By Patrick George
Hard to believe I’m going to be talking about Spring on the tail end of two weekends of snowy weather, but…Ready or not the days are already getting longer and the daffodils are out on display! While it will still be over 2 plus months before we see tree canopies fully leafed, the signs of Spring are everywhere! For those of us that are climbing trees, we can see the buds swelling on Maples and the samaras setting on the Elms. For those of us stuck on our bipeds we can enjoy the seasonal flowering of Camellias, Mahonias and of course, Forsythias.
Our trees above ground growth are getting ready to literally burst into the air in their frenzied (by tree standards) spring space grab for sunlight. There is never a better time to push new woody trunk and limb growth than in the next 3 months. Sixty to 80% of above ground woody growth is going to happen prior to Summer Solstice which this year will be on June 21st.
For trees planted over this winter follow the Beatles advice and just “Let them Be!” You can help them next year. Just remember the old timer’s adage about planting trees, “First year it sleeps, second year it creeps and the 3rd year it leaps!” For those of you who own existing trees or trees that were planted over a year ago, this is the time that you can really help increase growth by introducing fertilization and other treatment regimens. The impact and opportunity for cell growth will never be greater. By solstice your trees will normally have “hardened up” the new growth and will set about manufacturing sugars and nutrients for the following year’s growth. It’s all so orderly! So if your landscape and trees need seasonal intervention to achieve their potential, it’s time to set plans in motion. Be it sprays for powdery mildew or injections for control of Emerald Ash Borer, get on your providers schedule. Growth of demand and appreciation of the joys brought by our landscape trees and shrubs was one of the few upsides to being stuck at home for covid. If you’ve read this far then go ahead and close the loop and call to get your tree care scheduled.
“It’s’ looking up for trees”!
