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Keeping our natural surroundings healthy and beautiful
Tree workers seem a dime a dozen these days. You will understand why once you understand the importance of tree care. Tree care isn’t just about the maintenance of tree health. It is about encouraging trees to thrive in the confines that human urbanisation has placed upon them. Proper maintenance of trees ensures that houses, infrastructure, and people can safely exist surrounded by our natural habitat. This has the added benefit of minimising human impacts to the health of the trees.
Benefits of Trees
Trees have this incredible ability to invoke a sense of calm and serenity within their human admirers. Their enduring presence commands a sense of emotional connection that can draw communities together in protest of their removal, highlighting the deep bond between humans and their leafy habitat. Studies have shown that urban landscapes with significant green spaces have fewer instances of crime1, traffic2 and workplace stress3 compared to spaces devoid of trees.
This brings us back to the importance of tree care, properly maintained trees can provide communities with architectural and engineering functions. Trees provide privacy and can screen out less favourable views of surrounds, they may also serve to enhance the surrounding vista. In addition, trees provide wildlife habitats in our urban settings, a purpose particularly valuable, given our Australian fauna.
Of course, we can’t discuss the benefits of trees without touching on the most obvious and, potentially most important of their advantages; environmental improvements. Reduction in pollution, control of stormwater runoff, moderation of extreme sun, wind, and rain to name a few. We could be here all day delving into exactly how trees impact our environment in a positive way. To summarise, more trees mean a healthier environment.
Importance of Tree Pruning
With all these positive impacts that trees bring to us, it stands to reason that the right care can enhance the health and prolong the lifespan of a tree in our urban environment.
Pruning is one of the most common tree care practices, done properly, regular pruning can selectively remove defective branches, improve overall tree structure, prevent tear-outs and reduce the risk the tree may pose on nearby property. Done badly, pruning can have detrimental impacts on the health and structure of the tree, causing canopy imbalance, limb weaknesses and pest or fungus damage, making the tree hazardous to anything within the vicinity.
When pruning mature trees, it is important to remember that minimising the impact to the tree is essential. Ideally, pruning should never remove more than 25% of the live canopy, aiming for regular smaller prunes. This gives the tree time to heal each time and is more beneficial than waiting and requiring a huge amount of work. Trees are living organisms and pruning opens wounds in the wood, just like how humans expend extra energy to heal after an injury, so do trees.
Of course, the regularity of pruning entirely depends on the type of tree, the environment it is growing in and the climate. If it has been a particularly wet season, your tree may have grown faster than usual, or conversely, if it has been dry, your tree may not require the removal of live wood, however there could be greater need to remove dead or dying branches.
Citations:
- Shepley M, Sachs N, Sadatsafavi H, Fournier C, Peditto K. The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environments: An Evidence Synthesis. (2019). Int J Environ Res Public Health;16(24):5119. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16245119.
- Naderi, Jody & Kweon, Byoung-Suk & Maghelal, Praveen. (2008). The street tree effect and driver safety. ITE Journal on the Web. 78. 69-73.
- Berman MG, Jonides J, Kaplan S. The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. (2008). Psychol Sci; 19(12):1207-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.
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]]>Brisbane and the surrounding areas are renowned for having streets and parks filled with flourishing trees and vegetation. There is an abundance of benefits from trees, including the provision of food and habitat for our local wildlife and birds, shade and oxygen. For the most part, leaving a tree alone to do what it does best is the ideal approach, however, our urban environment significantly restricts our ability to do this. If you are looking to make a solid contribution to our amazing ecosystem, below are 6 tips for healthy trees.
1. Mulch around the base of your trees
Apply a 3-10 cm layer of good quality mulch around the base of your trees. The mulch should start a few centimetres away from the base of the trunk and extend to the drip line (or at least up to 1 metre). Using a combination of woody & grassy mixture will enhance the soil, prevent weeds and preserve moisture.
2. Keep a watchful eye out for diseases
You do not need to be an expert to know there is something a little off about your trees. Keep an eye out for blotchy leaves, insect activity, scabs and blisters, unusual defoliation or yellowing. Once observed, we recommend that you call upon the experts to identify the exact cause to prescribe the appropriate management to correct the problem.
