Is Your Tree Sick?
Having trees in the backyard or premises of the home is a great thing to have. But maintaining them can be a big task, specially if you are not aware of how to check the health of the tree. Tree decay detection is a skill, but there are some useful suggestions and tips which can help you even if you don’t have knowledge like a professional gardener does. Some of them are listed below:
Know your trees:
First thing to do is to have a read about what all trees you have got. Once you are aware of the proper names of the trees, it will help you to look up for useful information about them. You should how does the healthier version of the those trees look like. You might think that having leaves green is a sign of a good health, but there could be plenty of other things to check.
Other ways to stay informed is to read the cards that come along when you buy a new plant. There is plenty of information mentioned on those tags and they should be saved for referring again. Sometimes even a picture on those tags can tell you how that tree should look like.
You can also learn more or gather information by going for an Arboriculture training. That is like a professional level training which will help you in getting the skills of manage wide variety of trees.
Being aware about the diseases:
As the urbanization is increasing, trees are finding it hard to cope up with the changes in environment for them. Also, we have started growing them in places which might not be meant for them or where the environment is not in their best favour. There are plan health care services available which can provide Species selection and Planting advisory so that you can grow them in suitable surrounding. But being aware about common issues which the plants and trees can generally catch will be very helpful.
There are some diseases which might make the tree look really sick, but they could just be cosmetic issues and might not affect the health of the tree from inside. On the contrary, there could some diseases which shows less signs but could prove to be very damaging for the health of the tree.
Also, there are certain seasonal issues which should be checked for.
Inspection:
Needless to say, regular and timely inspection of the trees can save the tree’s life. If some of the signs can be read in early stages, the treatment can be given soon and prevent the disease from growing or spreading. Some things that you should look out for are:
Limbs of trees to make sure they are not broken or show sign of disease
Shape of the leaves- they shouldn’t be curled up or damaged
Presence of mushrooms
Verification of the roots
Observe the bigger picture- inspect the tree overall to see if something looks unusual.
These simple techniques can help you detect the diseases early and can give you a chance to get the trees back to healthy status again.