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Tree Surgery - 5 top tips for tree maintenance

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Mika, Staff Writer

Thursday, 27 May 2021

Tree maintenance

Trees help to give your home curb appeal whilst also adding a degree of privacy. This can increase the value of your property, as well as enhancing your quality of life. But regular tree maintenance is required to keep your trees in the best of health.

Here are our five top tips for tree care, ensuring that your trees will continue to thrive for many years to come. Finding tree care too tricky? Why not hire a professional tree surgeon instead? It's a faster and safer way to get the job done.

1. Know when to water

You won't have a chance of maintaining a healthy and happy tree without knowing when to water it and when to leave it alone. Most trees will need to be watered regularly when they are young as their roots won’t become fully established until around a year.

If the weather is dry, a young tree will need to be watered a few times a week, making sure that you use enough water for it to reach down to the tree’s root system. If a drought continues, more established trees may also need to be watered to avoid dehydration.

2. Give mulching a try

Another essential part of tree maintenance is mulching! Adding mulch to your tree can provide slow-release fertilization whilst helping the soil to retain moisture and suppressing weeds. Mulches which contain old wood chips, leaf mold, or well-rotted manure are ideal for giving to your tree.

Place the mulch in a doughnut shape around the tree trunk. It should be around four inches deep but should not touch the tree trunk itself as it could cause rotting. You can repeat this every spring for optimal tree health.

3. Don’t forget weeding

As well as looking untidy, weeds compete for soils, moisture, and light. Although weeds won’t usually affect older and more established trees, they can be extremely detrimental to younger trees that are trying to establish a strong root system. That's why weeding should be a regular part of your tree maintenance routine.

Aim to keep around a three-foot diameter weed-free around each tree by removing weeds each spring. This will give your trees the best possible chance of thriving throughout the year.

4. Know the best time to prune a tree

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Pruning a tree involves removing dead branches and reducing the size of the tree. This can help the tree to give more energy to growing flowers or fruits, as well as optimizing the size of your garden and the light available.

However, it’s important to know the right time of year to prune your trees, as well as the right way of doing it. Some trees will need to be pruned in spring whilst others need to be pruned in fall. Pruning your tree at the wrong time of year could result in disease taking over the tree or the tree’s health suffering.

5. Hire a Tree Surgeon

For professional tree maintenance, we’d always suggest hiring a tree surgeon or tree maintenance company. They know the best way to care for and maintain each type of tree, ensuring that they have the nutrients they need to thrive.

If you’re ready to hire a Tree Surgeon to perform tree maintenance in your garden, you can hire one on Bark.

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