Don’t Get Caught Up a Tree

Tree Care Is Crucial for New Homeowners

Purchasing a new home is a life event. Rarely is there anything more exciting than calling a house your forever home. And once it’s yours, you try everything in your power to make it appealing to the eye—both inside and out. Take planting trees, for instance. Adding trees to your yard is an excellent way to increase your property’s value and improve your curb appeal. But caring for young trees takes some work. Just like a toddler, the first five years of a tree’s life are the most important. With this in mind, we’d like to share our tree experience. Here are some guidelines that will help your trees blossom from early planting through old age.

Starting Your Tree Family

So, you’ve bought a house and you want to start planting some trees. Where do you begin? If you’ve purchased your house in spring, your timing is perfect. Early spring is the optimal time to plant young saplings—just be sure to wait until the ground is thawed. Once the ground is thawed and the soil is drained, you can start planting.

Here are some planting tips:

• Inspect saplings for broken or injured roots, trim off any damaged roots.
• Plant trees in thawed, rich soil.
• Water your young tree daily. (If roots are extra dry, soak the tree in a pail of water for a day prior to planting.)
• Inspect the soil daily for the next four to six weeks—making sure it remains moist.
• To conserve moisture, add mulch to the base of the plant.
• Keep chemicals, such as lawn treatments, away from young saps.
• Be careful when mowing or weed whacking near your new tree.

As your sapling begins to grow, continue watering it on a consistent basis. While fertilizer is not typically needed during the first year, regular watering certainly is. It is also a good idea to keep a bed of mulch covering the base of the young tree. Locking moisture around your tree’s base will only help it grow and will also deter weeds from growing over the roots.

The Early Tree Years

As your tree begins to develop and blossom during its first few years, you’ll want to keep monitoring it for healthy growth. Just remember that while it’s young, pruning should be limited to simple removal of dead or broken branches—nothing else. You don’t want to prune a young tree for fear of traumatizing its early growth. As it ages and you see a need for pruning, it is best to call a professional tree service such as Absolute Tree for expert advice and service on trimming limbs. We can help your tree with its development so it lives a long, healthy life. Don’t take trimming into your own hands. You’d hate to see an amateur mistake result in permanent tree damage!

Easy, Breezy Tree Care

As your trees age and continue to flourish, it’s a good idea to consider annual tree care maintenance from a reputable tree service company such as Absolute Tree. Our tree maintenance covers such care as pruning, trimming, deep root fertilization and insect protection. Plus, our experts are trained, certified, highly skilled arborists who perform quality service so your home is always safe. Call Absolute Tree at 703-969-6207 anytime for free estimates and excellent service!