Common Tree Care, Planting mistakes
Do not use a weed wacker to control vegetation around the trees. The thin bark at the base of the trees will be damaged and removed and the tree will die.
Here is a windbreak tree that has a mulberry trees growing up the middle of the tree. This is a very common occurrence in windbreaks as birds bring in seeds and they start growing. If
not removed, this mulberry will eventually kill the Norway Spruce. Cut the mulberrys
off at ground level and apply any number of safe herbicides that can be used to
kill undesirable trees growing in your windbreak. We can advise you on this.
DO NOT use any product that has Tordon or 2-4D on or around your trees.
Here is a White Pine with grass growing around the base of the tree and a Techny
Arborvitae that has proper weed control. Do not let any vegetation grow within 2 ft of your trees the first 5 years. Grass takes all moisture
and nutrients from the tree and growth rates are reduced significantly. We advise using herbicides
and not mulch to control vegetation and can advise you on the proper and safe ones to use.
Here is damage done from a buck deer rubbing his antlers, to avoid damage, reduce the numbers of destructive animals (rabbits, deer, pocket gofers) and take action to prevent damage in the future. We can advise on different steps to take.
Here is a row of shrubs that were planted 10 ft from a row of Norway spruce. They were the old fashioned lilac and they quickly spread by suckers in the Norway spruce area. The Norway spruce responded by losing there bottom branches, and now the wind is beginning to blow right threw the bottom of the windbreak. This is one reason I am not a big fan of planting deciduous shrubs in a windbreak as this can happen if planted closer than 20 from the trees. Deciduous shrubs in the winter without their leaves provides only a 15% reduction in wind velocity, were any evergreen provide over a 50% reduction in winds.
Here is a row of Norway Spruce planted 6 ft apart, they are now over 12 ft tall and are beginning to thin out at the bottom of the plant. This is so they can keep the top growing and not be shaded out as in nature. At this time every other one of these trees should be removed. Simply cut them off at ground level, and the trees left with the new sunlight and moisture will keep the bottom limbs from
dying on the ones that are left.
Here is a picture of a windbreak with the two smaller trees in the middle. The one on the left is 6 ft tall and the one on the right is 8ft tall, these trees are 28 years old, as I planted them myself. These are Douglas Fir planted in a heavy clay soil that was along a gravel road and the soil PH in this area is over 8.5. I wanted to show this picture to show what happens when the wrong trees is planted in the wrong site. Many kinds of trees will grow in this area and do well, so plan carefully when selecting your trees for a certain area, especially along gravel roads.
Here is a windbreak in which the person thought they could get ahead on their
windbreak by planting a row of larger trees that died shortly after planting. They
probably paid a lot of money for the trees and to have them tree spaded in,
unfortunately many times the tree planter gives a "reduced rate" with no
warrantee. The row next to them are smaller potted Arborvitae and the whole row is green and
doing fine. When planting a windbreak our potted trees are the best way to
get the windbreak you want, in the shortest possible time with the fewest
losses, work and cost. The Austrees in the background are doing very well.
Here is a windbreak in which the homeowner has cut off all the lower branches so
they could "mow" under the trees. Bad idea, as they destroyed their
windbreak. You can see what happens, the wind and snow hits the windbreak
and the wind picks up speed (called jetting) as it goes under the trees, removed
all the snow, and sent all the wind and snow over to the house. To fix this problem
plant a new row of trees on the outside of the windbreak. Do not remove
the lower branches on your windbreak trees and there is no need to mow in this
area under the larger trees as the lower branches on evergreens will usually
shade out the grass.
Here is an example of what happens when a tree is planted too deep. The
customer planted the trees themselves and the top arrow is where we found the
soil line on the trees. They had notified us and said all there trees were
dying. It only took a few seconds to find the problem, the stem above the
root system cannot be in contact with the soil as it rots and kills the plant.
The soil line on all trees potted or bare root should be about one inch above
the top lateral root, or approximately at the bottom arrow shown on the picture.
