 are interpreted.

The following information is designed to help you understand exactly what will be accomplished in a pruning operation.

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Making Cuts

Branches should be removed with thinning cuts. A thinning cut either removes a branch at its point of origin or shortens it back to a lateral branch that is large enough to assume the terminal role.

Branches should not be removed with heading or topping cuts. A heading cut is when a currently growing or one-year-old shoot is cut back to a bud, or when a larger limb is cut back to a stub or a lateral that is not big enough to assume the terminal role. Heading should rarely be used in shade andornamental tree pruning, since it forces the growth of multiple upright sprouts that are weakly attached to the parent stem. Drastic heading can kill the tree outright.

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Branch Size

A minimum or maximum diameter size of branches to be removed should be specified in all pruning operations. This establishes how much pruning is to be done.

Pruning Objectives

Pruning objectives should be established prior to beginning any pruning operation. A300 provides two basic objectives.

Hazard Reduction Pruning Hazard reduction pruning is recommended when the primary objective is to reduce the danger to a specific target caused by visibly defined hazards in a tree. For example, hazard reduction pruning may be the primary objective if a tree had many dead limbs over a park bench.
Maintenance Pruning Maintenance pruning is recommended when the primary objective is to maintain or improve tree health and structure, and includes hazard-reduction pruning. An example here might be to perform a maintenance pruning operation on a front yard tree.

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Pruning Types

Hazard reduction pruning and maintenance pruning should consist of one or more of the pruning types noted below.

Crown cleaning consists of the selective removal of one or more of the following items: dead, dying, or diseased branches, weak branches and waterspouts.

Crown thinning is the selective removal of branches to increase light penetration, air movement, and reduce weight.

Crown raising consists of the removal of the lower branches of a tree to provide clearance.

Crown reduction, also called crown shaping, decreases the height and/or spread of a tree. Consideration should be given to the ability of a species to sustain this type of pruning.

Vista pruning is selective thinning of framework limbs or specific areas of the crown to allow a view of an object from a predetermined point.

Crown restoration pruning should improve the structure, form and appearance of trees which have been severely headed, vandalized, or storm damaged.

When you contract a company to prune trees, you should obtain a verbal or written commitment that, "All pruning shall be done in accordance with the ANSI A300 standard for tree pruning." This means that the overall pruning operation is going to stay within specific bounds. This means . . . Proper cuts will be made.

Spikes won’t be used to climb. Although spikes can greatly speed the climber’s ascent into the tree, they are injurious to the living tree and should only be used in emergency situations or when the tree has very thick bark.

Not more than one-fourth, or 25 percent, of the foliage of the canopy or individual limbs should be removed in any one season.

When pruning is completed, at least half the foliage should remain evenly distributed in the lower two-thirds of the canopy.

The health and life stage of the tree are important variables in the application of the Pruning Standard. Tim Johnson, chairman of the A300 Committee and owner of a commercial tree service firm, uses the acronym "PEGSMOR" to help his clients understand how the A300 Standard properly applies to trees in different stages of growth.

"P" is for planting. A new transplant needs its foliage, so minimal pruning is the rule. Obviously, if you are compelled to prune a tree that you are just planting, you may want to pick a different tree to plant, or look for another nursery.

"E" is for establishment. If the tree is becoming established, you do not want to prune unless it is absolutely necessary, because the tree needs every one of its leaves to build starch reserves and produce roots.

"G" and "S" refer to growth and structural strength of the young-but-established tree. It is in this life stage that pruning plays the most important role, because pruning can influence both the growth and structural integrity.

"M" is for mature. Other than to remove deadwood, one would prune less as the tree matures.

"O" is for over-mature. Depending on the tree, you either do not want to prune, or you may have to prune drastically. Crown reduction may be appropriate at this time because structural integrity is lacking.

"R" stands for remove and re-plant.

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The National Arborist Association is the Secretariat for the ANSI A300 Standard, and assists arborists and consumers with the interpretation and application of the standard.

