What is Plant Health Care?
Plant Health Care is a process of inspection and diagnosis of threats to the health of the plants and treatment of these threats before the damage becomes irreversible. The main goal is to develop and maintain healthy trees and shrubs so they can avoid entering a decline spiral. Most threats consist of insect pests and diseases, deficiencies in soil nutrition, and physical or environmental stresses. Early detection, proper diagnosis, and precise treatment are the keys to effective management.
Why is Plant Health Care important?
Using preventative care, early detection, and active treatment, your trees and shrubs are less susceptible to problems, enhance their resistance to insect pests and diseases, and are often better at tolerating environmental stresses. Also, proactive tree care is almost always less expensive than the cost of treating an advanced infestation or removing a large tree later. Ignoring problems will be much more costly in the long run. A Plant Health Care Specialist can uncover tree health issues that go overlooked and address them before more significant problems arise.
What does a Plant Health Care program include?
Plant Health Care programs use several strategies to maintain plant vigor and vitality during the season. Each program is individually designed to fit the needs of a particular landscape. They include frequent inspections, identification of the root cause of potential issues, and accurate, targeted treatments. Pest management treatments are timed when diseases and harmful insects are known to flourish, preventing them from worsening and doing more damage. Depending on the needs, a plan can be developed for a few critical trees or the entire landscape.
How do I know when my trees need help?
When trees seem to show some abnormal and noticeable changes, and you suspect they are not growing correctly, chances are there is a problem. There are signs/symptoms that show your tree is suffering from insect pests, disease, or environmental stress. Some can be seen on the trunk, like cracking, peeling, crumbling, swelling, and leaking sap. Others can be noticed on the tree crown, like reduced foliage or complete defoliation, discolored, spotted, or deformed leaves, withered branch tips, dying or dropping limbs, and wilting and leaning branches. The sooner these symptoms get professional attention, the better the chances for the tree to overcome the problem and survive.
Why should I fertilize my trees?
Unlike the natural setting, where nutrients are readily available to trees and shrubs, your suburban landscape does not have as nutrient-rich soil as your trees and shrubs need to perform their best. That is because the soil has been disturbed and its composition altered substantially by human activity. For that reason, fertilization aims to supplement those vital nutrients in your soil to support healthy growth for your trees and keep the soil composition balanced. Fertilization also helps trees to be more resistant to insect pests, diseases, and abiotic stresses like drought and extreme temperatures.
How do I protect my trees against harmful insects and diseases?
Trees are an important part of our ecosystem. However, just like any living organism, they are vulnerable to damage from insect pests and diseases when conditions are favorable. In general, preventative care is the optimal approach. Although low populations of harmful insects are usually non-life threatening for trees, when an outbreak happens, or diseases develop, and symptoms appear, contacting a Plant Health Care Specialist is the right thing to do. A targeted action plan will be designed to manage the problem effectively.