Tree Maintenance – Keep Your Trees Healthy and Safe

Trees add beauty to a yard and provide shade, but they can also become a safety hazard during a storm. Proper inspection and maintenance of trees can help them stay healthy and safe for everyone in your family.

Tree maintenance is more than just trimming trees in the summer. It includes soil testing, understanding the environment where a tree is planted, fighting disease and learning what each species needs to thrive. It also involves regular pruning to manage growth, reduce the risk of damage or fall, and remove dead branches that can create a danger to people or property.

Whether it’s a large tree in your backyard or a row of street trees in front of your house, a proper maintenance plan can ensure their longevity and provide a wealth of benefits. It’s important to catch potential issues before they become more serious, like a limb that may break off during a storm or roots that crack concrete. This will keep your home and neighborhood safer, save you money and prevent costly repairs in the future.

While you can often spot potential problems on your own, it’s a good idea to work with an arborist for routine tree care. These professionals have the tools and expertise to get inside the canopy of a tree, inspect its health and make any necessary repairs. They can help you identify any red flags, such as steel support cables that are exposed and may pose a hazard in a storm or electrical wires that are crossing into the top of a tree.

It’s a good idea to walk around your property on a regular basis and look at the top, middle and bottom of each tree to check for any red flags or risky situations. It’s also a good idea to have your trees regularly inspected by an arborist, who can offer recommendations and services that will help keep your tree in its best shape.

While NYC Parks conducts routine pruning on a portion of City trees in each community board, it’s the responsibility of each individual homeowner to prune their private trees as needed. If you notice a tree in your neighborhood that requires attention, call 311 or submit an online service request.

In addition to pruning, other forms of tree maintenance include soil treatments and trenching to improve compacted dirt and loosen and enrich root systems. Air spade treatments are another way to improve soil condition without damaging or disturbing the tree. A soil test can tell you what nutrients are missing so fertilizer can be applied accordingly to promote healthy, green growth and help the tree resist disease. Proper watering and monitoring the weather will help your trees thrive in urban environments where they face many non-living (abiotic) stressors, such as lack of rain or irrigation, traffic pollution, construction, and sidewalk and driveway paving materials. This can make it more difficult for them to get the nutrients they need through their roots.

source https://cameronstreeservices.wordpress.com/2024/07/30/tree-maintenance-keep-your-trees-healthy-and-safe/