Care of TreesThe care of trees encompasses many different things. Much determines what the best care for a particular tree is. The trees age, variety, height, trees in its vicinity, human structures in it's vicinity, it tolerance to cold and heat, need for water, nutrients, sunlight and air all affect the proper care of trees.
That said, there are common things to consider in the care of all kinds of trees. One of those points in who takes care of trees. The person for the job is an arborist. Arborists are experts in treating trees for pests or diseases as well as maintenance, pruning, and removal. Because trees are living things, they are constantly in interaction with their environment. When one aspect of their environment changes it could affect the tree in unexpected ways. Conversely, changes to a tree's health can be precipitated by changes in it's environment that can be difficult to pinpoint without domain expertise, arborists have that expertise. So what do arborists do to keep trees healthy? Regular checkups and monitoring are the best tools to keep trees healthy because they head off larger problems that can amplify and be difficult to contain when too large. The first thing checked for is whether or not a tree is receiving the right amount of water. Some trees are fine with the amount of water that is ambient in the atmosphere, regular rain and what's in the soil. Some trees in some environments will die if that's the only water that they receive. The most important thing in the care of trees, often overlooked in regard to the amount of water trees receive, is the kind and density of soil. Trees need soil that allow water to precipitate through it in order to drawn it to itself. Humans and our human structures often want the opposite, we want dense compacted soil that does not admit moisture. In fact lots of things in important to us would be destroyed with too much moisture, like our basements and sidewalk. Things like concrete and asphalt paving can be detrimental to trees for doing the very thing that they were designed to do: provide solid surfaces that resist water seepage. That's why it's important to make sure trees can retain damp soil near their base in the form of mulching. Mulching provides several benefits for trees and should be done regularly. First mulch helps the soil retain moisture, increasing evaporation and helping to slake the trees thirst. Mulch also insulates the roots of the tree, providing a hedge against changes in hot and cold. It provides a barrier against grass and weeds, that could take nutrients away from the tree. It also keeps the soil underneath it supple and moist, preventing hardening, erosion and fissuring, which are all things most trees do not like (of course with trees there are always exceptions. Though it's not a backyard tree, unless your backyard is rocky mountains, bristlecone pines only thrive in harsh rocky surfaces in areas with little water and live thousands of years!) |
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