The summer season is here, and with it comes a surge of activity for homeowners. Now that the weather is warming up, it’s time to get outside and take care of all those chores that have been piling up all winter. However, summer presents unique challenges for tree maintenance.
For this reason, we have compiled this list of summer tree care suggestions for residential property owners. With the help of these pointers, you’ll be able to keep your trees healthy even throughout the hottest months of the year, allowing you to enjoy their splendour for the duration of the season. It is essential to provide your trees with the appropriate care throughout this time of year in order to preserve their health and vitality.
This comprehensive guide will explore the most important procedures and sage advice regarding the care given to trees throughout the warm summer months.
Is Summer A Good Time To Plant Trees?
It is possible, but it needs to be advised. It’s best to plant trees in the spring or fall when they’re just starting to grow or getting ready to go into dormancy. The spring and fall are the least stressful times to plant a tree. Avoid planting in the summer if you reside in an area where temperatures routinely exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
The trees and shrubs cultivated in containers or root balls often have a more robust root system than bare-root trees, giving them a better chance of survival when late planting occurs. Waiting till the middle to late part of October is what we suggest doing if you want to transplant trees.
Planting during the summer is possible despite the fact that it is seldom the best option; nonetheless, you will need to exercise extra caution while planting and in the following weeks. A new tree experiences greater difficulty surviving in high heat, low rainfall, and high sunlight conditions.
Care Tips To Keep Your Trees Safe This Summer
Planting trees in your yard is a terrific idea. They add variety to the scene, create a place to rest one’s eyes and offer welcome shelter from the sun and background noise. However, appropriate tree maintenance is essential. The summer is crucial for fruit tree maintenance if you want a harvest. Your trees, especially young ones, may suffer from the hot, dry summers.
Your trees will need human assistance to thrive under these conditions. You can protect your trees from injury this summer by following these guidelines.
Water Regularly
If you want your trees to grow, you must provide enough water. Watering should be done first thing in the morning before the sun gets too high in the sky. If you want your trees to survive summer’s scorching heat, you need to irrigate them thoroughly and deeply. Overwatering trees, however, might cause more harm than good.
During the warm summer months, learning the best methods for watering your trees should be a top focus. Concentrate on the area around their roots if you want your trees to get the most out of every watering.
Watering trees more deeply and less frequently is preferable to watering them consistently. Concentrate on deep watering by always watering to a deeper depth. This facilitates the penetration of water deeper into the soil, which in turn promotes stronger root development. You can maximise the benefits of your watering by doing it first thing in the morning. Beginning early in the morning helps the tree withstand the day’s increasing heat.
Add A New Layer Of Mulch
Mulch provides essential structural support to a tree by wrapping around its trunk. This provides shade for the plant’s roots and helps it to conserve water. Mulch, when applied properly, helps young trees retain more moisture and develop strong, deep root systems.
Mulch should be applied in small amounts. Excessive mulching could create an inviting environment for bugs and diseases. It only has to be 5-10 cm thick in one layer. Don’t forget to leave enough space around the tree’s base to prevent the mulch from suffocating it. Mulch the area surrounding your tree’s trunk in a doughnut shape to keep out pests and diseases.
Avoid Pruning
Trees need summer pruning to stay healthy and disease-free. However, excessive tree-cutting can make trees more susceptible to pests and diseases. When pruning, getting rid of diseased or weather-damaged branches is more important than removing plenty of leaves prematurely.
A tree’s health can be enhanced through proper pruning by increasing its exposure to air and decreasing its need for water. However, pruning is often best left to the professionals to ensure the tree’s stability is not compromised. If you want your pruning to be effective and done for the proper reasons, you should talk to an arborist about it.
Make Sure The Trunk And Roots Are Safe
Maintaining a tree’s roots is crucial to the health of the tree itself. Since we have more free time, you and your family may spend more time than normal walking among the trees in your neighbourhood. Mulch placed around a tree’s base can prevent curious onlookers.
It may be essential to create a more substantial barrier if the tree is located near a walkway often used by pedestrians. A barrier must be erected around a young tree to prevent animals from damaging it as it grows. Planting shrubs around the tree can prevent people from getting too close to it. Another way those plants might safeguard your home from intruders is by acting as a visual deterrent.
Conduct Deep Watering
You could assume that the summer rains supply enough water for your yard trees. However, this is only sometimes the case in the warmest parts of summer. Instead, you should give your trees a good soaking, especially if you just planted them.
