Why I Oughta...

Every November, since 2020, we've had a dormant deep-root fertilizer application on all of our trees and shrubs from the team at Davey.  They arrived in mid-November (just like past years) and had enough hose (they had to come back 3x because the hose wasn't long enough) to apply ArborGreenPro to everything in the front and backyard.   Here's 2022 post showing the application .  Does this stuff do anything?  I'm not sure.  But, I'm choosing to believe it does.  But, I'm just *a little* skeptical .   These photos were taken on November 10th - as you can tell based on the foliage and colors. 

Just a few days ago, I posted some photos showing a large amount (at least...it FEELS like a large amount) of Northern Red Oak acorns that are coming down in late July/early August this season.   In that post, I mentioned that it was time to document in the [garden diary] an inventory of what the canopy of the tree-swing tree (Northern Red Oak) looks like in early August. This tree was (I think) troubled and as a result, we started it on a course of treatment.  That included the application of a three-year growth regulator.  And, annual applications of a deep-root fertilizer and of some Two-Lined Chestnut borer treatment .   We've now done three-years of treatments on the tree. The growth regulator appeared to help and the tree seemed to have a different outlook after just one year .   I've been trying to document the canopy of the tree over the years - the last time was in Fall of 2022 when it was turning orange and brown .   The tree has (it appears to the eye) put on new,

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a couple of photos that showed the process of how the arborists at Davey Tree Services are treating our Northern Red Oak trees with a solution to inoculate them against something called the Two-lined Chestnut borer with a deep-soil-injected solution around the footprint of the canopy of the two Oak trees in our backyard.  That's the first application of the season that has been - for the past two seasons - come before the application of a liquid soil-probe-application fertilizer treatment for all our trees and shrubs.   Starting in 2020, we've worked with Davey to apply something called Arbor Green Pro to every tree and shrub in our yard.   Here's the post showing the 2020 treatment in late October . Here's the post showing the 2021 treatment in mid-November . The crew arrived and set up the long hose line from their tanker truck at the curb all the way to the back of the yard.   You can see in the photos that they apply the treatment

As I've posted about numerous times over the years, we have a couple of mature Oak trees in our backyard that we've worked at keeping alive - and happy - through treatments and fertilizer.  This is the third season that we've had a Two-Lined Chestnut application applied to them in the Fall as a preventive measure against a (potentially) invasive border . Here, below, is the Davey truck when it arrived to treat our Oaks: Here, below, is the paperwork from Davey: Here's a post from the City of Lake Forest up on the North Shore that talks about why they recommend treatment .  Knowing that one of our oaks has been troubled, it was recommended that we treat it to inoculate the tree against an infestation.   I have NO idea if this stuff works, but I think I'll keep applying it in the coming years. 

Putting a photo of the large Red Oak tree - the tree swing tree - in the garden diary here to show a little look at the Fall show that the tree is putting on during the first week in November.  You can see in the photo below that the tree is a mix of green and yellow and has held much of the leaves still on the limbs this late in the season - which is typical for this tree and Oaks in general.   I posted a similar photo a year ago - in early November - where the same tree had already lost many of the leaves for the season.   For tracking in the [ tree diary ], I noted that both of our large, mature Red Oak trees had dropped ALL of their leaves by mid/late November last year .  Will be tracking if foliar marcescence will persist this year like it did in 2019.  Here's a photo all the way into December when this tree had leaves clinging to the branches . An additional note about this tree - it didn't produce any acorns this season.  Or, at least, it hasn't dropped any acorn

Late last Summer, we had Davey Arborists apply a three-year growth regulator to some of our large, mature trees that appeared to be in decline due to stress .  That stress was due to construction of our house (I believe) and the disturbance of the roots from cutting and such.  After doing some research on growth regulators, I thought it was worth a shot to apply this stuff to some of the large trees in prime locations of our yard.   And, what's happened?  We've seen some pretty incredible improvement in the trees.  They're growing thicker, more-full and darker green leaves all over the main limbs of the trees.  We had this growth regulator applied to both an Oak and a Maple.  The difference in the Oak tree is clear.  Below, you can see what that tree looks like now in 2021 on the left.  And what it looked like a year ago on the right.  More full, more dense growth all over the existing limbs. On the Norway Maple in the front, the growth regulator's impact isn't as

The second step in our process with the arborist from Davey is feeding the trees.  We started with applying growth regulator to the two most vulnerable trees (Norway Maple in Front and Red Oak in back) in late September .   Recently the guys came back out for step two:  applying fertilizer. In Davey's case, it is called Arbor Green Pro - a one year application that they fed to both large Oaks in back and the Maple up front.  Here's the Davey team applying the fert - around the area of the tree canopy.  It was raining, but he still went ahead with injecting it right into the ground.  What is Arbor Green Pro?  From their site :   The description says that it can last 'up to 2 years'.  But, what the guy told me was: every year. We have one more application to just the Oaks before Winter that I'll post about when it occurs. 

Earlier this year, I posted a photo showing some of the canopy deterioration of the Norway Maple in our front yard - right outside of our front porch.  The tree seems to be suffering from some damage due to construction and digging around the roots.  We specifically moved the house back to save this tree, so seeing the parts of the tree going dead has me concerned.  Then in August, I posted a photo of a large limb that went down during the Derecho storm .  So, it was time to call in the experts.   I had an arborist from Davey come out and give us a plan to help this tree.  And one in the back.  It includes a pruning in late Fall/early Winter once the tree has shed all of it's leaves.  But, it also includes a three year growth regulator treatment.   In the photo below, you can see the technician boring holes in and around the base of the tree where he was set to apply the growth regulator called Cambistat .   He mixed up a container for our front yard Norway Maple (21") and o