Trees with Grassy Areas Soften Summer Heat

Trees on a suburban streetStudy on the cooling effect of black locust and linden trees in from Technical Univ. of Munich

Trees cool the environment; however, the degree of cooling depends greatly on the tree species and the local conditions. In a recent study, scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) compared two species of urban trees – the black locust and linden. Read More

Diseases of Pine Trees

Article by John Fech from March 14, 2018 Tree Service Magazine

Pines grow in most every state of the U.S., and are planted for many reasons. They offer year-round color, protect homes from wind and snow, subtle fragrance, harborage for wildlife and a great backdrop to help show off ornamentals planted in front of them. Unfortunately, they are susceptible to several maladies.

It’s important to keep pines viable by providing good tree care especially in two areas, separating trees from turf and proper planting procedures. These basic, but foundational factors are all-important and should always be a reference point when diagnosing tree maladies such as ones on pines. Read More

Paper Birch & Douglasfir: An Odd Relationship

Blog on Arbor Day Foundation website – written by James R. Fazio – February 15, 2018

Trees in a forest are usually thought of as fierce competitors, each struggling for control of available light and soil moisture, usually at the expense of neighboring trees. But Canadian researcher Suzanne W. Simard and her colleagues found that Paper Birch trees can actually aid their neighboring Douglasfirs. Read More

Sycamore Trees And Frost Crack From Winter Temps

Blog edited from Tree Services Magazine article by VIC FOERSTER — FEBRUARY 7, 2018

A couple of weeks ago, local temperatures were quite frigid. During a similar stretch of severe weather up in west Michigan, most of their sycamore trees across town literally exploded. As a species, sycamores retain a great deal of water. The water within the wood can freeze to the point where the expansion in the wood cells causes tree trunks to burst. Read More

Turf and Tree Wars*

* Shared from Tree Services Magazine article by Sharon Lilly from 1/1/13

There may be a battle brewing on your property between your trees grass. Trees and turf tend to be mutually exclusive in nature; you don’t see many trees growing in the prairies or grasslands as you may have noticed that grass is not common on the forest floor.

Our urban landscapes represent an unnatural ecosystem in which we force two somewhat incompatible plant types together and expect optimum performance from each. Trees and turf compete for sunlight, water, mineral nutrients and growing space below ground. Turf roots typically outcompete tree roots and win the belowground battle. However, the dense shade of a tree’s crown can be too much competition for turf, and trees win the aerial war. Read More

Fall Foliage Report for Maryland: November 4-5

In November we’re starting to think of oyster dressing, pumpkin pie and turkey dinners, despite the fairly mild temperatures and presence of still-green leaves on many Maryland trees. While the leaves are past peak and have even started to drop in western Maryland, the brilliant orange, scarlet and yellow foliage is coming on strong in central Maryland and the mid-Eastern Shore. Read More

Tough Locations for Trees

Even after a tree is selected and installed based on the site conditions of sun, shade, soil drainage, proximity to other trees and shrubs, nutrient availability, desired size, slope, surroundings, adjacent activity and more, it can fail to thrive.

Sometimes that’s because the tree wasn’t chosen well and sometimes it’s because it wasn’t planted well. But even more critical to the tree’s success is where it was planted. A tree’s proper location usually will determine whether it becomes an asset or detriment to the landscape. Read More

Anatomy of a Tree

A diagram showing the inner layers of a treeThe Inside Story

  1. The outer bark is the tree’s protection from the outside world. Continually renewed from within, it helps keep out moisture in the rain, and prevents the tree from losing moisture when the air is dry. It insulates against cold and heat and wards off insect enemies.
  2. The inner bark, or “phloem”, is pipeline through which food is passed to the rest of the tree. It lives for only a short time, then dies and turns to cork to become part of the protective outer bark.
  3. The cambium cell layer is the growing part of the trunk. It annually produces new bark and new wood in response to hormones that pass down through the phloem with food from the leaves. These hormones, called “auxins”, stimulate growth in cells. Auxins are produced by leaf buds at the ends of branches as soon as they start growing in spring.
  4. Sapwood is the tree’s pipeline for water moving up to the leaves. Sapwood is new wood. As newer rings of sapwood are laid down, inner cells lose their vitality and turn to heartwood.
  5. Heartwood is the central, supporting pillar of the tree. Although dead, it will not decay or lose strength while the outer layers are intact. A composite of hollow, needlelike cellulose fibers bound together by a chemical glue called lignin, it is in many ways as strong as steel. A piece 12″ long and 1″ by 2″ in cross section set vertically can support a weight of twenty tons!

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Bacterial Tree Ooze: How To Identify

Slime spotted on trees is known as bacterial ooze. There are different types of bacterial ooze, and they’re not very well studied. Bacterial ooze can easily go unnoticed. At its most basic they form when a tree gets damaged and subsequently infected with bacteria. In certain circumstances if the bacteria is able to feed on the tree sap and nothing prevents it from multiplying it will eventually form this slime. Read More