Tree Maintainance

Trees provide us with so much, shade, clear air, moderate temperatures and a beautiful environment. In order to enjoy all gifts that trees have to offer, it is absolutely necessary to maintain them.

The single most important and simple aspect of tree maintenance is watering. A standard 6 feet or 2 metre tree requires at least 30 liters of water a week. What should be understood is that young trees are not able to tap into the underground water supply, due to lack of deep roots. Therefore it is essential to water young trees at proper intervals.

The method of watering trees should be slow and deep. Avoid watering during the day (especially around noon), as a lot of water tends to evaporate, instead try watering early in the day or later in the evening. Another important thing to remember is that once the tree has been planted in the ground it is almost impossible to over water the tree. After around 4 years the watering can be reduced gradually.

Another thing to be vigilant of, in the case of young trees at least is weeds. Weeds compete for water and nutrients in the soil, and hinder the growth of young trees, so it is necessary to periodically carry out weeding. Adding mulch (a mixture of natural, organic materials like wood chips, dry leaves, wood chips, etc) helps in increasing moisture, fertility and insulating soil along with inhibiting the growth of weed. The mulch should be slightly composted, so that it does not leach nitrogen from the soil while decomposing. The mulch should have a maximum depth of 4 to 6 inches.

Certain young trees have weak-stalks and so their trunk tends to bend. Staking such trees can help in maintain proper structure as well as control over growth of the tree. Also in places where animals like cats or dogs roam free; adding a guard rail around the perimeter further facilitates tree maintenance.

Inspecting a tree’s health is a professional’s-job but there are a few signs that can tell of a trees health. If the growth of a tree is less as compared to previous years, it could be a sign of lack of proper nutrition or water, or disease and poor health. Smaller leaves can be a sign of dehydration and drought.

Checking for dead branches will help bring any problems to light. Dead branched are hard, but snap when bent, unlike healthy branches which are easy to bend, and supple. Bark of a tree should not be loose or peeling off (apart from certain trees like eucalyptus or maple).Wilting of a tree may be due the usual reason like lack of water, too little sun or disease, but it also may be due to other causes like over fertilization or over watering.

Pruning is another important task in tree maintenance.  Pruning helps increase visibility and public safety. Pruning require knowing terms like branch ridge, which is the raised are, where the branch meets the parent stem or trunk and branch collar, the area just around the branch ridge (the branch collar is a part of the parent stem or trunk). While cutting,

it is important to remember to cut as close to the branch collar as possible, but not cut the collar or ridge. The most common way of pruning a branch is to cut the major part of the branch first, while leaving about a foot or so of branch connected to the trunk. This small part of the branch can then be pruned with precision, thus preventing any damage to the branch ridge and collar