London Free Press Article

Good article out of London Free Press, check it out! Please note that you can find a local Arborist through the ISA Ontario Chapter website (treesaregood is American) http://www.lfpress.com/2013/11/08/fall-winter-ideal-time-to-prune-mulch-care-for-trees

When is an “evergreen” not an evergreen? Most conifers (cone bearing trees) are considered as evergreen. These include Pine, Spruce, Cedar, Fir, Yew, False Cypress and Juniper species, sometimes Larch, Dawn Redwood and Cypress are included. While these trees have leaves with needles or broadened leaves which are held on the trees often more than one season the leaves do not persist indefinitely. Most evergreens hold their leaves for 2-5 years and then the the older ones naturally drop much like deciduous trees. We often get calls this time of year asking about leaf colouring and drop on evergreens. “Are my trees going to be all right?” Most often the answer is yes. Natural senescence is the aging and dropping of old leaves and occurs on the inner foliage of most evergreens this time of year. If the inner needles are dropping and it occurs only in the fall things are as they should be. Exceptions are Cypress, Dawn Redwood, and Larch. These are considered deciduous conifers and they lose all of their needles in the fall each year. If you are unsure of your tree species we can help with identification if you wish. Some evergreens suffer from needle diseases which can cause needle drop but these usually involve more of the tree than natural senescence. If you are concerned about you tree health our Plant Health Care Technician can give you an opinion. Call for pricing of assessments if you have concerns.

Spring is finally making an appearance and we will all be spending more time in our yards. This is a great time to review your landscape structures, trees and shrubs to evaluate them for condition after the winter.

Look up at your trees, you can see much more of the branching before the leaves develop. Broken, hanging, or dead limbs should be fairly evident. To identify dead limbs look for bark of a different texture/ colour, fine twigs missing or the bark may be falling off.

Hazards need to be dealt with first. Broken, hanging or dead limbs need to be pruned off for safety. Proper pruning cuts will allow the sealing over of wounds by the tree if the wounds are not too large. Wound dressing or paints provide no advantage except perhaps for appearance. It has been proven that many wound treatments available on the market do more harm than good. Fresh wounds will darken with weathering in fairly short order anyway. Nothing will stop some wounds from weeping but they will eventually dry up and stop. The weeping of sap is not harmful to the tree.

Structural problems can be addressed at this time too. Poorly formed crotches, multiple stems, rubbing limbs or limbs growing through the center area of the tree are all issues that should be corrected to reduce future problems. Training of young trees at this time can pay huge dividends later. With a good start and early training a tree will have fewer problems later in its life. Problems left untreated can set a tree up for failure during wind or ice events; good branch structure and distribution on the tree helps prevent this sort of thing from happening. Often this training takes only a few minutes as opposed to hours and many more dollars some years later, to correct a situation.

If you have questions about the health or condition of your trees please contact us. We can supply trained people to evaluate your situation and make recommendations. There may be a fee for this consultation work depending on the scope of your needs. We will be glad to provide a free estimate for our services, including pruning, tree removal, deep root fertilizing or other treatments.