Preventing injury in your home’s landscape trees

By Derek Scasta One of the most common calls I get as a county agent is from homeowners concerned about their shade trees. Generally, the caller has a tree that is exhibiting symptoms such as browning leaves, sloughing bark, oozing sap on the trunk, development of canker or lesions, etc. Today I want to provide some tips for being proactive about preventing damage in trees and optimizing their ability to survive. 1. Plant trees that are recommended and adapted to this area as these trees will have more tolerance for the environmental conditions and disease/insect pressures. 2. Avoid damage to the roots and lower portions of the trunk to avoid root disease and rot; this includes weedeating, laying pipe/lines, new sidewalks, etc. 3. Paint over wounds from pruning using a pruning paint; this prevents disease from entering the... [read full story]