Inspect the ground around your trees first. Dig a hole next to the tree and feel the earth with your fingers to see how healthy it is. You should water your tree if the soil is dry. It would be best if you didn’t overwater your tree, yet the roots often need more water. To ensure the tree’s entire root system gets hydrated, water it deeply for an hour three times a week using a soaker hose.
By doing so, you’ll force the plant’s roots downward into the ground rather than upward toward the surface. Newly planted trees should receive three hours of deep watering every week. After two years, you can use your judgment about the trees you want to save. Avoid drowning your trees by giving them too much water.
Fertilise Properly
If you want your tree to flourish, fertilisation is a must. Improve the tree’s chances of survival by adding fertiliser to the soil. Having enough nutrients in the soil is directly tied to a tree’s ability to grow healthy leaves and shoots. Giving the tree a nutritional boost can also help it fight off illness and pests.
Fertilising trees in the summer helps them thrive and thrive throughout the year. For optimal growth, a tree needs particular nutrients, which can be found in tree fertiliser. Don’t overdo it with the fertiliser; doing so can harm a tree’s roots if not done properly.
It’s important to choose the right fertiliser for your trees, and this is especially true for fruit trees and other useful species. Focusing on quality will ensure a healthy and tasty harvest. Fertilising a tree is especially important in high-stress environments like cities. You should consult an arborist about the best fertilisation practises for your summer fruit tree maintenance routine.
Regular Pest Inspection
A tree’s outward appearance may be deceiving; only a closer inspection will reveal any underlying problems. Warm summer days are perfect for pest development; therefore, year-round monitoring is required to prevent an infestation from getting out of hand. To get a sense of the tree’s condition, you should inspect it about once a week.
Always be on the lookout for dead branches, sap seeping through neatly bored holes, and so on. These symptoms may indicate a larval infestation preventing the tree from absorbing water. Incorporate inspections as part of your standard tree maintenance to get early warning of any problems. You can also use this opportunity to monitor the status of other trees in the area.
Early detection of local pests can help stop small-scale infestations. Keep an eye out for pests and do everything you can to stop their spread to save the trees in your area.
Consider Cabling For Safety
Summer may be known for its high temperatures, but severe weather can still damage your trees. Fallen or broken limbs from a tree can cause extensive damage to its surroundings during a storm. Consult an arborist on how to maintain a risk-free yard.
A tree service may suggest cutting away infected branches or securing the tree’s vulnerable points with cables. Tree cabling improves the safety of the yard and cuts down on the amount of leaves that fall to the ground every summer. Many trees, including birches, willows, maples, and cedars, lose their leaves in the fall.
Cables are an effective tool for cleaning up the yard. If your family prefers to use a real tree for the holidays, cabling it in the summer is a smart tree-care strategy that will keep it safe until the holidays roll around.
Watch Out For Heat Stress Signs
Preparing trees for the summer months includes ensuring adequate cooling and shading. Provide adequate shade for your young trees to prevent heat stress. When temperatures soar, be especially vigilant for signs of heat exhaustion.
Leaves turning yellow and drooping are typical symptoms. To help your tree recover from heat stress, water it thoroughly. Remembering these symptoms on future hot days will make it much simpler to identify heat exhaustion. Remembering the warning signs will help you take preventative measures when caring for trees.
Get Ready For Summer Storms
If you live in a high-risk area, preparing your trees for hurricanes and thunderstorms is a good idea. Provide supplemental stabilisation by bracing and cabling trees. They will be more protected from the storm’s damaging winds and rain.
Taking this step alone is not recommended in any way, shape, or form. Instead, it would be best if you thought about employing arborists to get the job done properly. They want to use the wires to construct a support system that will limit the movement of the branches and ensure that they are preserved even during the most severe wind storm.
Keep The Soil In Good Condition
Last but not least, make sure the soil around your tree is healthy. Extremely compact soil limits the tree’s ability to absorb water and nutrients. Improve root health by increasing oxygen and water delivery to the soil through aeration.
Let’s start by moistening the soil around your plant. Next, space holes in the earth about 5 cm apart using a soil auger or drill. You should begin around 1 m away to reach the canopy and move backwards at about 0.5 m every step. Each hole needs to be between 50 and 100 centimetres in depth and roughly 5 centimetres in diameter. Loosely fill each hole with topsoil and finish off with a layer of mulch.
What To Avoid Doing To Your Trees This Summer?
