Knock on wood...or a Birch Tree

  Birch trees are wonderful to look at, especially in the winter.  The river birch with an abundance of peeling bark is more resistant to insects than the more common white birch. I came across this white birch tree with evidence of bronze birch borer damage.  Notice the exit holes.  Proper cultural care and if required, a well timed pesticide application can control this pest.

Swingset crushed!

I was called to this job over this past summer.  A scary situation for sure, but luckily no kids were using this swings at the time the large branch failed.  Upon closer inspection I found that the branch was infested with carpenter ants.

Girdling Roots

I noticed this trees crown was bicolored and on closer inspection the trunk had no "flare" as it entered the ground.  These were tell-tale signs of a tree being deprived of water and nutrients.  The culprit was a girdling root that was "choking" the tree by restricting the movement of sap throughout the tree.  We had to carefully excavate the root and remove an approximate 6" section of it (so it wouldn't reconnect},  At this point the tree can now grow in circumference and will push the remaining root sections out.  A fertilization is sometimes needed to encourage accelerated growth.

Solar power is on the rise in our community.  This recent solar installation in Cheshire required tree pruning to allow optimum sunlight exposure in the location.

Ash Trees Dying

Unfortunately the ash tree borer (EAB) is in Connecticut and killing many ash trees.  The mortality rate is near 90% once a tree is infested.  Keep an eye out for ash trees in decline along streets and especially if you have any in your yard.  If you have a healthy ash tree, especially white ash, you should contact an arborist immediately to inspect the trees.  Once the trees are stressed, they will decline rapidly.

-George Fletcher Jr.
 State of Ct Arborist Lic# 62804

Infested white ash trees along Rt 42 in Prospect/Beacon Falls

Beautiful Killers

"Adult EAB beetles are beautiful insects and amazingly good at finding and colonizing ash trees. Unlike many insects, EAB does not appear to produce any long-range pheromones to attract potential mates. Instead, the beetles use their vision and the mix of chemicals emitted by ash leaves, bark and wood to find their host trees and each other. They are particularly attracted to the blend of compounds given off by stressed or injured ash trees and to specific shades of purple and green. Once beetles find an ash tree, they nibble along the margins of leaves throughout their three- to six-week life span. Leaf feeding is important for the beetles to mature, but it has virtually no effect on the trees. After 15 to 20 days of leaf feeding, the females begin to lay a few eggs at a time, tucking them beneath bark flaps or in bark crevices. Many beetles mean many eggs — bad news for the tree when they hatch."

Retrieved from: 

http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/will-we-kiss-our-ash-goodbye/

Renovate a Rose !

This old rose bush will have profuse flowers next year!  

To "renovate" it:

- First shape the outside with electric hedge shears, 

-Then use a small handsaw or the pruner shown to cut some of the larger, old stems

-Next use the pole pruner to grab the larger cut stems and pull them out (to avoid those thorns!)

-finish by using handheld pruners to cut any larger stubs left on the outside to a side branch

ENJOY your "NEW" Rose Bush....

Rain!!!

It's to early for the trees to be changing color!  Hopefully this rain today will amount to something substantial.  The grass, shrubs, and trees are all thirsty!  Seriously though, it's been so dry for the past few weeks that everyone should welcome this rainfall.  The added moisture will help the trees build up proper reserves for the winter, so they can come back strong in the Spring.  Come down rain...!

Lots of Pruning!

I was asked recently by someone to prune their overgrown ornamental trees and shrubs.  The property is located on an old farmer's field, and as you can see plants thrive here!  There is no shortage of quality topsoil here.  As you can see by the before and after photos, we had a lot of pruning to do.  Sometimes when things are this overgrown it can be difficult to know where to start.  My preferred method is to begin removing dead/dying/diseased (3 Ds) branches first, then move onto "rubbing" or interfering limbs.  Keep in mind that sometimes if the rubbing branches are too important to the overall shape/structure of the tree, especially on an ornamental tree like the weeping cherry near the house, it is best to leave these branches for now.  In the future they might be removed if the tree fills in enough of the canopy.  Another option is to drill a 1/4" hole through both limbs and attach them to each other permanently to avoid friction/rubbing and possible damage to the limbs.  Over time trees sometimes fuse limbs together and do this naturally.

Choking Tree !

A girdling root can cause your valuable trees to decline in health and in some cases death of the tree is inevitable.  Sometimes trees have one or more roots that start to grow around the main trunk,  at or just below ground level.  Over time as the main trunk grows in circumference these roots "choke" the tree and restrict the amount of water and nutrients that can be transported to the trees upper branches and leaves.

There are two ways to identify if the tree has a girdling root:

1. The upper branches are losing leaves early in the season, or have started to die back.

2. The main trunk seems to go straight into the ground, without flaring outwards.  Usually the side of the tree where the girdling root is located doesn't have a flare.  In addition, this side of the tree is where top dieback is most common.

What can be done?

Sometimes if you find a girdling root early enough the root can be carefully exposed with a hand trowel/small shovel and an approximately 6" section of the root cut out with a chisel.  This has to be done with care, so as not to damage the tree's main trunk.  By removing a small section of the root, the tree can push the encircling root apart.  This will help increase the flow of nutrients and water to the tree.  By removing a small section of the root instead of just cutting it, there is little chance that the root will reattach and continue to choke the tree.

At this point keep the tree healthy with proper watering and fertilization (if needed) to help it grow.

Good luck in looking for those girdling roots!

You will never look at a tree trunk the same again...

George is back to the Blog!

It's been a couple of years since my last Blog post!

I was working as the Transmission Line Clearance Arborist for United Illuminating over the past couple of years, but since I am back working as a State of CT licensed Arborist I decided to start sharing my tree experiences again.

 I hope enjoy my posts and feel free to contact me anytime with your questions or comments!