Austin Texas Tree Care

Tree care is a broad, general topic covering many different aspects. From the certified arborist who comes out to assess need, to the licensed pest control applicator who sprays for diseases or fertilizes, to professional tree trimmers who prune, cable, or sometimes remove trees, there are many different and highly specialized individuals necessary for skilled, knowledgeable scientific tree care.

Austin Tree Trimming

Without a doubt, standard maintenance tree trimming (pruning) is the largest, most widely practiced and well known aspect of tree care, not to mention time-consuming. Most trees in the Austin area require pruning in 3-5 year intervals for optimum health in the urban environment, depending on growth rate and species. Certain aspects of tree trimming such as raising low limbs over lawns and walkways, driveways, street and roof clearance may need to be done every 1-2 years.

Austin Tx Hazard Tree Identification and Evaluation

Other aspects of tree care are also extremely important and less widely known. For example, hazard tree identification and evaluation is very important. Trees may be unsafe and prone to failure on your property and you may not even know it! Many factors such as acute angled crotches with included bark, trees with co-dominant stems, trunk and basal rot, overextended limbs and limbs with too much weight can contribute to tree failure and property damage. Locating and dealing with these problems prior to windstorms and ice storms can prevent loss. Once hazard situations have been identified, limbs can be cabled and braced, thinned or removed to prevent failure. Sometimes removal is the only option.

Diagnosing Austin Texas Tree Diseases

Certified arborists are not only important in locating and identifying hazard situations described above, but are also trained in diagnosing tree diseases. Diseases affect trees by species, and both species knowledge and a basic knowledge of local diseases that affect each species is an extremely important skill set to any arborist.

Once a disease is identified, treatment by a licensed pest control applicator can be prescribed to save the tree. It is important to know the progression of certain diseases in order to properly prescribe effective treatment. Some diseases may either be untreatable or may have progressed beyond the point of treatment. Often unseasoned arborists prescribe treatments and do not set realistic customer expectations. Often incorrect and/or ineffective treatments are prescribed creating bad customer relations. Seasoned, educated arborists with good reputations and many years of experience are always your safest bet when it comes to often complicated diagnostics.

It has taken me 15 years to get to where I am with respect to tree identification, disease diagnostics and treatment, and I still run into difficult diagnostic situations. Sometimes trees die for no obvious reason, due, for example, to old age or situations below the ground that are not readily apparent.

Austin Tx Tree Fertilization

Fertilization is also a very good way to invigorate and maintain excellent vigor and growth rates in trees in the urban environment. The best tree fertilizer is a granular, slow release fertilizer at a 12 month rate, applied to the upper 4-6 inches of soil directly to the trees absorbing roots. This is generally referred to as deep root fertilization. The mixture is pumped through a hose at 200-300 PSI, and applied to the roots with a fertilizer gun with a sharp metal tip and a trigger. Initial fertilization can be done at any time. After that, we recommend a Spring to Spring or Fall to Fall schedule for optimum results.

We use granular fertilizer. Granular fertilizer is not only optimum due to its slow-release properties over an entire year, but it is very slow to leach from the soil into the water table. Many water soluble fertilizers are leached from the soil very quickly, and also only benefit the tree for several months. For this reason they also need to be applied twice a year, and this tends to cost the homeowner more money over time. They are widely sold because they are cheaper and also cheaper to apply. Mechanical agitation is required to deliver granular fertilizer; both the tanks and the fertilizer are significantly more expensive than the water based alternative. Many companies do not want the maintenance requirements for the application systems, or expense of the granular fertilizers because they can make more money with water-based applications and simple jet-agitation tanks.

Beware of Incorrect Diagnostics, Unnecessary Tree Removal Recommendations, Over Pruning and Incorrect Pruning

All aspects of tree care are important, but only certain specifics may apply to your trees. So MANY times I have seen incorrect diagnostics, unnecessary removal recommendations, over-pruning and incorrect pruning. In some cases, the homeowner knows enough to call me out before making a very costly and often irreversible mistake, but often these bad recommendations can have catastrophic effects for the trees and the overall property value. Miss-diagnosed and unethical chemical treatments can have no effect and cost thousands of dollars. “Lion-tailing” or “poodle-cutting” pruning does more harm that good.

Contact Central Texas Tree Care – a Certified Arborist

For these reasons and many others, I recommend only contacting a certified arborist before making any decisions when it comes to you valuable trees, as they can be worth 15-20 percent of your property value.