Anybody can spot a healthy lawn. But how do you know if a tree or shrub is healthy?
Trees are incredibly resilient. They store reserve food in their roots for when times are lean. They can live off these reserves for years – but eventually, a tree that does not get nutrition consistently will slowly weaken. When a tree is stressed and in decline, insects know it – and attack it.
Landscape trees have it rough. You would think it’s the other way around; but, in the wild, a tree replenishes its nutrition with the decomposing leaves that fall from it. In the landscape, we rake up those leaves every year and remove them. A tree’s root zone can spread along the surface some 30 feet from the trunk. If that surface is lawn, the turf grass consumes all of the fertilizer applied to it, leaving nothing for the tree.
Deep root fertilization is the answer. A key component of our tree and shrub care program is deep root fertilization. Because a healthy tree is able to resist insects and disease better, it’s important to give the tree all the nutrition it needs. We inject a specialized liquid fertilizer directly into the root zone underneath the tree, bypassing turf grass and other competing surface roots.
Different than lawn fertilizer. Liquid tree fertilizer has more phosphorus than lawn fertilizers, because trees require more phosphorus for root and flower development. Also, trees are slower on the uptake of nutrients in the soil. We soil inject our fertilizer twice a year – as opposed to six times per year for turf. Root zones also need oxygen to grow more roots. Aeration is another benefit of liquid soil injection. Injecting liquid lifts the soil providing air pockets. Think of it as sort of a low pressure hydro-fracking!
Shrubs too. We talk about trees, but your flowering shrubs will benefit a lot from deep root fertilization. The high phosphorus will create strong roots and vibrant flowers.
If you’re not taking advantage of our Tree and Shrub Care program, call us today for a free appraisal of your landscape plants!