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Is my tree sick?
In a recent tragedy in Queens, NY, four girls died when a tree fell on their school bus. It was an accident that could have been averted had city officials heeded the warning signs of a hazardous tree. By not paying attention to your trees, you are potentially placing your property, even your life and that of others, in jeopardy.

Fortunately, one can often read the clues which indicate that a tree is prone to failure. For instance, if a tree has large branches attached with tight, V-shaped forks, you should consider having those branches removed or lightened. Other warning signs of structural instability include cracks in the trunk or major limbs, hollow and decayed areas, or the presence of extensive dead wood. Mushrooms growing from the base of the tree or under its canopy may be a sign of root decay. On the other hand, just because you may not see fungus growth does not mean there is no decay.

It pays to be highly suspicious of any tree that has had construction activities such as trenching, addition or removal of soil, digging or heavy equipment movement anywhere under the spread of its branches. These activities can cause root death, which in turn could lead to the structural instability of the tree.

Even a healthy and otherwise safe tree can become hazardous if it is growing close to electric power lines. Someone who touches or climbs a tree while it’s resting on a live power line can be electrocuted. Any tree that has limbs within 10 feet of overhead lines should be considered hazardous, and should be left to the professionals.

If you suspect a hazard condition, it will pay to have your tree evaluated by a professional. You could be held responsible for any damage or personal injury caused by a tree on your property.

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Why trees change color in the Fall?
In many parts of North America and the world, people enjoy one of nature's finest shows: Fall foliage.

Leaves can be thought of as small factories containing raw materials, products and by-products, all in chemical form and some with color. As the leaf is "abandoned" by the tree, the green chlorophyll--the dominant chemical found in most leaves--is broken down and "recycled" by the tree, leaving behind other-colored chemicals. Supply lines to the leaves also become clogged. If the major chemical remaining in the abandoned leaf is red, then the leaf turns red. If it’s yellow, then the leaf turns yellow, and so on.

The yearly variation in color intensity is due to varying weather conditions, which can affect the balance of chemicals and their composition in the leaves. Differing amounts of rainfall, sunlight, temperature, humidity and other factors may have an effect on how bright, how quickly and how long the "leaf-peeping" season will be in any given year.

Color-changing leaves make for a beautiful display, but early changes in leaf-color can be a sign that your tree is stressed and is susceptible to insect and disease attack.

If the leaves on your trees seem to have gotten a jump-start on fall compared with those on similar trees in the area, then you might want to consult a professional arborist, who can identify any problems and offer possible solutions.

Premature colors can be an indication that a tree isn’t vigorous enough to withstand insects and disease organisms that may attack it, not to mention the usual changes that occur when the weather turns cold. Occasionally only one or two limbs of the tree will show premature fall color. This could be a sign of a disease at work, weakening only the infected limbs. The more common situation is for the entire tree to exhibit premature fall coloration, a phenomenon usually linked to root-related stress. Trees respond to these stresses by trying to curtail their above-ground growth.

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How can I help ensure my trees & Shrubs well being through winter?
Will your trees survive the snow, ice, winter cold and winter sun? There are several short-term and long-term steps you can take to ensure your plants’ survival or lessen potential damage.

The effect of winter conditions are more severe on trees which are stressed, so one key to preventing damage is preventing stress by keeping your trees in good health year-round.

The first protection you can offer for your trees is to site them in a good location depending on the weather in your area. Certain areas in the home landscape have different climatic conditions from their surroundings. These areas, known as microclimates, should be understood and used for planting appropriate trees. A professional nursery operator or arborist can help you choose the best tree and the ideal location to plant that tree around your house.

In winter, the ground around the root system of the plant or tree freezes, stopping or slowing the circulation of water in the tree. Evergreens are at greater risk, since they hold their needles in the winter. The needles lose moisture to the atmosphere as well as to the plant itself. However, since the root system is frozen, the plant is not able to replenish the lost moisture, which makes the leaves dry out and fall off. To minimize the effects of winter drying, high-value evergreens can be treated with an anti-desiccant (usually a wax-like substance) that holds moisture in the leaves.

