Category: Tree Health & Care
-
Bradford Pear vs. the Wind: and the Winner is…
Just a short video that one of our customers happened to capture of their Bradford Pear in a strong wind event. The tree lost. This is what happens to Bradford Pear trees in 15-20 years. They are a fast growing, and nice-looking tree, but they are not very permanent. Instead of planting an ornamental pear…
-
Why a “Y” is Not Good in a Tree
Trees have an amazing ability to keep themselves upright for years, sometimes hundreds of years. However, a structural flaw called co-dominant stems can cause a tree to prematurely fail. Co-dominant stems can create a high risk in urban areas where failure can be catastrophic. This is a Hackberry with a typical co-dominant stem that has…
-
What’s Happening to My Live Oak Trees?
This spring (2020) has seen almost every Live Oak in Denton County infected with a disease call Oak Anthracnose. This sound like a terrible disease, but it is really just a nuisance for the trees. This is a fungal disease and affects the leaves only on Live Oaks. The infected leaves turn brown and curl…
-
Topiaries Gone Wild!
Topiaries are not a maintenance free plant! I see many topiary plants in front of houses that are not maintained and after a few years, they revert to the plant’s original growth form, only not so pretty. Topiaries are woody plants that are pruned to take on a specific shape. The most common form that…
-
The End of Every Bradford Pear
The Bradford Pear is a cultivar of the Callery Pear which was collected from China in the early 1900s. They have been planted widely as yard and roadway trees in Denton County. There are actually a number of different cultivars of the Callery Pear (Aristocrat, Cleveland) but the Bradford cultivar has been the most popular. …
-
Fire Blight and Ornamental Pears
Every few years, we get a lot of Fire Blight in ornamental pears in Denton County. The disease is caused by a bacteria and enters into the tree’s tissues via open flowers. So, the conditions have to be just right for a tree to get infected flowers open, high humidity, and the presence of the…
-
High winds? Inspect Your Cedar Elms (and All Trees) Afterward
With the recent storms in Flower Mound and Lewisville, it is an important to inspect your trees for limb cracks. Often a limb may crack in a storm, but not fail completely until a later time, sometimes a few years later. The cedar elm is very prone to developing longitudinal cracks in the limbs, especially…
-
Italian Cypress Fungal Infections and Solutions
The Italian Cypress is a beautiful upright evergreen that grows in a straight column up to 20 to 25 feet or more. It thrives in North Texas, but can have real problems if: 1) Planted in heavy clay soils 2) Irrigated too much 3) Experience very wet spring and early summer weather The tree comes…
-
The Biggest Weeds in Your Turf Lawn are Your Trees
I try to impress on people that when they are trying to control weeds in their lawn that the largest weed is the trees. The same chemicals that control dandelions, crabgrass and Dallisgrass can also kill your trees. Red oaks are particularly sensitive to herbicides, especially Metsulfuron. I have seen numerous trees this spring that…
-
Pruning – You Get What You Pay For
In our daily lives, we buy and sell many things. We all want value in these transactions and the adage, is still true, you get what you pay for? This is true in almost every transaction and is true when it comes to choosing who will prune your trees. The above picture is of two…