Although trees are a dominant fixture in your landscape, they share the stage with grass, shrubs and plants. All of these have one resource in common, the soil.

Every treatment applied to the lawn can impact the vitality of a tree and conversely.

Why Soil Health Matters

Soil is made up of minerals, organic matter, air and water. It produces nutrients and serves as a foundation for plants and trees. Improving your soil increases plant health and is critical to growing a lawn you’ll enjoy for a lifetime.

What a Soil Test Tells You

Lawns and plants require 18 nutrients for healthy growth and productivity. The soil is a reservoir for these nutrients. The trees and plants utilize these nutrients, but they need to be replenished from time to time. By having your soil tested you will learn whether your soil is acidic, neutral or alkaline. You will also learn which nutrients are present and which ones need to be added. Based on your results, you will receive a custom fertilization program to meet the needs of your trees, plants and lawn.

Japanese beetles aren’t just a scourge on ornamental gardens but feed on hundreds of different plant species making them well adapted to a variety of landscape types.

How Japanese Beetles Damage Plants

Being this well adapted makes them very difficult to control. Adult Japanese beetles aggregate, feed and mate in large groups after they emerge, causing great damage. They feed on the upper leaf surfaces, skeletonizing the tissue between the primary leaf veins. If the populations are high, they can remove all of the green leaf material from an entire plant. With the leaves flesh stripped away, they are left with nothing but their veins and midrib making them useless to the tree. Japanese beetles may feed on other plant parts including burrs, cones and developing flowers.

Identifying Japanese Beetles and Their Life Cycle

These beetles are strangely beautiful. They are roughly 3/8″ long and 1/4″ wide. They have shiny, metallic-green bodies and copper-colored wing covers. Adults emerge, feed and mate throughout the summer and lay their eggs in the soil from summer to early fall. Larvae hatch about ten days later and begin feeding on grass roots. As the temperature cools in the fall, the larvae go deeper into the soil to avoid the frost. In the spring, they move back up and emerge as adults in early summer once again.

When to Treat for Japanese Beetles

Containing an infestation when it is small is ideal but often times a population goes unnoticed until it is already out of control. The best time to treat for Japanese beetles is late July through mid August.

Most trees and shrubs in Michigan communities are planted to provide beauty and shade, but there are many benefits beyond that.

Trees combat climate change.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), removing and storing the carbon while releasing the oxygen back into the air.

“One acre of trees annually consumes the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to that produced by driving an average car for 26,000 miles. That same acre of trees also produces enough oxygen for 18 people to breathe for a year.”​ – New York Times

Trees provide oxygen.

In one year an acre of mature trees cab provide enough oxygen for 18 people.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, “a mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year.”

“On average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four.” – Environment Canada, Canada’s national environmental agency

Trees clean the air.

Trees absorb odors and pollutant gases and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.

Trees conserve energy.

Three trees placed strategically around a single-family home can cut summer air conditioning needs by up to 50 percent.

Trees save water.

Shade from trees slows water evaporation from thirsty lawns. Most newly planted trees need only fifteen gallons of water a week.

Trees help prevent water pollution.

Trees reduce runoff by breaking rainfall thus allowing the water to flow down the trunk and into the earth below the tree. This prevents storm water from carrying pollutants to the lakes

Trees help prevent soil erosion.

On hillsides or stream slopes, trees slow runoff and hold soil in place.

Trees shield ultra-violet rays.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Trees reduce UV-B exposure by about 50 percent.

Trees block things.

Trees can mask concrete walls or parking lots and unsightly views. They muffle sound from nearby streets and freeways. Trees absorb dust and wind and reduce glare.

Trees increase property values.

The beauty of a well-planted property and its surrounding street and neighborhood can raise property values by as much as 15 percent.

Trees heal

Studies have shown that patients with views of trees out their windows heal faster and with less complications. Children with ADHD show fewer symptoms when they have access to nature. Exposure to trees and nature aids concentration by reducing mental fatigue.

Ants like trees for one of two reasons. They are searching for food or making a home. Generally, ants don’t damage a tree but instead provide a warning sign that your tree is in trouble.

Ants, Aphids, and Scale Insects

Scales and aphids are sap-sucking insects and feed on the sap of trees and plants. Sap has more sugar than the insects can handle, so they discard the extra sugar called honeydew. Ants love this sticky, sweet substance.

“Sawdust on the tree or at the base means these guys are active”

• In large numbers, scales and aphids may harm your trees and plants.

Carpenter Ants in Trees

As a tree softens and rots, carpenter ants move in, removing the rotten wood and opening up space to nest. Sawdust on the tree or at the base means these guys are active. The ants may extend the damage into sound wood and an injured tree may be further losing structural strength. This weakens the tree and could be at risk of falling. Control of carpenter ants inside a tree may not make any difference to the tree but it may be warranted as one way to reduce invasion of the ants into adjacent structures.

Many untreated spruce trees are being affected by needle cast. Blue spruce sustains the greatest damage, but we are also noticing damage to Colorado, Norway and White spruce. Rhizosphaera needle cast is common and widespread in Michigan, and the fungus attacks needles during the growing season in spring.

Symptoms of Rhizosphaera Needle Cast

This disease causes premature death and casting of the needles and tends to infect the lower branches first. Infected needles first appear mottled or speckled with small yellowish spots. Eventually, the spruce needles turn a brown or purple color and drop from the tree. ​​​Under close examination distinct black specks can be seen in rows on the discolored needles. These specks contain the spores that spread the disease throughout the spruce. The spores germinate with prolonged periods to moisture and spread by way of rain or dripping and splashing water, like sprinklers.

Treating Needle Cast

There is an ongoing struggle with Rhizosphaera needle cast. Repeated treatments are necessary to make meaningful improvements, and it may take several years to see the improvement. Timing of treatments is critical, two treatments in May and one in June, because it is important to protect new growth as it emerges. Previously infected needles will continue to be lost even after treatments have started.

Just remember to keep a mindful eye on your spruce trees. If you see something that doesn’t look “normal”, contact a Branch Tree & Landscape Service certified arborist.