Tree Health Treatments
Our objective is to maintain or improve the landscape’s appearance, vitality, as well as safety concerning trees in the most cost-effective and environmentally sensitive applications possible.
How will my trees and shrubs benefit from plant health care?
Your landscape is an investment, and all investments require a certain amount of monitoring to protect its value. Many ornamental trees and shrubs can quickly succumb to problems that only timely treatments can guard against. A monitoring visit could reveal:
- A hidden infestation.
- A weakly attached branch that may soon fall on your home.
- Improperly pruned shrubs that are lessening the value of your property.
Stress weakens plants and makes them more susceptible to insect and disease attacks.
It is important to remember that most insects are beneficial rather than destructive
They help with pollination or act as predators of more harmful species. Therefore killing all insects without regard to their kind and function can actually be detrimental to the tree’s health.
However, the insect problem is secondary to the problems brought on by a stress disorder or a pathogen.
We divide pests into three categories according to
their feeding method.
Chewing Insects
Enjoy eating plant tissue such as leaves, flowers, buds, and twigs. Clear indications of damage by these insects are often seen by uneven or broken margins on the leaves, skeletonization, and leaf mining. A common chewing insect your familiar with is caterpillars.
Sucking Insects
Insert their beaks into the tissues of the leaves, twigs, branches, flowers, and fruit and the feed on the plant’s juices. Damage done by these bugs is often indicated by discoloration, drooping, wilting, leaf spots, honeydew, or general lack of vigor in the affected plant.
Boring Insects
All pests in this category spend time feeding somewhere beneath the bark of a tree as larvae. Some borers kill twigs and leaders when adults feed or when eggs hatch into larvae that bore into the stem and develop into adults. Other borers known as bark beetles, mate at or near the bark surface, and adults lay eggs in tunnels beneath the bark.
How much will a plant health care program cost?
Each of our programs are individually designed to fit the needs of your particular landscape, no standard price can be given until we have the opportunity to visit and assess the property. PHC programs can be structured in many different ways. Some programs charge a fee for monitoring and bill each treatment separately. While others have an annual fee that covers all visits for the season as well as further treatments. The more comprehensive programs are provided to give peace of mind in knowing that treatment for potential problems are already covered by the program without additional charges.
Our Arborists are always willing to design a Plant Health Care Program that fits your goals and budget.
Why plant health care, not tree health care?
Although trees are a dominant fixture in your landscape, they share the stage with turf grass, shrubs, and bedding plants. All of these plants have one resource in common: the soil. The roots of trees, shrubs, turf grass, and bedding plants all intermingle and compete for water and nutrients.In fact, the roots of a single mature tree may exceed 60 feet or more out into your lawn or flower beds. Every treatment applied to the lawn can impact the appearance and vitality of a tree. In reverse, all treatments applied to a tree, such as pruning or fertilization can influence the vitality of the underlying turf grass.
The care of each plant in a landscape can affect the health of every plant in the landscape.
Why contact an arborist for plant health care?
Your trees and shrubs represent an extensive long-term investment in your landscape. These plants can provide beautiful surroundings, cooling shade, and benefits for decades. Arborists can make tree and shrub recommendations to keep many problems from occurring in the first place. We can also consult with your lawn care providers to ensure that treatments are coordinated and not harmful to your plants.
Remember, the potential size and longevity of trees and shrubs warrants their special attention in your landscape. Bedding plants can be replaced in a few short weeks, a lawn a single growing season, but it can take a lifetime or more to replace a mature tree.
