Fruit trees are both an attractive and beneficial addition to any landscape. Though, their health can be endangered by a bacterial disease called fire blight. How do I spot fire blight on a tree? Fire blight attacks fruit trees such as:
Tree damage can range from minor disfiguring to death. When are my trees at risk? The disease is active mostly in spring with its high humidity and prolonged rain. Late spring is also the time when microorganisms are from a dormant plant. Birds and insects are carriers of the disease, but humans also play a part. Practices like sprinkler irrigation, use of high nitrogen, fast release fertilizer and use of dirty pruning tools are all helpful in spreading fire blight. What should I look for? As is in the name, fire blight makes many parts of a plant look like it was burned. The disease affects every area of a tree the same way. Flowers Flower clusters or individual flowers look to be water soaked and ultimately drop, shrivel and turn black or brown. Fruit Similar to flowers, the fruit will turn black or brown and wilt. Twigs and Branches The end stages of the disease cause cankers to form and produces discolored oozing patches. The cankers have a water-soaked look before turning dry and sunken. Twigs turn a red-brown color and, often, develop into an inverted U-shape. Treatment and Management Fire blight bacteria will go on multiplying as long as ecological conditions are satisfactory. Therefore, it is critical to be active regarding management and treatment. A program of proper pruning, mulching, fertilization, and irrigation will help the tree’s natural ability to fight this disease. Pruning of all blighted branches and twigs can slow down the spread of the disease. This practice is most efficient when done during the dry, cold periods in late winter. After every cut, pruning tools have to be disinfected using a bleach and water solution. To manage a newly budding tree, don’t use high nitrogen, quick release fertilizers. To eliminate this disease from your trees, contact your local Tampa arborist. Envision this. You’re walking through your fabulously maintain lawn on a beautiful summer day, and you want to rest against a tree to absorb everything. It’s a beautiful feeling of being one with nature until something sticky drops on your shoulder. Sap dripping from trees is a natural thing, but the chances are that it’s not one that you enjoy. You are like, “Sap coming out of my tree. What am I to do?” Here’s your answer. What Is Sap? When you have something as big as a mature tree, it takes lots of work to evenly spread the nutrients, water, and hormones necessary for survival. Every tree makes sap to some degree, but some stand apart when it comes to producing sap. One standout here is a maple tree. Sap from sugar maples is the central element in maple syrup. Why Should I Get Rid of Sap? This question is misleading. If you care about your tree, you shouldn't want to stop sap production. This is a vital part of your tree remaining healthy, similar to the importance of blood for the human body. Though like blood, sap is supposed to remain on the inside. As said before, certain trees are more likely to drip sap like honey locusts, elms, and maples. In terms of why sap drips from a tree, it can differ. The usual reasons are similar to the causes of tree problems. These are pests, diseases, and excessive tree trimming. How to Halt a Tree from Dripping Sap If you have a tree that is always dripping sap, you want to take extreme care in terms of when you trim it, being sure to do it in the right season. If your problems are from other sources, in many cases, elevating your tree care regimen will aid with your sap problems too. For instance, try to reduce tree stress to be sure that insects don’t feed on the trees and create sap leakage. Sap can come from numerous sources, and the right professional tree service will help you deal with all of them. What type of trees are hardwood trees? Hardwoods mostly are deciduous trees, have flat, broad leaves and thick inner wood. They are familiar sights all across the US. These tree types are harvested to make durable decks, flooring, furniture, and home remodels. They don’t grow as fast as softwood trees, making hardwoods treasured harder to replace. Though they grow practically anywhere in the nation and make up over 35% of all trees, most folks can’t point out more than two or three types. How do you think you can do? Like a knowledgeable tree specialist, do you know a lot about trees? How many of the most common hardwood trees could you recognize by just the leaves? Bur Oak Over 50% of all hardwoods in North America are oak trees. The Bur Oak is the most well-known oak in the States, and it can grow to over 150 feet tall. This wood is almost always referred to as white oak. It's fungal and insect resistant and is