Tree Care

Tree care is the application of arboricultural methods like pruning, trimming, and felling or thinning in built environments. Road verge, greenways, backyard and park woody vegetation are at the center of attention for the tree care industry. Landscape architecture and urban forestry also set high demands on professional tree care. High safety standards against the dangers of tree care have helped the industry evolve. Especially felling in space-limited environments poses significant risks: the vicinity of power or telephone lines, insufficient protective gear (against falling dead wood, chainsaw wounds, etc.) and narrow felling zones with endangered nearby buildings, parking cars, etc. The required equipment and experience usually transcends private means and is often considered too costly as a permanent part of the public infrastructure. In singular cases, traditional tools like handsaws may suffice, but large-scale tree care usually calls for heavy machinery like cranes, bucket trucks, harvesters, and wood chippers.

Road side trees are especially prone to abiotic stress by exhaust fumes, toxic road debris, soil compaction, and drought which makes them susceptible to fungal infections and various plant pests. When tree removal is not an option, because of road ecology considerations, the main challenge is to achieve road safety (visibility of road signs, blockage-free lanes, etc.) while maintaining tree health.

Tree Care Tips & Techniques

These comprehensive tree care tips will guide you through the process of selecting, planting, and caring for the right tree for your space.
It’s important to remember that proper tree care starts when you select a tree. And what you do to your tree in its first few years of life will affect its shape, strength, and even its lifespan. Following these steps will make sure your tree gets a good start for a healthy life.

Choosing the Right Type of Tree

Proper tree care begins with selecting the right tree and planting it in the right place. Make sure your tree will thrive — especially once fully grown — where you want to plant it. Things to consider include:

The tree’s purpose. Are you planting it for aesthetics, privacy, shade/energy reduction, windbreak, or as a street tree? Your end goal will determine the suitability of different trees.

Right Tree, Right Place

Short, flowering trees don’t clash with overhead utility lines. Large deciduous trees on the southeast, southwest, and west provide cooling shade in the summer but don’t obstruct the warming winter sunlight. An evergreen windbreak to the north blocks cold winds in winter.

Selecting a Healthy Tree

Good tree care starts with a healthy tree. Here’s what to look for to ensure your tree can provide a lifetime of benefits.

Bare-Root Seedlings

Roots should be moist and fibrous.

Deciduous seedlings should have roots about equal to stem length.

Balled and Bur lapped Trees

Root ball should be firm to the touch, especially near the trunk.

Root ball should be adequate for the tree’s size.

Container-Grown Trees

Container should not contain large, circling roots.

Pruned roots should be cut cleanly, none wider than a finger.

Soil and roots should be joined tightly.

Additional considerations when purchasing a mature tree include:

A strong, well-developed leader (or leaders in a multi-leader tree).

Bright, healthy bark.

Trunk and limbs free of insect or mechanical injury.

Branches well-distributed around trunk, considerably smaller caliper than trunk.

Ideal spacing between branches, at least 8–12” for most species.

Good trunk taper.

Wide-angle crotches for strength.

Low branches — they are temporary but help develop taper, promote trunk caliper growth, and prevent sun damage.

Planting a Tree

Planting Bare Root Trees

Planting Balled and Burlapped Trees

Planting Containerized Trees

Proper Mulching

Mulch is a newly planted tree’s best friend because it:

Insulates the soil, helping to provide a buffer from heat and cold.

Retains water to help the roots stay moist.

Keeps weeds out to avoid root competition.

Prevents soil compaction.

Reduces lawn mower damage.

Steps to Adding Mulch around Your Tree

Remove any grass within a 3-foot area (up to 10 feet for larger tree).

Pour natural mulch such as wood chips or bark pieces 2 to 4 inches deep within the circle.

Keep the mulch from touching the trunk of the tree.

Tree Watering

Tree watering is a key part of tree care, but it is difficult to recommend an exact amount due to the variety of climates. A few guidelines will help you to water your trees properly.

Watering Newly Planted Trees

For new trees, water immediately after you plant a tree. Usually 30 seconds with a steady stream of water from a garden hose w/ a diffuser nozzle per tree seedling is sufficient.

