Courtesy Meredith Seaver

There’s more to having a beautiful tree in your landscape than just sticking a young tree in the ground. Once you have your tree planted it will need good care to get established and thrive. Before we get to the proper care, let’s have a quick review of How to Hug a Tree, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2.

• Choose trees that are best suited to the soil, sun, watering and size of your planting spot
• Plant as soon as possible in the spring or purchase your tree at the end of the season to plant in the fall
• Make sure your planting hole is at least twice as wide as the root ball you’re planting, but no deeper
• Backfill with the same soil you took out of the hole; no potting mix, compost, sand, or other amendments (no vitamins, stimulators, or “special potions” needed)
• Water-in well, then water deeply about twice a week during the first summer
• Remove any string, twine or tape that was used to attach tags to the trunk or branches
• Now let’s follow-up on proper selection and proper planting.

One important part of good tree care is protecting your tree from injury. Bark damage on the trunk from borers, sunscald, and string trimmers or mowers gives pathogens access into a tree, reduces the vigor of a tree, and creates stress that makes a tree attractive to insect pests.

A wide tree ring with no grass or vegetation is the best way to protect your tree from mechanical damage. Keeping the area within the tree ring free of grass and other vegetation reduces the risk of rodent damage and makes the base of the trunk less attractive to the egg-laying females of some borer species, too.

Use tree wrap in the winter to protect the trunks of young trees and trees with thin, smooth or dark-colored bark from southwest winter injury. Direct exposure to midday through afternoon sun on the south and west side of the trunk can cause bark to warm during the day and then freeze at night, leaving the tree with patches of dead bark that crack and peel, giving pathogens an easy entry route into the trunk. Tree wrap shouldn’t be left on the trunk year-round; put it the wrap on in November and remove the wrap in March.

Should you stake your new tree? That depends on the size and variety of your tree and your planting location. Most new tree will be fine without staking. Evergreen trees, taller trees, and trees on windy sites may need support for their first year in the landscape, but staking shouldn’t last more than one year. If you do choose to stake your tree, make sure there is room for some trunk movement and use wide, softer materials that won’t damage the bark.

Courtesy Meredith Seaver

Overwatering causes the majority of plant health problems in our landscapes. While newly planted trees should be watered deeply about twice a week during their first summer, established trees need a deep, less-frequent soak, but not more than once a week during the summer and less often in the spring and fall. For most tree species, the critical feeder roots are within the upper two inches of the soil, so your deep soak should move water about that far down into the soil. Whether you water by drip, sprinkler or flood, your watering should cover at least the area shaded by your tree’s canopy at midday. For trees planted in lawns, the lawn should be watered deeply, but as infrequently as it will tolerate; ideally not more than once every 3-4 days during the heat of summer and less often in the spring and fall.

What about pruning and fertilizing? Shade trees don’t need the kind of annual pruning that fruit trees need for good fruit production. For the first few seasons of a shade tree’s life pruning is used to direct growth by removing twigs that are heading the wrong direction and gradually providing clearance around the tree. For established trees, each spring should involve a careful inspection to see if there are any diseased, damaged or broken branches that need to be removed. Springtime is also the time to look for and remove any young growth that might eventually interfere with structures or safe clearance to mowers or foot traffic.

Fruit trees may need nitrogen fertilizer every spring, but shade trees need little, if any, annual fertilizer. Trees should be working on root development, not leafy growth, during their first year after planting, so skip the fertilizer for at least that first season.

Light colored tree wrap applied in November and removed in March can protect a tree trunk from Southwest winter injury.

Trees shouldn't be staked tightly like this tree. Good, strong trunk development depends on some trunk movement with the wind.

Bark injury from mowers and string trimmers reduces the health and vigor of trees and provides easy access for pathogens.

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