frequently used in flooring and construction. Red Oak Easily noticeable by its red leaves in the autumn, the Red Oak can grow over 85 feet tall. Growing in acidic soil, it is frequently used for flooring, fence posts, and firewood. Sugar Maple No argument, this tree is one of the most productive US trees. The Sugar Maple makes a hugely impressive contribution to the world: maple syrup. This is good for pancake and waffle lovers since it takes over 35 gallons of tree sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup. Recognized by their "helicopter" winged seeds and colorful fall leaves, this tree is perhaps the most famous tree on this list. Certain types in America have been recorded as being over 350 years old. A Sugar Maple's wood is the thickest of all maple wood and is used mostly in flooring and furniture. Silver Maple This tree is right behind the Sugar Maple as being the most abundant tree in North America. With leaves that look almost like the Sugar Maple, the Silver Maple's leaves are thinner with more definite points. Like the Red Maple, it is tolerant of urban atmosphere and quite hearty, making it the best tree to be planted near expressways. A wide selection of uses for this wood includes cabinets, instruments, crates, and pulp for paper. During times of cold winter nights followed by warm sunny days, you may see frost cracks in trees. They can be many feet long and a couple of inches wide, and the colder the temp, the bigger the cracks. Frost cracks typically occur on the southwest to the south side of the tree. Why are my trees cracking? Is it frost crack? The phrase “frost crack” denotes vertical cracks in trees due to alternating freezing and thawing temps. When the bark contracts with freezing temps and enlarges on warm days, a break will occur. A tree with a crack is in no real danger and can live for many years. Reasons for Frost Crack in Trees Frost is just one of the reasons for tree bark cracking. Also, you’ll see cracking tree trunks from a disorder termed sunscald. In early spring or late winter, the warm sun beaming on the trunk causes the tree tissue to break rest. When sunshine afternoons are trailed by freezing nights, the tissue perishes. You could see bark peeling off the tree. Smooth-barked and dark-colored trees are most vulnerable to sunscald. Splitting tree trunks also happen in trees grown in places where they are a bit hardy. Hardiness zones reflect the lowest normal temperature in an area. These low temperatures can harm trees growing on the boundaries of their hardiness zones. How to Fix Frost Crack If you've thought about how to fix a frost crack, the answer is that you can’t. Wound paint, adhesives, and sealants do not affect the health of the tree or the healing process. Keep the wound clean to avoid infection and leave it open. Once a crack happens, another crack will probably form in the same spot. You can help stop a re-occurrence by casing the trunk of the tree in tree wrap in the wintertime. Remove the cover in late winter or spring when the temperatures are warmer. Leaving the wrap on too long offer a good hiding place for disease organisms and bugs. A way to safeguard the tree is to put shrubs around the trunk. Shrubs can shield the trunk from weather extremes and shelter it from direct sunlight. You should also trim the canopy of surrounding trees. When it comes to tree trimming, it’s best to get a tree specialist to come and do a consultation to help you decide what trees need to be pruned and when. Trees are life. Trees are beautiful. They help express the character of your property and help shape the life you enjoy. This is why you should hire an arborist who is certified. If you take your pet to a vet for a health issue, you want to be sure that the individual examining your pet knows what they are doing. A certificate from a veterinary school gives that assurance. The same is true for a tree doctor also called a certified arborist. This person is a pro who has been schooled in the practice and science of tree care. To get certified, the person has to have been active in the trade for a minimum of three years and has excelled an extensive exam given by the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture). Once certified, tree experts must sustain their schooling and training by attending classes. If they don't, they must re-take the certification test to keep professional standing. What Arborists Have to Do to Become Certified? Don’t trust the health, safety, and care of your property and your trees to unskilled, uncertified fakers. Trees add beauty and style to your property. However, they can kill as well. Hire a person with proper tools, experience, and training to tell you if your tree is healthy or sick, safe or hazardous. Have your trees serviced by a reputable tree care company that is concerned about them, not