When the sun shines brightly on a cold winter day, it may heat up the bark of a tree to a temperature which stimulates cellular activity. As soon as the sun’s rays are blocked, the bark temperature drops quickly, rupturing and killing the active cells. This causes "sunscald," the symptoms of which are elongated, sunken, dried or cracked areas of dead bark, generally on the south side of the tree.

Sunscald can be prevented by wrapping the trunk with a commercial tree wrap, plastic tree guard or light-colored material that reflects the sun and reduces the temperature changes in the bark.

Snow and ice can break branches and topple the entire tree. Pruning your tree can make it better able to withstand the extra weight of ice and snow. Branches can be thinned to reduce their surface area and wind resistance. Be sure to prune properly by sticking to industry-accepted pruning standards

Some multi-stemmed trees and shrubs can be cabled or wired together so that the extra weight of snow or ice can be shared by all the stems. It is best to hire a professional arborist for selective thinning or cabling.

Mulch around the tree produces a year-round benefit because it increases the microbial activity and fertility of the soil underneath it; therefore, it is a good practice for reducing tree stress and keeping it healthy. Mulch has the added benefit of acting as insulation between the root system and the outside climate. This helps retain moisture in the root system and reduce the fluctuation of soil temperature. Make sure that the ground is not frozen and has enough moisture before you add the mulch, and make sure that no more than 2 to 4 inches of an organic matter, such as wood chips, is used.

Salt used for deicing streets and sidewalks is injurious to trees, shrubs and grass. You can avoid injury by using only non-injurious types of deicing salts or avoiding salt applications to sensitive soil areas. Some experts feel that you can reduce salt damage by flushing the soil in treated areas with large amount of water in the spring.

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Can I protect my trees from storm damage?
Storms in all shapes and forms are ready to create havoc with trees throughout the country. It’s bad enough losing a big tree, but the greatest danger in a storm is the property damage and casualties that can occur when big trees fall.
Preparing trees for these natural disasters is a must and should be done well in advance of the stormy season. To help ease these dangers, have a professional arborist evaluate your trees. Doing this will help you determine potential weaknesses and dangers.

Over the years, growing trees will "catch" more wind and become heavier, so they are prone to increased mechanical stresses, thus increasing the chances of failure. Larger trees will also affect an increased area should they or their larger limbs fall. This means that power lines, homes and other structures that might not have been threatened a few years ago might suddenly be under threat by a tree that has grown.

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What can you do?

Consult a tree care professional. Ask the arborist to evaluate problems you have found and prioritize treatment. You should also ask the arborist to look for signs of potential hazards, such as stress cracks, weak branches and other subtle or hidden indicators of potential hazards.

Look at your trees for the following warning signs:

• Wires in contact with tree branches. Trees may become energized when they are contacted by electric wires.
  
• Dead or partially attached limbs hung up in the higher branches that could fall and cause damage or injury.
  
• Cracked stems and branch forks that could cause catastrophic failure of a tree section.
  
• Hollow or decayed areas on the trunk or main limbs, or mushrooms growing from the bark that indicate a decayed and weakened stem.
  
• Peeling bark or gaping wounds in the trunk, also indicates structural weakness.
  
• Fallen or uprooted trees putting pressure on other trees beneath them.
  
• Tight, V-shaped forks which are much more prone to failure than open, U-shaped ones.
  
• Heaving soil at the tree base is an indicator of a potentially unsound root system.

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Remember, too, that a tree is a living thing, and its integrity and stability changes over time. Don’t assume that a tree that has survived 10 severe storms will necessarily survive an eleventh.

By following nationally recognized standards for tree pruning, one can successfully reduce the weight and length of individual tree limbs as well as the tree’s resistance to wind movement through the crown.

Cabling and bracing techniques can be used to provide additional structural strength for individual limbs, or even entire trees.

