Planting a tree on your land has several benefits. Trees give summer shade, filter polluted air and increase curb appeal. Everyone should plant trees.
Once full-grown, trees are easy to maintain: another benefit! They are strong and tend to continue growing even with minimal care. However, if you want to help your trees reach their potential, they need a little more effort.
Lack of care for growing trees could cause rotting, disease, under watering or pest problems.
Fortunately, tree care isn’t very complicated, but you do need a little information to do it correctly. Research the new trees you plant to know exactly what they need to succeed. Then care for them and watch them flourish.
Here, we’ll outline the five best tips for planting a new tree and seeing it grow. You probably know the basics, so we’ll dive deeper and explain how to perform each step.
Tree Care Tips for New Trees
These five tips will not only help keep trees alive, they’ll help them to grow much faster, withstand damaging gusts of wind, fight off diseases ,insects and pests and create more leaves, flowers or fruit.
Water Your Tree
New trees need a lot more water than older ones. The trees you plant are no exception.
The root of the tree and the soil around it have to be kept moist, but don’t let it get too wet, because this might cause some of the roots to rot.
The rule of thumb is 4-10 gallons of water every week. This includes rain water, and although it’s hard to get an exact reading, a rain gauge can get you close enough to supplement the remaining gallons. Your trees need this much water for the first 2-3 growing seasons.
Mulch Around Your Trees
Mulch is more than an attractive lawn care product. It helps protect new trees, especially the roots underground. But laying mulch incorrectly can cause 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 completely cover the ground underneath the longest horizontal branch. For new trees, this isn’t going to be very far, but as the tree grows, your mulch area will continue to grow as well.
Keep the mulch at least 2 to 4 inches thick in all areas. Be attentive in keeping it spread out consistently and far enough away from the trunk of the tree so it does not impede air flow around the tree trunk.
Fertilize Around Your Tree
Fertilizer provides many nutrients that your soil may not naturally have. Most young trees can benefit from fertilizing, but you need to use the correct products and do it at the right time in order for fertilizer to be most impactful.
The best time to fertilize is early spring. Sometimes early summer provides good conditions (comfortable temperatures and moist soil), but don’t count on it.
If you are unsure about which fertilizer to use, speak to a tree care specialist for advice. Slow-release fertilizers are usually a good idea because they feed trees over time rather than all at once.
Follow through with these tasks in the initial growing seasons after planting a new tree, and then reevaluate your watering, mulching and fertilizing as the tree grows larger. As time goes on, there will be additional tree care tasks that become more important for your young trees.
Trim Your Tree
Tree trimming is very important – but very challenging – in the initial years after planting a new tree. As the tree grows, you may see many little branches take off, trying to become the tree’s trunk. You may think this shows that the tree is healthy and growing well, but it can actually result in a weak tree in the future.
Early pruning helps to shape the tree into what it is going to ultimately look like when it gets much larger. As small branches emerge from the lower trunk, they have to be cut off so they don’t suck water and nutrients away from the branches at the top.
So long as there are trees growing somewhere on your property, they need to be trimmed routinely. When the trees get too big for you to trim them safely, you can count on CT Tree Trimming to do the job for you.
Monitor Your Tree
New trees are at the highest risk for damage, disease and insect issues. But you’re never truly 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 brown or yellow
- Early leaf falling, despite whether these leaves appear healthy or diseased
- Withering, regardless of proper watering
- Individual branches or limbs dying
- Bark peeling off
These signals likely mean a health issue. The tree is likely going to need professional care if your plan is to save the tree. A certified arborist can typically diagnose the issue by just looking at your tree, although they will perform testing if deemed necessary.
If you determine the problem quick enough, you will likely be able to save the tree. Being proactive is the best way to protect new trees.
The steps above are basic but effective. Don’t underestimate the importance of the basics! When new trees have pruning, fertilizer and more,, combined with some sunshine and barring severe, damaging weather, the chances are good that they will survive and will look wonderful too!
Of course, you could already have a full schedule and don’t want to be responsible for these additional tasks. In most cases, property owners don’t have the ability to give their new trees the necessary maintenance.
No matter the situation, it’s ok to contact a professional for caring for new trees. A certified arborist in Connecticut can consult with you about the course of care for each tree species you plant on your property. Arborists enjoy sharing their expertise and skills with people planting brand new trees, and can make the difference between trees that struggle and trees thriving.
Call CT Tree Trimming now for information on routine tree care in Connecticut – including tree trimming – for newer trees and old trees. A local tree service can determine the best plan for your trees! Locate your city in our service area here.