someone wanting to make some money by frightening you with false information and a misdiagnosis. Ask a certified arborist whenever you have questions about your trees. Certified arborists are devoted tree professionals who get certified only after meeting many requirements, like three or more years in the arboriculture sector, knowledge and skill testing and tree identification exam. After all that training and schooling and practicing, a certified arborist is the only one you need to aid you in keeping your trees looking and feeling great. The top arborist society’s website, www.isa-arbor.org, can aid you to find the best-certified arborist in York, NY. State and local governments want proof of general liability insurance and worker’s compensation besides evidence of training and competency before giving a person a tree trimmer’s license. A tree’s growth is based on its surroundings. It needs the sun and lots of room. But this explains what determines the height of a tree, not the how. How tall a tree will grow is defined by its genes. Environmental conditions can also determine a tree's height. If a tree doesn't get enough water, nutrients, or light - the tree will not grow as tall as it could. In the northeast, the tallest tree is the white pine, growing over 150 feet. But the tallest trees on earth are coast redwoods. Sequoias are more massive, but still about a tree shorter than the most towering redwoods. The tallest known individual tree on the planet is a redwood, also called Hyperion. It’s all about water: not water supply, but the dynamics of moving water. We understand trees need water and that it comes from the ground. Transporting water from the roots through the trunk and up to the leaves is the challenge. Unlike animals, a tree’s inner system has no heart — no pump of any sort. Water is not moved up the tree. It is drawn from above. Water molecules are likely to attach to each other and other elements. When moisture vaporizes from a leaf’s surface, it pulls along the water that goes all the way down to the roots. The water is drawn from the soil to replace what was lost in the watering process. As a tree gets taller, it becomes hard to get water to its top leaves. All trees go through this, but redwoods handle it better than other trees. And according to some tree care experts, their superiority may come from the fog in which they live. This may be one of the reasons they can grow so tall. Redwoods are capable of absorbing water from fog right into their leaves. Unlike other trees, redwoods make their water source. Therefore, instead of going against the dynamic of drawing water from the soil through the tree’s complicated and lengthy vasculature, they create a much more convenient source. With entry to water in the fog nearby the leaves, the plumbing issue turns out to be a plumbing benefit. If you're interested in finding out how tall your trees can get, or which trees you should plant based on where you want them to grow, contact a York arborist for a consultation. Peeling bark can be a sign of insect infestation or disease for some trees. For others, it's part of the charm. Most trees drop off some bark every year to make room for new bark. On trees like the shagbark hickory, a good portion of the bark stays on the tree, coiling upward and giving inspiration for the tree's name. If you want to know which trees naturally lose their bark, read on. Shagbark Hickory The shagbark hickory is a slow grower. With time, it creates crops of nutmeats enclosed in little hard shells covered by green outer husks. Like the tree's name, the bark changes into narrow, long strips that peel back from the trunk to give the tree a fuzzy look. The older the tree gets, the more its bark curls. Maples Several types of maples also have peeling bark, like the trident maple and paperbark. The paperbark is deemed an understory tree since it grows to the full height of 30 feet. Its bark is cinnamon color and peels to display lighter colored bark. River Birch The river birch has cinnamon-colored, peeling bark. River birch is more resistant than any other birches to the birch borer, a beetle that gets into birches' large limbs and trunks. River birch endures moderate flooding, making it the choice for erosion control along streams and rivers. Strawberry Tree The strawberry tree is an evergreen that grows to 30 feet tall. Classified as an ornamental tree, it grows round fruits in the autumn that are the color of strawberries and very appealing to birds. The tree's dark-green, glossy leaves are situated on limbs with gray-brown bark that peels away from the bark growing underneath. The strawberry tree grow slow and is best suited in well-drained soil in partial shade or full sun. When mature, the tree is very resistant to drought. Considerations Peeling bark on trees that don’t usually exhibit that