Planting shade trees in your yard has many amazing benefits. Underneath a full-grown shade tree is the perfect place for a backyard barbeque or for children to play outdoors. It will also keep your home cooler when temperatures rise.

To get all of the benefits of shade trees, you have to plant the right species of tree and care for them correctly.

LA Tree Trimming has recommendations for the best trees to plant for shade, as well as some expert advice on maintaining your shade trees so they grow strong and healthy.

Planting Trees for Shade

All trees can provide shade, but there are some types of trees that are built for maximum shade. These types of trees often have a thick, wide canopy that extends out about as far as it does upward.

In the following paragraphs, we’ve provided examples of shade trees based on whether they would be best planted in your front or back yard.

Back Yard Shade Trees

Shade trees in the back yard are primarily for the homeowner’s benefit. Next-door neighbors and passersby probably won’t be able to see these trees very much, so they can be purely for your enjoyment.

In addition to shade, these trees can provide year-round color as well as some additional privacy from neighbors.

Here are a few popular choices:

• Magnolia
• Sugar maple or silver maple
• Weeping willow
• Weeping cherry
• Red oak

If you have enough space, a live oak is another fantastic choice. Live oaks are considered the fastest growing shade trees, and they can get very large. An older live oak is able to grow up to 80 feet tall and up to 100 feet wide.

Many of these back yard tree recommendations get very big, so you need to do your research to determine if the tree is going to have enough space to grow to its full potential.

If there is not enough room, the tree’s root system can destroy your fencing or home. You will also need to prune the tree every year to keep it from being overgrown. A tree that is too large for its location will most likely have to be removed, which is an unfortunate and sometimes costly situation.

Front Yard Shade Trees

In the front yard of your home, you are planting trees for your enjoyment as well, but these trees will be a lot more impactful for adding curb appeal and value to your home than the back yard trees.

Choose shade trees for the front yard that are a little smaller so they don’t overshadow your home. These trees should complement your landscaping in both size and color, while still creating lots of shade for front yard play and relaxation.

These are some of the shade trees LA Tree Trimming recommends:

Red maple
River birch
Dogwood
White oak
Ginkgo tree

These types of trees are colorful throughout the year, and they’ll showcase even more color in the fall months.
Another great option for your front or side yard is the ‘Green Giant’ Arborvitae. This tree looks like a hedge and can be planted in a long row to create privacy as well as shade.

With options in mind, we recommend that you plant trees you like. In reality, any tree can grow to become a “shade tree.” Assuming the trees you choose are suitable for the weather in Louisiana, they will provide your home and landscaping with shade.

Benefits of Planting Shade Trees

The reasons to have shade on your property are numerous — there are some that you probably don’t typically think about.

Shade, Obviously – When temperatures soar, you won’t need to hide indoors if you have a nice, shady yard. Set up a chair or hammock under your biggest shade tree and relax outside as long as you like.

Climate Control – Trees can control the temperature in your yard and inside your home. Not only do trees protect you from the glaring sun, but they can make it feel 10-15 degrees colder under their protective canopies. This translates to less solar radiation on your home as well, which could result in more affordable energy costs!

Better Air Quality – Trees produce oxygen and filter out pollutantsfrom the air, so there is cleaner air around your home. Arbor Day Foundation research reports that one mature tree absorbs around 48 pounds of CO2 out of the air.

Shelter for Animals – If you enjoy bird watching or think squirrels and chipmunks are adorable, your trees can give them all they need to build a home, find food and raise babies.

Fun – What kid doesn’t love a backyard tree house or tire swing? If you have small children, shade trees will offer hours of fun and joyful memories.

How to Care for Shade Trees

Caring for shade trees is simple as long as you’ve planted the right species for the weather in Louisiana. Healthy trees are strong and hardy after the first few years, needing little attention or care.

Consult an arborist from LA Tree Trimming if you have any questions about the care of your trees, or even to help you determine the perfect tree for your home.

As soon as you have determined the best shade tree(s), follow this care guide until your shade tree is fully grown.

