A healthy tree on your property increases in value as it ages. It can increase property value, beautify your surroundings, purify the air, and save energy.
Looking after larger, mature trees on your property is a good investment and is also essential to making sure they don’t pose a risk to you, your family, or your property.
Regular Tree Inspections
Tree inspection is an evaluation tool to call attention to any changes in a tree’s health before they become too serious. Mature trees should be inspected at least once a year. You can do this yourself, but a professional arborist’s report will yield better results and make sure nothing is missed. During the inspection, look for signs of problems, such as:
● Reduction in the extension of shoots such as buds or new leaves.
● Trunk decay, indicated by signs such as loose bark, deformed growths, or mushrooms around the base of the tree.
● Crown dieback.
● Increased or new insect activity.
● Spotted, deformed, discoloured, or dead leaves and/or branches.
If you have carried out the inspection yourself, take your results to an arborist. Alternatively, the tree maintenance professional that did the inspection can recommend the best course of action on the spot.
Mulching Isn’t Just for New Trees
While mulching is essential for aiding the growth of new trees, it is actually a great tree care practice at every stage of a plant’s life.
Mulching can reduce environmental stress by providing trees with a stable root environment that is cooler and contains more moisture. Mulch can also prevent mechanical damage by keeping machines such as lawn mowers and weed whips away from the tree’s base. Furthermore, mulch reduces competition from surrounding weeds and turf.
To be most effective in all of these functions, mulch should be placed two to four inches deep and cover the entire root system, which may be as far as two to three times the diameter of the branch spread of the tree. When placing mulch, care should be taken not to cover the trunk of the tree to avoid moist bark conditions that can lead to trunk decay.
Fertilising Mature Trees
Trees in urban environments don’t always have easy access to all the nutrients they need to remain in optimal health. You can correct this with proper fertilisation practices. Fertilising a tree can increase growth, reduce susceptibility to certain diseases and pests and can even help reverse declining health.
If you do decide to fertilise, research which nutrients your tree needs to help choose the right fertiliser. If you are serious about tree care, it’s worth having your soil tested too. That way, an arborist can examine the results and provide you with a fertilisation regime tailored for your tree and soil conditions.
Professional Pruning
Pruning is the most common tree maintenance procedure next to watering. Pruning is essential for encouraging ongoing healthy growth, sound tree structure and maintaining safety. Pruning also allows dead, diseased, and insect-infested branches to be removed before they can hurt the rest of the tree.
Pruning larger mature trees yourself is not advisable. If you need tree maintenance services in the Newcastle area, get in touch to discuss our great services.