3. Watch the whipper snipper
Mowers and whipper snippers can be enemies for trees, chipping the bark and creating wounds which make an entry point for diseases. Be careful when your are doing yard maintenance around the roots and trunk of your trees. We recommend staying well away from the area, although not always acheivable not mowing below the canopy is the best guide. We are, however, realists and 1 metre away from tree bases should suffice.
4. Protect tree roots
Parking your car under a tree, or driving machinery over the root system can cause soil compaction. Compaction of the soil is detrimental to a tree by reducing oxygen levels and can decrease soil drainage. Over time, it will eventually kill your tree. The root system of a tree can extend much further than the drip line of the tree, and the larger the tree..the bigger the root system.
5. Call in an expert to prune your trees
In addition to your own safety, arborists are a qualified professional who knows the specifics on requirements for different tree species. Harsh or over-pruning can promote regrowth which springs back quickly and weaker. Experts can eliminate crossing branches that rub against each other creating wounds, and remove dead and broken branches. They will also be happy to impart as much knowledge as possible with you to help keep the tree in tip-top shape!
6. Water Effectively
Our final of the 6 tips for healthy trees is a tricky one. Watering is a very nuanced science and can be impacted by a range of other factors. Overwatering can be as detrimental as underwatering and many factors such as environmental conditions, soil health and composition and sunlight hours can impact how much you water your trees1. Try doing some research on what kind of trees you have to determine how drought tolerant they are. Larger and more mature trees may not need much assistance, however, South East Queensland can be prone to extreme and prolonged high temperatures which may affect all trees. We recommend monitoring your tree health and adjusting your watering schedule accordingly, if there has been lots of rain, it goes without saying, you probably don’t need to think about watering, but keep an eye on your soil drainage and seek advice if your garden is not draining effectively. Similarly, if we are having a dry season and you can see that your trees are suffering, ensure you keep up the water in a responsible manner – watering at night and mulching to keep water in the soil more effectively.
Read more about why tree care is important here.
Citations
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]]>The inner city areas of Brisbane are renowned for their leafy trees lined streets, parks and back yards. However, trees provide numerous other benefits that might not be readily apparent. Cosmetically they soften the harsh lines of inner city living, screening off walls of concrete and steel and provide a sense of tranquillity and security.
Socially, research has shown that in suburbs that are leafy there is reduced crime. A study was carried out in America that showed that there were health benefits to having urban green spaces, including lowering blood pressure. Many hospitals now include gardens onsite to aid in rehabilitation.
The environmental benefits are many and varied with the most obvious being the habitat that they provide to wildlife and biodiversity. A term that is used frequently is the urban forest; this concept includes ecosystems from backyards, street planting, parks and wildlife corridors and sees it as one big ecosystem. Tree also modify local climate and has been shown to lower temperature by up to 4 degrees Celsius whilst also increasing the humidity. Trees shade buildings and hard surfaces reducing re-radiated energy and the ‘heat island’ effect. Wind speed is also reduced, with the amount dependable on the density of the canopies of trees in the area.
Trees can also influence the flow of water in several ways. The initial impact of rain and hail can be absorbed and deflected by trees aiding in reducing the severity. This allows greater absorption into the soil and less runoff and erosion. By now unless you have been under a rock you will also be aware of trees role in capturing carbon dioxide, but they also lower energy costs when planted strategically around buildings, leading to a reduction in energy use.
Some of the economic benefits have already been touched on and are mainly as savings in energy cost. Well placed trees can reduce energy use by up to 30%. Studies have also shown that in metropolitan areas trees contribute between 13-20% of the value of the property. Houses located in tree-lined avenues have higher property values than those without trees.
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Ashgrove Tree Services specialise in Brisbane Tree lopping, Brisbane Tree felling, Brisbane Stump Grinding, Brisbane tree shaping and pruning, Brisbane tree removal and palm removal, Brisbane land clearning, Commercial property maintenance, Storm, insurance and emergency tree services, Mulch sales
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