Planting Your Shade Tree

The south, west and east of your yard get the most sun, so plant your new trees on one of these sides of your yard. This is two-fold: 1) the trees will then create the maximum amount of shade and 2) they will also receive the most amount of sun for healthy growth.

Pruning Your Shade Tree

Trim during the first year or two after planting the tree in order to shape it and help it form a strong foundation. To be safe, and for the best results, call LA Tree Trimming for tree trimming in Louisiana. A certified arborist will arrive at your home and deliver professional care for the tree.

Watering Your Shade Tree

Watering a new tree is crucial. This will help them develop a deep root system and will give the tree stability in the long run.

Fertilizing Your Shade Tree

Homeowners should fertilize a shade tree just like you would any other type of tree in order to promote healthy growth. Fertilizer is not necessary for caring for a shade tree, but it can assist in helping your tree to grow faster and blossom more leaves, which are the primary source of your shade.

We hope this blog post was helpful! Remember, when it comes time to trim or prune a new shade tree, LA Tree Trimming can help! Call us and a certified arborist in Louisiana will visit your property, assess the tree and determine the proper care plan for its long-term health and growth.

Tree trimming is best left to experienced professionals. It’s a dangerous job, climbing trees, using chainsaws and lowering heavy branches to the ground; and it is sometimes dangerous for the tree too. Trees that aren’t pruned the right way can sustain a lifetime of issues.

Instead of putting yourself and putting the tree at risk, find someone who is trained and experienced to do it for you.

This will result in much stronger trees and a safer environment surrounding your house for several reasons:

• Healthier trees are stronger and less likely to cause damage during severe storms
• Maintained trees don’t attract or spread diseases and parasites
• Trimmed trees produce more flowers or fruit
• Pruned trees offer shade and allow air to flow through their canopies and your landscaping

LA Tree Trimming highly encourages trimming trees that are near your house or those that are an integral part of your property.

Is Tree Trimming Necessary?

It is not necessary. But it is beneficial. Trees are very resilient and can grow on their own across the world, in a variety of different climates and regions, without pruning.

That said, there are several benefits of tree trimming, so it’s definitely recommended for trees that you value. This can include sentimental trees, fruit trees and flowering trees or trees that offer an important job for your house, such as shade or home to wildlife.

Tree Trimming Gone Wrong

Trimming a tree is a difficult task. You are going to need the correct equipment and a lot of knowledge to guarantee the job is done correctly. The vast majority of homeowners don’t have either of these!

But that’s OK, because there are a lot of professionals available who know exactly how to properly trim trees for an affordable cost to you including all of the certified arborists in Louisiana we partner with!

Here are the 5 most common mistakes homeowners make when attempting DIY tree pruning that can lead to several tree problems. These are things that an experienced arborist from LA Tree Trimming will know, and that’s exactly why their services are worth paying for!

Pruning Too Much

When done the right way, trimming is a never-ending process. Starting when your trees are only 2 or 3 years old, they should be trimmed by an arborist if you value them and desire to keep them healthy.

A big mistake people make when pruning trees themselves is cutting too much of the tree at a time. This occurs because they have let the tree’s growth get out of hand and try to fix it all at once. Ideally, you should only cut off 5-20% of the tree’s crown at the final removal cut. It is a lot easier to do this during a time of year that the leaves are off, but an experienced arborist will be able to properly prune trees any time of year.

Cutting at the Wrong Place

A certified arborist knows where to trim each limb to protect against damage. This cut should be done just beyond the branch collar, the specific place where the branch connects to the trunk.

Trimming too close to the branch collar exposes the tree to insects, decay and mildew. Cutting too far from it leaves an unsightly stump when the tree recovers. Most DIY tree pruning leads to an improper cut, leaving either structural or aesthetic damage.

Pruning Large Branches

Branches larger than 4 inches in diameter really shouldn’t be pruned unless it is necessary. Cutting off a branch this large can lead to imbalance in the tree and expose it to insects and rot as the tree recovers from such a large loss.

Conservative trimming annually guarantees that the company only has to cut off branches that are 2-3 inches in diameter, which leads to a more attractive shape for the tree and less risk of hurting the tree or exposing it to decay and pests.

