Trees can add beauty to any home and commercial property, but they can become a financial liability without proper summer tree care. Taking care of your trees in the summer doesn’t have to be difficult, and it’s necessary to keep them healthy and strong through colder seasons. Hernandez Complete Tree Service is the leading preventative tree service company in Danville, with expert arborists and landscapers to take care of all kinds of trees in the summer.
Summer tree care involves maintaining equalized soil moisture levels so your trees, bushes, and plants can survive summer storms and other adverse weather events without drowning or drying up. The humid summer months coupled with increased soil temperatures can produce a conducive environment for pests and fungi to grow.
In this article, the arborists from Hernandez Complete Tree Service will outline a few summer tree care activities you can do yourself. We will provide some dos and don’ts so you can feel confident while protecting your trees from the extreme heat of Maryland summers.
Using Mulch To Protect Summer Trees
Mulching gives many newbie gardeners a chance to make their flower beds and tree planting areas look attractive, but they become more than an aesthetic addition. Mulch forms a protective layer of composted or synthetic material that keeps the soil moist and protects trees from insects and the effects of extended periods without rain. Also, it keeps weeds at bay, protecting your saplings and small trees from malnutrition and suffocation.
You can find two types of mulch in gardening shops: organic mulch and inorganic mulch. Organic mulch comes from plants that decompose over time, thus adding organic matter to the soil, and the inorganic kind comes from materials like rubber, gravel, or wood chips. We find that organic mulch works better even for summer trees that can endure year-long droughts with no issue.
Before the summer months hit, apply a four-inch layer of mulch to the soil surrounding the root zones of your trees. Avoid piling multiple layers close to the trunk so your trees can stay microbe and fungi-free. Fungal spores and tree pests love chewing through bark as they can digest its fiber content while gaining access to the pipes that deliver moisture from the ground to the leaves.
Deploy an Irrigation System
A tree irrigation system offers a cost-efficient way to maintain a healthy lawn. Supplying the correct amount of water at the right times will ensure your trees stay healthy and your saplings grow and flourish. However, an irrigation system that follows a watering schedule is expensive and can be daunting to buy for any first-time landscaper.
Drip Irrigation vs. Sprinklers
Drip irrigation uses a drip emitter to deliver water directly to tree roots. It ensures that only the root zone receives water and that it can get there without blocking the underground breathing pathways of your tree. While sprinklers prevent soil erosion, conserve water, reduce weed growth, and cost less than drip irrigation systems, they are far less efficient.
Prune Your Trees in the Winter
One of the most essential summer tree care activities starts during the winter when tree growth halts and fungal spores don’t exist. Pruning trees provides many benefits, such as better fruit production, faster growth, healthier limbs, and greener leaves. It helps your trees terminate diseased, decaying, and dying branches, diverting more nutrients into the leaves and bark to keep them healthy.
Enlist Professional Help
Summer tree care can be complex and hard to master, and hiring a tree service will save you days of hard work and hundreds of dollars of investment in equipment that you will only use seasonally. If you want to know more about pruning and trimming trees, call Hernandez Complete Tree Service at 240-213-9161 and get a free consultation.