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How can I rid my tree of insects?
Just as in human medicine, proper treatment begins with diagnosis. A professional arborist, nursery operator, or state/county extension agent can help you determine what the bug, or insect, is.
Once the insect is identified, it can be determined if it is harmful to the tree, beneficial to the tree, or has no effect whatsoever.

Believe it or not, some insects and related critters are beneficial, because they control populations of harmful insects through predation or parasitism. It is in your best interest to keep them, so you want to avoid any treatments that take out the good bugs with the bad bugs.

If the insect is indeed harmful, how harmful is it, and is it worth treating? Most professional arborists operate on the philosophy of treating only when the environmental/economic risk from the insect has reached a certain threshold.

Many bugs are benign. For instance, there is a common misconception that carpenter ants cause decline in trees! Quite the contrary, the presence of carpenter ants indicates decayed wood is present - they only make their galleries in dead, decaying sections of the tree. The ants are warning you of a potentially hazardous situation. On the other hand, termites pose a threat to trees in the southern United States and other parts of the world. They are best treated by a professional.

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When is the best time to work on my trees?
Many tree care activities can be carried out all year long. For other activities there is a season.
Spring and summer give us the best opportunities to identify tree health problems, since a cursory inspection can tell whether the tree "looks" healthy compared to previous years or nearby trees of the same species. Diagnosis of the actual cause of the tree malady is a tricky business best left to an expert. As with human illness, prompt detection and treatment can be critical.

Most pest management activities have a very specific and narrow window of treatment that coincides with when the pest is active on the plant and/or vulnerable to the treatment.

Fertilizers are best applied when the plant roots can actively uptake the nutrients. Of course, the use of fertilizers on shade and ornamental plants should be restricted to situations in which there is a nutrient deficiency.

Some will argue that, in temperate areas, fall and winter are the best times to prune. When the tree is bare, its branch architecture is easier to observe, so problems can be more readily corrected. Proper pruning at other times of the year will generally do no harm to trees, but there are exceptions. For instance, pruning an American elm when the beetle that carries Dutch elm disease is busy flying from infected to healthy host trees greatly increases the elm’s chances of infection. Pruning of deadwood only does not have the same effect and can be carried out any time.

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Why I should not top my trees to reinvigorate them or make them safer?
Picture this: You visit your manicurist because your nails are too long. She agrees you have a problem and recommends you have your whole arm removed. Better yet, have both arms removed, just in case. While, technically, this solves the problem, it demands too high a price. Apparently, this "professional" isn’t sufficiently knowledgeable to offer less severe, more appropriate solutions.

Similar types of "solutions" are sometimes misapplied to tree care problems. The practice known as "topping"--the lopping off of large parts of a tree--is the tree care equivalent to amputation. Trees are often topped to height or shape, leaving branch stubs and little or no foliage.

"Lion-tailing" is another practice that severely damages trees. In this case, the inner foliage, branches, and limbs of a tree are stripped bare. The lion-tailed tree has the unnatural form of a giant umbrella, with the remaining foliage limited to the ends of the branches! The limbs left on the tree are long and bare except for a characteristic "tuft" of foliage at the end, giving the appearance of a lion’s tail.

Consumers today are more knowledgeable and increasingly refuse to allow their trees to be topped. Unfortunately, some so-called professionals practice lion-tailing, which is not as instantly recognized as a bad practice by consumers.

Topping should not be confused with proper crown reduction pruning, which will safely reduce a tree’s size and redirect its growth. Nor should lion-tailing be confused with proper thinning, which is the selective removal of branches to decrease weight and wind resistance. Generally, proper pruning of either type will not remove more than 25 percent of the tree’s foliage.

You should not top trees because doing so:

• Lleaves large exposed wounds that the tree can’t readily close.
  
• Ruins tree structure.
  
• Removes too much foliage and disrupts the tree’s energy storage for future growth.
  
• Stimulates vigorous new growth, which is weakly attached and prone to breakage.
  
• Increases tree maintenance costs.
  