Topping the Tree

Tree topping is no longer a type of pruning, and for good reason! In this process, tree trimming companies would just cut the top off of the tree to achieve the desired height. It was neither attractive nor was it beneficial for the tree, so the majority of tree care companies do not practice tree topping currently.

As a DIY tree pruning, you may think this is an easy way to reduce the height of your tree with only one cut, but once you have cut the top of a tree off, there’s almost no chance that it will ever return to a natural shape.

The Solution? Call LA Tree Trimming

Your tree may never recover from bad trimming.

Doing this job yourself might seem like a good way to save a little money, but you could end up with way more cost trying to revive damaged trees, so it’s much safer (and more economical in the long run) to hire a certified arborist in Louisiana from LA Tree Trimming.

Limbs aren’t going to grow back. The tree will grow more, but it will not grow back in the same places, which results in strange shapes that could take years to correct. The tree could look bad for the remainder of its life, all because of a single trimming mistake.

Bad pruning could also lead to death of the tree. Removing too many branches (and, therefore, leaves) can affect the tree’s photosynthesis process, meaning it won’t get enough water or enough sunlight and carbon dioxide to continue healthy growth.

Cutting too many branches could also send the tree into a state of shock. Shock isn’t always permanent, but it does take a lot of patience and care. Even with proper care, a tree experiencing shock may still die.

Avoid all of these tree trimming mistakes and call LA Tree Trimming to speak with a tree care specialist in Louisiana able to customize a plan to ensure your tree continues blossoming and looking beautiful for years to come!

Trees are living things, so that means that they can get “sick” like people and animals can. A disease or other tree problem might take a while to show itself due to the overall size of the tree, and once you notice a symptom, it could be too late to revive the tree.

A certified arborist from LA Tree Trimming can help you diagnose and treat common tree problems so that there is a much greater chance of keeping the tree. Learn about our service here. Not only can an arborist help to keep a tree from dying, but they can also help trees get more healthy growth and more flowers or fruit.

Have you ever noticed a tree on your lawn that has always seemed healthy but all of the sudden seems like something is wrong? In the next paragraphs, we’ll describe some of the most typical tree issues and what these symptoms mean.

If you spot any of these things on any of your trees, act fast for the best chance of saving the tree and the ones nearby it.

Tree Diseases & Common Problems

These 7 things are the most typical issues addressed by certified arborists in Louisiana. Once you think one of these things is wrong with your tree, call someone with the training and equipment to help!

Tree Diseases

Leaf Rust – Leaf rust is a fungus that is common in both plants and trees. The name comes from the yellow and brown spots this disease causes on the leaves.

Leaf rust is bad because it prevents the leaves’ photosynthesis, the process by which it breathes. Leaf rust can be treated with fungicides and selective trimming of the affected leaves. It could be necessary to remove entire branches with leaf rust.

Witches’ Broom – This disease creates a large clump of twigs, dead leaves and branches that resemble a broom shape. It is caused by pests, unusually wet weather or fungus. The formation of a clump of leaves and twigs is the tree’s reaction to infection or harm.

Some instances of Witches’ Broom are fatal for the tree, while others are simply considered a growth malformation. An arborist can diagnose the problem.

Mildew – Mildew is a type of fungus that grows on just about anything in moist conditions, but even when the wet conditions are gone, mildew can continue to thrive. Mildew appears as a powdery texture, typically white, and it often appears on the leaves of a tree first.

The the best method for treating mildew is to use a fungicide that contains sulfur. This will remove the current mildew and prevent future mildew on the tree. You might also need to trim the tree to remove limbs, fruit, flowers and leaves that have been affected by the mildew

Gall – Gall is a type of tree disease that appears when pests or rodents build small nests on the leaves or twigs of a tree to leave their eggs in. Most types of galls are not dangerous for the tree, but none of them are attractive.

Gall will appear as bumps on the tree, in various sizes. They are often white, brown, gray or some color in between.

It is not necessary to treat the tree if there are galls, but they can inhibit the growth of new trees. Treat galls by killing the pests. You should also clean out from under the tree after the leaves fall off, since this is where the insects live during winter months.

