Trees, like other living things, can suffer from disease. Some diseases can invade trees through wounds. Diseased trees are unsightly because they lose their leaves, and may have fungal growths on the branches, trunk, and roots. As trees succumb to disease, they weaken and become brittle and sickly. A weak, sickly tree can endanger both you and your property.
You can save diseased trees. However, you need the help of a good tree service company. You also need to ensure that you act quickly to find and hire a tree service. Arborists and tree services can save trees using various techniques, which this article will explain below.
Diagnose the disease first
There are many diseases that affect trees, such as:
- Oak wilt
- Root rot
- Fire blight
- Leaf spot
- Cankers
- Anthracnose
First, a tree service will assess your tree to determine which disease it has. Knowing which disease your tree has will help a tree service to create a treatment program for your tree.
Use a fungicide for the specific pathogen
Once an arborist knows which disease a tree is suffering from, they can then choose an appropriate fungicide treatment. If a fungicide is necessary, an arborist will inject the fungicide into your tree via the trunk. Unfortunately, one treatment of fungicide may not be enough to eradicate the disease. The tree service may need to return in the future to reapply fungicide treatments to ensure the eradication of a disease.
However, fungicide isn't always necessary to save a tree from disease.
Remove diseased limbs
Diseases spread through trees via the limbs, roots, and trunk. If an arborist catches a disease early, they stop its spread by removing one or more diseased limbs from a tree. This will prevent the disease from spreading any further through a tree. So if only one branch of your tree is diseased, you can remove the branch and save your tree.
Improve conditions for the tree
One of the biggest causes of disease in trees is poor growing conditions. For instance, trees that have thick canopies with poor air circulation throughout the crown are susceptible to disease. An arborist can thin a tree's canopy to improve air circulation and allow more sunlight in. This will both prevent disease and help a diseased tree recover.
A tree service may also use mulch or fertilizer to improve the conditions of the soil so that a tree can get the nutrients and water it needs to fight disease and heal.
Contact a local company to learn more about tree services.