• Destroys the tree’s appearance and value.

You should not lion-tail trees because:

• Limbs become weak and may break.
  
• Increased sunlight on the interior of the tree can cause sunscald.
  
• It stimulates vigorous new growth on the inner portion of the tree that is weakly attached and prone to break.
  
• It removes too much foliage disrupting the trees energy reserve for future growth.
  
• It destroys the tree’s appearance and value.

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What are some of the benefits of maintaining my trees?
Trees in the urban/suburban landscape have traditionally been valued for their aesthetic qualities and shade they produce. Especially in settled areas, trees have many other important benefits.

Trees enhance property values. Research shows that the value of your property could increase up to 30%, depending on the size, type, location and health of its trees. Mature trees are particularly valuable. Therefore, it makes sense to protect your tree investment with proper maintenance. You may wish to document the value of your trees with photos and a professional landscape appraisal for insurance and tax purposes.

Landscape trees can help you save money and live more comfortably. With properly placed trees around your house, depending upon where you live, you can reduce winter heating bills up to 15%. A mature shade tree can block up to 90% of solar radiation, which could translate to a significant reduction in your home cooling cost. Trees act as windbreaks and sun screens. They affect precipitation, humidity and air temperature. They reduce air pollution by producing oxygen through photosynthesis and reduce noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.

Landscape appraisals can help you determine the value of your trees. A knowledgeable arborist is the best person to do appraisals. Just as a competent auto mechanic can point out needed maintenance that you might not notice, a competent, professional arborist can offer diagnosis and preventive maintenance to keep your trees in top condition.

Studies show that trees have beneficial psychological effects on humans. They decrease stress, inspire minds and break emotional barriers. Around the workplace, they tend to lower absenteeism and improve productivity. Many hospitals and nursing homes have beautiful green trees around them, and evidence demonstrates that trees can speed recovery from illness and are good for your health.

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Why utility companies trim trees, and is it really necessary?
How would you feel if you returned home from work to find that the beautiful shade trees by the street in front of your house had been drastically pruned? Now, instead of a thick, symmetrical canopy of leaves, there is a gaping, V-shaped hole through the middle of the tree that reveals the overhead electrical conductors. You would undoubtedly ask why this happened.

You may not be aware that while trees add significantly to the beauty of our communities, they are also responsible for costly property damage as well as dangerous power outages. In fact, tree failure is by far the leading cause of outages nationwide. The tree that grows into electrical conductors presents a potential hazard to you and others in the community if it becomes energized or wipes out a power line. This is why we see utility line clearance contractors in our neighborhoods trimming trees.

Some residents get irritated and feel that these trees are needlessly damaged. The National Arborist Association receives a lot of calls from residents complaining that their utility company "drastically" cut trees near the power lines. While it is vitally necessary for utilities to trim trees, sometimes severely, it is nevertheless important for them to follow tree care standards of practice. The NAA is the Secretariat for the ANSI A300 Standard, a national standard that governs tree pruning operations, including line clearance.

When one is evaluating the quality of line clearance tree trimming, it’s important to consider that the utility’s primary objective is to prevent outages as well as electrical hazards. Minimally, the tree should be left in a healthy state, with at least some aesthetic value. If this cannot be accomplished, the utility may opt to remove the tree rather than create an eyesore and future problem. The NAA recommends that you plant a new tree that is better suited for growth under a power line.

Why the gaping hole in the canopy? First, the utility company specifies a certain amount of clearance around its wires, depending upon the voltage, the tree’s growth rate and other characteristics, and the pruning cycle - how frequently it will be pruned. Furthermore, scientific research has proven that it is better from the standpoint of tree health if the trimming crew removes whole limbs with a relatively small number of large cuts versus making numerous small cuts and leaving stubbed off branches. Finally, utilities have found that removal of entire limbs helps to train the future growth of the tree away from the wires, keeping maintenance costs to a minimum while helping to insure that the tree won't need the same drastic pruning in the future.

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