Other Tree Problems

Poor Pruning – There’s an art to tree pruning, as well as many types, and if you don’t know what to do, you could harm the tree past the point of recovery. Consider the type of tree, season and other factors. Under-pruning (or not pruning at all) can be just as big of an issue. Only an experienced arborist should be trusted to prune trees in order to keep them healthy.

Lack of Water – Young trees can be significantly affected by drought. If you plant new trees, you will probably have to supplement the amount of water they get from rainfall. A tree that is not getting enough water can have its growth inhibited. The first symptom you are likely to noticed is scorched or dry leaves. Find more tips for new trees here.

Too Much Sun – Do some research before planting trees in a sunny area. Most types of trees can handle it just fine, but too much sun can become a problem for any tree if the sun is too hot for a long period and rainfall is light. A tree that is getting excessive sun needs even more water to fight against wilting, drooping leaves.

Certified Arborist Services in Louisiana

A trained arborist from LA Tree Trimming will be able to quickly identify what’s happening with your sick tree and formulate a plan to rescue it if at all possible.

Here is what an arborist is trained to do:

• Evaluate trees from below and from the branches of the tree if possible. Climbing into the canopy is typically necessary to identify exactly what is creating the symptoms.
• Treat your tree through fertilizers and additives in the dirt or solutions sprayed on the leaves. The arborist will have expert knowledge about the disease affecting your tree and the best treatments.
• Trim tree limbs to get rid of dead or diseased branches and to assist healthy growth. Even if heavy pruning is necessary, they will know how to cut off branches so that the tree survives both the issue and the trimming.
• Remove the tree from your lawn if there is no chance to save it. The worst case scenario is that the tree is too far gone, and cutting it down is the only way to protect your property and surrounding landscape.

They can also inform you about the other trees that you have om your property and how to best care for them so you don’t return to the same situation in the future.

Some tree diseases look very similar to each other, requiring an expert opinion to correctly diagnose and correct the problem. If your trees are looking dry, disfigured or dying, call a certified arborist from LA Tree Trimming for an inspection before it’s too late.

When it comes to the question, “What time of year is best for tree tree pruning?” The answer can be vague.

The type of tree will dictate when many species can be trimmed, along with insect population and activity, local tree and plant diseases and other species of plants and trees in the yard.

With the help of a professional arborist in Louisiana, you can figure out which season is ideal for trimming your trees to prepare them for success next season and beyond.

Best Season to Trim Trees

Without any other context, LA Tree Trimming recommends pruning trees during the winter. This ranges from November to March in most areas. This season is optimal because trees are mostly dormant, so pruning will lead to a minimal amount of damage, if any.

There are a lot of benefits to trimming trees in the winter:

Less chance of insect damage and disease – Insects and plant diseases are mostly inactive in the winter in Louisiana. Throughout the remainder of the year, anything from insects to fungus can harm a newly pruned tree because the tree is most vulnerable and these issues are more common when there is warmer weather.

Easier to see the shape of the tree when the leaves are gone – Leaves prevent your arborist from seeing the complete shape of your tree. When the tree branches are bare, it is much easier to see dead or diseased limbs and branches that are touching versus those that are just too close to each other.

Trees can heal before spring – By doing this significant tree trimming in the winter, your trees will have several months to rebuild callus tissue on the tips of the remaining branch collar. By the spring season, you’ll hardly be able to tell where the branches were removed, and the tree will be able to devote its energy to produce new, healthier leaves, fruit or flowers rather than healing new cuts.

Less chance of damaging surrounding landscape – Most of the surrounding trees and plants will also be dormant, so there is a lower risk of damaging them. Many times, a tree is surrounded by annual plants in the spring and summer, but there are no plants to be disturbed during the winter since these annuals have already died out.

Do All Trees Need Pruning?

Yes, all trees will benefit from routine trimming. Tree pruning every winter is good for trees, but it is also a precaution for the safety of your property and your family. Let us explain:

Pruning Makes the Tree Stronger

Dead and diseased limbs are removed, as are stubs that are prone to pests and disease. Limbs that can rub against each other are also pruned so they don’t weaken one another or create an open wound on the tree.