Now that summer has arrived, you may spend more time outside among the trees on your property. Spending time outside in the summer and enjoying the shade your trees provide may prompt you to consider the work that needs to be done on your trees at this time of year. While it’s always vital to keep trees in mind, our tree specialists are here to set the record straight on specific tree maintenance tasks that should be avoided during the summer.
Avoid Summer Tree Planting
Mature trees already have a tough time here in the summer due to the heat and humidity. Because of this, planting young trees is also not recommended during the summer. The growing environment must be just right for saplings to take root and flourish. Hot summers, frequent thunderstorms, and dry spells aren’t ideal for young tree growth. Enquire with our tree specialists regarding the ideal planting season for the tree type you have in mind if you plan on expanding your tree population.
Avoid Overwatering Trees In Summer
Professional arborists will inform you that watering trees properly is an ongoing responsibility. Some locals, however, believe that due to our hot and humid summers, tree watering during this season should be increased relative to the rest of the year. The opposite is true.
Both under and over-watering can be detrimental to the health of your trees. Underwatering can cause root rot while over-watering can cause crown rot. Put your hand in the dirt close to your trees’ roots to determine whether they require further watering. If the soil is already wet or muddy, the tree does not require any additional watering at this time because it has enough supply of moisture.
Don’t Forget Summer Tree Mulching
It would be best to mulch your trees regularly because it is one of the most important things you can do to maintain them. Mulching trees in the summer is quite acceptable despite the fact that it is recommended that this task be completed in the spring. Mulching does much more for your property than improving its curb appeal. You are assisting your trees in absorbing and holding onto moisture by using mulch. You will also be shielding the ground that your trees are planted in from the scorching heat of the summer.
Pruning Trees In Summer Is Only Necessary In Emergencies
Pruning your trees is another crucial “what not to do” item on the “what to do” list for your trees in the summer unless it’s an emergency.
In the heat of the summer, their canopies blossom into a verdant canopy. Over-pruning can occur when trees are pruned in the summer for routine maintenance or to improve their appearance. In the summer, pests and diseases are more active, and if your tree goes into shock, it will be more vulnerable to these threats.
However, there are occasions when summer tree pruning is necessary. This is especially important if your tree has any broken, diseased, or otherwise hazardous branches that could fall and cause injury to a person or damage to a building on your land.
Conclusion
Summer is a great time to take care of trees, but it presents unique challenges for tree maintenance. To ensure the health and vitality of your trees, follow these summer tree care tips for residential property owners.
Planting trees in the spring or fall when they are just starting to grow or getting ready to go into dormancy is best, but avoid planting in areas with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Wait until the middle to late part of October for transplanting trees.
Maintaining a tree’s roots and roots is crucial for its health and safety. Mulch and barriers can help prevent onlookers from damaging the tree, while shrubs can act as visual deterrents. Deep watering is essential for a tree’s root system, especially new ones, to ensure proper growth. Fertilizing trees with the right fertilizer is essential for optimal growth and fights off disease and pests. Consult an arborist for the best fertilization practices for fruit trees.
Regular pest inspections are essential to prevent pest development during warm summer days. Inspect the tree about once a week for dead branches, sap seeping through bored holes, and other signs of infestation. Incorporate inspections into your tree maintenance routine to get early warning of any problems and monitor the status of other trees in the area.
Cabling for safety is another important aspect of tree care. Severe weather can damage trees, and consulting an arborist can help maintain a risk-free yard. Tree services may suggest cutting away infected branches or securing vulnerable points with cables. This helps reduce the amount of leaves falling to the ground and ensures the safety of your yard. If you prefer to use a real tree for the holidays, cabling it in the summer is a smart tree-care strategy.
To prepare your trees for summer, ensure adequate cooling and shading, especially for young trees. Watch out for signs of heat exhaustion, such as yellowing leaves and drooping branches, and water them thoroughly. If you live in high-risk areas, prepare your trees for hurricanes and thunderstorms by bracing and cabling them. It’s best to hire arborists to construct a support system to limit branch movement and preserve them during severe storms.
Maintain healthy soil around your tree by moistening it, spacing holes in the earth, filling them with topsoil, and adding mulch. Avoid planting young trees during the summer due to the heat and humidity, as they struggle to absorb water and nutrients. Overwatering trees during the summer is not recommended, as it can cause root rot and crown rot.
