44% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. 99.9% of the time these resolutions are to improve ourselves; however, did you know some of the most common new year’s resolutions could help your trees as well? We’ve compiled 3 New Year’s resolutions that can help your trees in 2020.
1. Reduce Stress
When it comes to stress, humans and trees are very similar. Prolonged stress can lead to decreases in vigor, increased susceptibility to illnesses, and an overall decrease in health. For trees, common stressors include extreme weather, soil compaction, physical injuries, insects/diseases, and more. This new year commit to reducing the stress on you and your tree. For your tree you can do this by making sure to avoid common stressors, water your tree thoroughly, feeding your tree with bio-stimulants bi-annually, mulching properly around the tree, and utilizing preventative treatments for diseases/insects to which the tree is susceptible.
2. Lose Weight
10% of people list losing weight as their new year’s resolution on average. But it’s not just a good resolution for people, often it’s a great resolution for mature trees as well. For those trees that are very bulky in their canopy a weight reduction pruning is a good way to lose a little weight and improve safety. Weight reduction pruning strategically removes excess weight from the canopy reducing the risk of limbs breaking and other hazards. This can be extremely important for trees that are over walkways or close to structures. If you have a mature tree with a full canopy you should add a weight reduction pruning to your tree maintenance plan this year.
3. Switch From Energy Drinks/Coffee to Herbal Tea
One of the top new year’s resolutions is to get healthier and for many people that means switching from energy drinks and coffee to herbal teas and other healthier options. Although trees don’t drink energy drinks you can help your tree give up something similar this new year. For your trees, typical fertilizer that can be found at big box home improvement stores is like an energy drink. These fertilizers boost tree growth and make new growth super green but in reality, it’s too much nitrogen for the tree/soil and does damage in the long term. Bio-stimulants on the other hand (what RTEC uses to fertilize trees & shrubs) are a less aggressive form of fertilizing and are equivalent to giving your tree a soothing herbal tea. Bio-stimulants will still provide you with the results you want (boost growth, improve health, produce greener leaves) without negatively altering the balance of your soil or stressing out the tree.
Interested in any of the above resolutions for your trees? We can help. Give us a call at 703.573.3029 or schedule an appointment through our online scheduler. Our arborist can help you create a tree/shrub health plan to achieve all of your landscape resolutions.