Trimming trees every winter is a great way to get an expert’s opinion on your trees so that early warning signs of decay, disease and pest infestations can be identified and responded to immediately.

A Cared-For Tree Serves Its Purpose Better

When a tree becomes overgrown, it starts to be hard for water and nutrients to reach every branch. This can leave the tree looking scraggly and sick and definitely not doing what it’s meant to do.

Pruned trees, on the other hand, produce more fruit, healthier leaves and offer better shade. They are much fuller and healthier and less likely to create landscaping issues. So regardless of why you planted a new tree, pruning each winter will maximize the results you desire from it.

Trees are More Beautiful After Pruning

If the curb appeal of your yard or landscaping is important to you, tree trimming is a necessity! Pruning trees creates an attractive, uniform size and shape. This is very important if you have many identical trees on your property.

Eliminating lower branches and upper branches that grow at awkward angles enhances the overall look of the tree while also strengthening tree health.

Less Risk of Falling Branches

Tree pruning – from an arborist – helps the remaining tree branches to grow healthier and stronger. Therefore, storms and high winds won’t affect your trees the way they would an unkempt tree. Your home and family will be safer living under and around pruned trees.

Another safety issue for overgrown trees is that they can impede the view of traffic lights, road signs and driveways. Tree pruning, crown raising and other professional tree care services will keep the tree at a manageable size and stop it from blocking various views.

Call LA Tree Trimming for Tree Trimming

Working with a professional arborist in Louisiana gives you access to their knowledge on tree pruning. We strongly recommend relying on their years of experience if you have trees on that you’d like to keep healthy for a long time.

An arborist won’t just look at the current situation. Instead, an experienced arborist will take time to research your trees and study their unique scenario (including their location and other factors that could put them at risk of disease or infestation). After collecting all of the information, an arborist will create a long-term plan based on the trees’ needs and stick to that plan until the goals for your trees are achieved.

This plan might require years to implement, but rest assured, it will lead to healthy trees that you and your family can enjoy for generations.

This type of ongoing care will aid in healthy tree growth, help your landscaping resist plant diseases and increase fruit or flower production from trees. It will also fortify your trees so there is less risk of falling trees or limbs.

Being proactive about tree care will save you a lot of money as well. Preventative maintenance is much more cost-effective than paying for emergency tree services, storm damage cleanup or curing an ill tree from a disease that has gotten out of hand (and one that was easily preventable).

If you care about the health of your trees and the beauty of your landscaping, trust a certified arborist for tree pruning and maintenance from LA Tree Trimming. Discover our service area here. We work with arborists across the entire state of Louisiana. Call now!

Tree pruning in Louisiana is an important professional service that can beautify and reinforce trees so they will withstand pests, diseases and severe weather – and look breathtaking while doing it!

Pruning should be completed if you want healthy trees, but it needs to be done properly by someone who has experience in what they’re doing. Like a certified arborist from LA Tree Trimming. You may be able to prune and trim trees safely while they are still small, but you also may be doing permanent harm to the tree.

To safely prune trees, you should know all of the following:

• When to prune your types of trees
• How much of the tree should be pruned at a time
• Where to cut each branch so you do not harm the tree

Pruning too much off of a tree might kill it or lead to structural damage, but minimal trimming done every year benefits trees in many ways. Professional pruning helps to improve the appearance of trees, makes them stronger, eliminates dead or diseased portions and increases fruit or flower production.

For the best results, pruning needs to be done annually, but as trees get older, you may be able to go two years between pruning services. Regardless of how often you have your trees pruned, ensure your arborist is qualified to do the type of tree pruning your trees need. This won’t be an issue if you call LA Tree Trimming in Louisiana!

Types of Tree Pruning Methods

There are 7 different ways to correctly prune a tree so that it grows stronger and healthier each year.

Depending on the size, species and health status of your trees, one pruning method may be more beneficial than another, but each technique has distinct benefits.

Crown Thinning Your Trees

Crown thinning is popular for older, overgrown trees in Louisiana. This technique removes weak branches within the crown of the tree to allow more sunlight and air flow through the crown. Air flow is especially important to help prevent disease.