Watering Trees during First Two Years

During the first couple growing seasons, your newly planted tree is expending a lot of energy trying to get its roots established in the soil. Especially during the first few summers of your new trees life, it will have a difficult time dealing with heat and drought. You can make this easier by providing water and covering the soil with wood-chip mulch. Deep watering can help speed the root establishment. Deep water consists of keeping the soil moist to a depth that includes all the roots.

How Much Water and When

Not enough water is harmful for the tree, but too much water is bad as well. Over-watering is a common tree care mistake. Please note that moist is different than soggy, and you can judge this by feel. A damp soil that dries for a short period will allow adequate oxygen to permeate the soil.

You can check soil moisture by using a garden trowel and inserting it into the ground to a depth of 2”, and then move the blade of the trowel back and forth to create a small narrow trench. Then use your finger to touch the soil. If it is moist to the touch, then they do not need water.

Drought-Tolerant Species

If your area constantly deals with drought you will want to consider trees listed as drought-tolerant. Some drought-tolerant species include Arizona Cypress, Japanese Zelkova, White Fir, and Kentucky Coffee tree.

Moisture-Tolerant Species

On the opposite side of the spectrum if your area deals with a large amount of moisture or wet conditions, here are a few trees that will do better in wet conditions: Bald cypress, Shellbark Hickory, Red Maple, Silver Maple, Paper Birch, River Birch, and Weeping Willow.

Pruning

Proper pruning technique is important for a healthy tree. Please review our animated Tree Pruning Guide as well as videos on why pruning is necessary, the rules of pruning, and the ABCs of pruning.

When to Prune

This depends to a large extent on why you prune. Light pruning and the removal of dead wood can be done anytime. Otherwise, below are some guidelines for the different seasons.

WINTER PRUNING

Pruning during dormancy is the most common practice. It results in a vigorous burst of new growth in the spring and should be used if that is the desired effect. It is usually best to wait until the coldest part of winter has passed.

SUMMER PRUNING

To direct the growth by slowing the branches you don’t want, or to “dwarf” the development of a tree or branch, pruning should be done soon after seasonal growth is complete. Another reason to prune in the summer is for corrective purposes. Defective limbs can be seen more easily.

PRUNING FLOWERING TREES TO ENHANCE FLOWERING

For trees that bloom in spring, prune when their flowers fade. Trees and shrubs that flower in mid- to late summer should be pruned in winter or early spring.

WHEN NOT TO PRUNE: FALL

Because decay fungi spread their spores profusely in the fall and wounds seem to heal more slowly on fall on cuts, this is a good time to leave your pruning tools in storage.

Tree removal

While the perceived risk of death by falling trees (a part of the “tree risk” complex) is influenced by media and often hyped (the objective risk has been reported to be close to 1: 10.000.000, almost as low as death by lightning), singular events have encouraged a “proactive” stance so that even lightly damaged trees are likely to be removed in urban and public traffic surroundings. As a tree ages and nears the end of its safe useful life expectancy (SULE), its perceived amenity value is decreased greatly. A risk assessment normally carried out by local council’s arborist to determine the best course of action. As with all public green spaces, trees in green urban spaces and their careful conservation is sometimes in conflict with aggressive urban development even though it is often understood how urban trees contribute to livability of suburbs and cities both objectively (reduction of urban heat island effect, etc.) and subjectively.

Tree planting programs implemented by a growing number of cities, local councils and organizations is mitigating the losses and in most cases increasing the number of trees in suburbia. Programs include the planting of 2 trees for every 1 tree removed, while some councils are paying land owners to keep trees instead of removing them for farming or construction.

Standards

The voluntary industry consensus standards developed by TCIA, resulted in the ANSI A300 standard, the generally accepted industry standard for tree care practices including trees, shrubs, and other woody plants. It includes the following parts:

Pruning

Soil management

Supplemental support systems

Lightning protection systems

Management

Planting and transplanting

Integrated vegetation management

Root management standard

Tree risk assessment

Integrated pest management

Professional associations

Tree Care Industry Association

International Society of Arboriculture.