trait may do it because of environmental factors. Peeling bark doesn’t mean death for a tree. Conditions causing peeling bark on trees with typically smooth bark are extreme drought, severe cold, and sunscald. Make an appointment with an arborist to determine if your bark is peeling naturally or there is a more serious issue. Sitting around a wood burning fire has its appeal. The bright flames, glowing wood, and warmth create a distinct experience. Though, this pleasing experience can rapidly turn unpleasant under incorrect conditions. Using unseasoned wood instead of seasoned wood could ruin an impeccably good fire. What are the differences between seasoned & unseasoned firewood? To be seasoned is to be dry. Wood that has been newly cut has quite a bit of water. Nearly half its weight is water. This sort of wood is deemed unseasoned and burning it can be difficult since wet wood smokes a lot and doesn’t burn well. On the other hand, seasoned wood has been stacked, split, and stored in a dry area. Softer woods, such as spruce or pine, can be seasoned in around six months. Hardwoods like oak will season in about two years. Seasoned wood necessitates more effort and time to prepare which is why business offering tree services typically charge a little more for it. The Problem with Burning Unseasoned Wood The first hardship you’ll encounter when burning unseasoned wood is the problem in start burning the fire. Water won’t catch on fire. Since it makes up almost half the weight of the wood, it dramatically affects the lighting process. Even if the wood does catch, the fire needs constant care to make sure it doesn’t go out and adding any new logs might snuff all the hard work you put into lighting it. Seasoned wood doesn’t cause any of these issues, producing an enjoyable, natural fire. Next, the burning unseasoned wood creates a large amount of smoke. The fire has to vaporize the water as it burns in the wood. Therefore, the smoke is packed with water vapor that hurts the respiratory tract when inhaled. Also, the smoke contains a large concentration of creosote. Also, unseasoned wood doesn’t create as much heat as seasoned wood. For those depending on the fire to heat their homes, using unseasoned wood only creates a cold night. Wet wood burns at a cooler temperature since much of the heat of the fire go for evaporating away the water instead of burning the wood. On the other hand, seasoned wood has minimal or no water, so it burns quite hot. When you're ready to have some trees cut down for firewood, contact a tree removal company to get your trees evaluated and cut down for you. Did you realize that the woolly bear caterpillar’s coat and its color are all clues to the sort of winter we’ll have? This time of year, these caterpillars are looking for a sheltered and dark spot to hibernate as larvae during the winter months. The caterpillar is also called the woolly bear caterpillar, the banded woolly bear even a hedgehog caterpillar since it coils into a tight ball and acts like its dead when bothered. Do woolly bears predict the weather? According to legend, they do. The caterpillar has segments of black and rusty brown. Typically, there is a rust-colored section in the middle and black at both ends. The Farmers Almanac states you may see them almost all rust or all black. A myth says that the broader the rusty brown band, the minor the winter. The bigger the black band, the longer, snowier, severer, and colder the winter will be. How Woolly Bear Caterpillar Winter Weather Prediction Works If the head part of the caterpillar is dark, the start of winter will be harsh. If the tail is dark, the winter’s end will be cold. Also, many tree care professionals believe that since says the woolly bear has 13 segments to its body, it corresponds to the 13 weeks of winter. It's also said that the coat of the woolly bear caterpillar will display the following winter's brutality. The more luxurious the coat, the colder the winter. Lastly, take a look at the direction the caterpillar is traveling. If the woolly bear's creeping south, it's attempting to escape the cold winter of the north. If the woolly bear's crawling north, the winter is going to be milder. Woolly bears get their name from their fuzzy look. Every fall, woolly bear caterpillars take shelter beneath leaves and other vegetation. During the springtime, they finish their conversion and become Isabella tiger moths. Folks who think that woolly worms can foresee the weather believe that a narrow red-brown band indicates a lousy winter. The bigger the red-brown band is, the milder the coming winter is going to be. How accurate are woolly worm caterpillars at foretelling the weather? Truth be told, not so right. Scientists who have tested their predictions have discovered that there is no connection between winter and a woolly worm's bands. |