This pruning method also gets rid of branches that are touching so they do not rub against each other and break or create weakened areas that can be an entry point for insects and pests. Branches that grow at strange angles are typically removed during crown thinning.

Crown Raising Your Trees

This tree pruning method removes branches and limbs at the lowest part of the crown so new limbs start higher up on the trunk. Allowing low branches to get too big makes them very difficult to cut off, and they can pull nutrients away from the top of the tree, which leads to less fruit and a weak tree.

There are many reasons you might choose to raise the crown of a tree. Often, it is done to clear the line of sight for cars and pedestrians, but it can be done to create space for landscaping under the tree.

It is a common technique for overgrown trees that are close to homes and buildings.

Crown Reduction

Crown reduction reduces the overall size of the crown from its exterior edges. It shortens limbs vertically and horizontally to maintain the tree at a certain size. By reducing the size of the crown, you can eliminate the need to chop down the tree because it won’t come into contact with traffic lights, power lines or street lights.

Even if the tree isn’t near structures like those listed above, crown reduction can make the tree look much better because it eliminates irregular growth. This is a good solution for trees that are a variety of ages but you want to look uniform.

Crown Cleaning

Often referred to as deadwood pruning, crown cleaning is a minimally invasive trimming technique that eliminates dead, snapped or diseased limbs so that the remaining sections of the tree may grow normally. These limbs can only create problems over time.

Crown cleaning helps to make the tree look a lot better, and it stops branches from rubbing together. And it is a safety practice that lowers the likelihood of falling branches, since healthy branches rarely fall.

Crown Restoration

Crown restoration is an advanced pruning technique for trees that were severely damaged (either by pests or weather). It must be performed by a certified arborist who knows how the tree is going to grow over time and roughly just how long it’s restoration will take.

Unlike other tree trimming services, crown restoration occurs over a longer period of time with conservative trimming that reshapes the tree. The arborist should have a definitive plan to restore the tree, but also be flexible as the tree grows and reshapes on its own, working with the tree’s new growth.

Vista Pruning

If you are striving for trees to help improve curb appeal, you are actually interested in vista pruning. The goal of vista pruning is to make the tree more aesthetically pleasing from a particular viewing point.

It encompasses many pruning techniques including crown thinning, crown cleaning and crown reduction – any technique that makes the trees look prettier. Remember, though, that a professional is not going to sacrifice the health of a tree, so the primary focus of vista pruning is still to create strong, healthy trees.

Espalier Pruning

Espaliered trees are heavily pruned to grow flat against walls or a trellis. It is a unique style of pruning that will draw a lot of attention to your landscape. Espalier pruning has to begin when the tree is very young and then continued very consistently throughout the tree’s life span.

of espalier pruning include facilitating maximum sunlight to reach the trees, as well as making it exceptionally easier to harvest fruit.

Professional Tree Pruning in Louisiana

Tree trimming can be harmful to a tree, your landscaping, and, of course, for you! LA Tree Trimming highly encourages professional tree pruning over DIY.

Aside from the many dangers of tree trimming, you can do a lot of damage to a tree if you don’t know how to trim it properly. Excessive pruning is one of the most common mistakes made by homeowners caring for their own trees.

Trees in Louisiana that get routine care from a professional are usually much better off, and hiring an experienced arborist from LA Tree Trimming to trim trees on your property is a decision you won’t regret. Locate your city in our service area. We work with arborists throughout the entire state of Louisiana!

Planting a tree on your property has several benefits. Trees give much-needed summer shade, filter contaminated air and increase curb appeal and property value. Everyone should plant trees.

Once full-grown, most trees are simple to maintain: another benefit! Trees are strong and tend to grow with minimal care. But, if you want to help your trees achieve their maximum potential, they need more effort.

Lack of care for young trees might result in rotting, disease, under watering or pest issues.

The good news is that tree care isn’t all that complicated, but you do need a little information to do it right. Familiarize yourself with the new trees you plant in order to know exactly what they need to succeed. Then properly care for them and watch them flourish.

Below, we’ll explain the five best tips for planting a new tree and seeing it thrive. You likely are familiar with the basics, so let’s dive a little deeper and explain how to complete each step.