Mutching your trees regularly is essential for their health, as it helps absorb and hold onto moisture and shields the ground from the scorching heat. Pruning trees in summer is only necessary in emergencies, as they are more vulnerable to pests and diseases during the summer. However, pruning is necessary if your tree has broken, diseased, or hazardous branches that could cause injury or damage to a building.
Content Summary
- Summer presents unique challenges for tree maintenance.
- Appropriate care during summer ensures the health and vitality of trees.
- Planting trees in summer requires caution.
- Spring and fall are ideal times for tree planting.
- Trees in containers or with root balls fare better when late planting.
- Trees face difficulty surviving in high heat, low rainfall, and intense sunlight.
- Trees add aesthetic value and provide shade during summers.
- Proper tree maintenance is crucial, especially for fruit trees.
- Young trees may suffer from hot, dry summers.
- Trees require human assistance to thrive in summer.
- Trees should be watered early in the morning.
- Overwatering can damage trees.
- Focusing on watering the root area maximises benefits.
- Deep watering promotes stronger root development.
- Mulching aids in moisture retention and root protection.
- Excessive mulching can attract pests.
- Mulch should be applied in a doughnut shape around the tree’s base.
- Avoid excessive pruning in summer.
- Proper pruning can enhance a tree’s health.
- Professional guidance is recommended for tree pruning.
- Tree trunks and roots should be protected.
- A barrier might be needed for young trees near busy pathways.
- Summer rains might not provide adequate water for trees.
- Deep watering encourages roots to grow downward.
- Fertilising trees aids their growth and resistance against diseases.
- The right fertiliser is vital, especially for fruit trees.
- Urban trees especially benefit from fertilisation.
- Regularly inspect trees for signs of pests.
- Early detection can prevent extensive pest infestations.
- Cabling can secure trees against summer storms.
- Certain trees shed leaves in summer; cabling helps manage this.
- Heat stress signs include yellowing and drooping leaves.
- Preparing for summer storms may involve bracing and cabling trees.
- Soil health is crucial for tree health.
- Soil aeration improves oxygen and water delivery to the roots.
- Summer might not be the best time for planting trees.
- Excessive summer heat can hinder young tree growth.
- Overwatering during summer can harm trees.
- Properly mulched trees retain moisture better.
- Mulching protects the ground from intense summer heat.
- Only prune trees in summer for emergencies.
- Over-pruning can expose trees to pests and diseases.
- Broken or diseased branches might necessitate summer pruning.
- The summer season prompts homeowners to tackle outdoor chores.
- Trees offer a serene backdrop and buffer against noise.
- Regular summer care ensures trees maintain their splendour.
- Trees with a good root system are more likely to survive late planting.
- Mulching should be 5-10 cm thick and should not suffocate the tree.
- Arborists can provide expert advice on fertilisation practices.
- Cabling in summer ensures trees remain safe for the holiday season.
FAQs About Tree Care
How Often Should I Water My Trees During The Summer?
Regular watering is imperative to ensure your trees thrive in the summer. This involves watering deeply, allowing the moisture to reach the critical root zone where trees absorb nutrients. The watering frequency should be determined by various factors, including soil composition and prevailing weather conditions.
How Long Does It Take For A Newly Planted Tree To Establish Itself?
The duration for a recently planted tree to establish itself is contingent on the tree species and the surrounding environment. Typically, it requires multiple growing seasons for a tree to completely acclimate and flourish in its new habitat, ensuring its long-term health and vitality.
Can I Use Any Mulch Around My Trees?
Opting for organic mulch, like wood chips or shredded bark, has numerous benefits. Not only does it retain crucial moisture in the soil, but it also regulates soil temperature and inhibits weed growth. However, it’s vital to maintain a gap around the tree trunk to prevent potential rotting issues. This practice ensures the health and longevity of your tree’s base.
Is It Necessary To Wrap The Trunks Of Young Trees?
Providing protective wraps for young or delicate trees, particularly in sweltering summer conditions, is a prudent measure. The light-coloured wrapping material is a shield, reflecting the sun’s intense rays. This precautionary step effectively wards off sunscald, which could otherwise harm the tree’s delicate bark.
What Should I Do If I Notice Pests On My Trees?
Vigilant and routine inspection is paramount in maintaining tree health. Should pests be observed, prioritise natural control methods. Encourage beneficial predators like ladybugs and birds, which are crucial in pest management. If the infestation persists, seeking advice from a certified arborist is advisable for specialised guidance and targeted solutions. This proactive approach ensures the continued vitality of your trees.
