Our Top 4 Tips for Spring Tree Care

As the weather begins to brighten, temperatures start rising and the trees start blooming—it’s safe to say that we are finally in the midst of spring. There’s no better time than now to get outside and prepare your garden for the spring and summer seasons so it can flourish, thrive and achieve its maximum potential. Ben & Annie’s Trees for Tomorrow cares about maintaining trees all year round, which is why we’ve come up with our top 4 spring tree care tips to check the condition and health of your trees—helping them look and feel their absolute best throughout the upcoming months.

Inspect your trees for overall health

Trees have an extremely resilient nature and inner intelligence that allow them to go dormant during bitter cold periods of winter and, like clockwork, wake up when spring finally brings warmer temperatures. Despite this, during the winter months, your trees and shrubs can become damaged due to the extreme weather—such as sleet, snow, rain and freezing temperatures. When giving your landscape a spring clean, you should try and remember to take a close look at your trees and shrubs for any damage. Look for dead wood, frostbite, or lesions on leaves—then prune away any dead, damaged or diseased limbs. If you’re unsure about the severity of any damage, or if you need guidance in pruning, it may be a good idea to contact a certified arborist near you. 

Pay attention to the soil

Watering your trees during the winter months when the soil is frozen can lead to runoff as the water cannot absorb into the soil properly. As the weather starts to get warmer in the lead up to the spring and summer seasons and the soil has thawed, there’s no better time to start watering your trees to encourage good leaf and shoot development. Additionally, it’s important to monitor moisture levels to make sure your trees don’t dry out—so it’s a good idea to check soil moisture once a week 4 to 6 inches below the surface, and ideally, the soil should be moist but not wet. Spring is an excellent time to check on the sprinkler system too, ensuring it’s working properly and that the coverage is accurate.

Check mulch levels

Your mulching efforts at the start of spring will help retain moisture, even if the temperatures drop to extreme levels as they can do during the unpredictable spring. Mulching has many other benefits, including weed prevention and lessening the likelihood of attacks from borers, ants and beetles. Three inches of mulch is all you need, but be sure to avoid piling mulch on tree trunks to prevent “mulch volcanoes”, which appear as a heaping pile of mulch around the base of the tree. Additionally, laying mulch around the trunk while leaving the root crown exposed can help keep ivy and other troublesome weeds from returning. 

Remove weeds and excess debris around the base

Weeds can compete with the tree for water and nutrients, so make sure to remove any that you come across—and spring is the perfect time to do so, as the dirt is still soft from the rain. To get rid of any excess debris, use a rake to collect and remove leaves, twigs or fruit beneath the trees—as these can become an ideal breeding ground for fungal growth. 

Spring is not only an incredible time to look after your existing trees, but it also provides the perfect opportunity to plant new ones, too. For expert advice on where, when and how to plant a new tree properly, it’s best to get in touch with a certified arborist. As we exit the cooler months and step into spring, we can help our trees thrive by following even just a few routine steps. Maintaining your trees and planting new ones result in endless advantages for the environment, and it’s essential to care about the health and conservation of trees. At Ben & Annie’s Trees for Tomorrow, we make it our mission to expand knowledge about the importance of trees to promote a more sustainable, revolutionary way to build. For more information, feel free to contact us online at any time or give us a call at (210) 670-5297.