Tree Care Tips for New Trees

These tips will not only keep your trees alive, they’ll help them grow faster, resist extreme winds, fight off diseases and pests and create more leaves, flowers or fruit.

Water Your Tree

New trees need more water than grown ones. The trees you plant on your property are no exception.

The root ball of the tree and the soil surrounding it need be kept moist, but don’t let it get soaked, because this might cause the roots to rot.

The popular recommendation is 4-10 gallons of water every week. Rain water counts, and although it’s challenging to have an exact reading, a rain gauge can get you close enough to add the remaining gallons. Your new trees will need this much water for the initial 2-3 growing seasons.

Mulch Around Your Trees

Mulch is more than an attractive landscaping product. It also helps protect new trees, especially the roots. But laying mulch the wrong way can sometimes result in rotting and decay – so much so, that it’s possible that the new tree will not survive.

Place mulch 3 inches away from the tree trunk and spread it around to cover the ground underneath the longest limb. For brand new trees, this won’t be very far, but as the tree continues to grow, your mulch area will continue to grow substantially.

Keep the mulch 2 to 4 inches thick in all areas. Be attentive in keeping it spread out consistently and away from the trunk of the tree so it does not stop air flow around the trunk.

Fertilize Around Your Tree

Fertilizer provides many nutrients your land’s soil might not have naturally. Most young trees will benefit from fertilizing, but you have to be using the correct products and doing it at the right time for fertilizer to be most impactful.

The perfect time of year to fertilize is during early spring. Sometimes early summer provides good conditions (mild temperatures and wet soil), but don’t count on it.

If you aren’t sure about which fertilizer to use, speak to a tree care professional for advice. Slow-release fertilizers are usually a good idea because they feed your trees over time rather than all right away.

Follow through with these things in the initial growing seasons after planting a tree, and then reevaluate your watering, mulching and fertilizing as the tree gets older. As seasons go on, there will be additional tree care projects that become more important for young trees.

Prune Your Tree

Tree pruning is very important – but very challenging – in the first years after planting a tree. As the tree grows bigger, you will start to see many little branches take off, trying to become the tree’s trunk. While you may think this shows that the tree is healthy and that it is growing well, it can actually result in a very weak tree as time goes on.

Early trimming helps to shape the tree into what it will look like when it becomes much larger. As small limbs emerge from the lower trunk, they need to be removed so they don’t pull water and nutrients from the upper branches.

As long as there are trees growing somewhere on your property, they need to be pruned regularly. When the trees get too big for you to prune them safely, you can trust LA Tree Trimming to do the job for you.

Monitor Your Tree

Growing trees are at the most risk for damage, disease and insect problems. But you’re never completely safe from these things. As your tree grows older, monitor it carefully for evidence of disease or poor nutrition, including the following:

• Leaf color changing out of season, especially leaves turning yellow or brown
• Early leaf drop, despite whether these leaves appear healthy or diseased
• Withering, even with adequate watering
• Individual limbs dying
• Peeling bark

These signals indicate a health issue. It is probably going to require professional maintenance if your hope is to keep the tree alive. A certified arborist can identify the issue by simply looking at your tree, although they will do testing if deemed necessary.

If you catch the issue quick enough, you will likely be able to save the tree from dying. Being proactive is the best way to protect your new trees.

The tips above are simple but effective. Don’t underestimate the importance of the basics! When your new trees have pruning, fertilizer and more,, combined with sunshine and barring severe, damaging weather, the odds are good that they will survive and look beautiful!

Of course, you could already have a lot on your plate and don’t really want to take on these additional tasks. In most cases, property owners don’t have the ability to give their growing trees the appropriate care.

Whatever the situation, it’s ok to contact a professional for caring for new trees. A certified arborist in Louisiana can advise you about the course of care for each tree species you plant on your land. They enjoy sharing their expertise and skills with people planting new trees, and can make the difference between trees that struggle and trees that thrive.

Call LA Tree Trimming now for information on routine tree care in Louisiana – including tree trimming – for newer trees and older trees. A local tree service will determine the best plan for your trees! Locate your city in our service area here.