Springtime is long gone, even though it only seems like a couple of months ago that we were coming out of winter. Suddenly, here we are, getting ready to enter the fall season, and true to form, during the past several weeks I have been seeing trees go into what we call “late season blues”.
Leaf Senescence: The Magic of Fall Color
During the growing season trees are making food through a process called photosynthesis. Isn’t that incredible - trees make their own food! (Magic.) The magic is due in part to the chlorophyll stored in each leaf, which absorbs energy from the sun to transform carbon dioxide and water into plant food (glucose) and oxygen.
The Value of Trees in the Urban Landscape
Magnolia Scale: Take a Look!
Fall Webworm In Full Effect
Preventing Tree & Property Storm Damage
Verticillium Wilt
It’s hard to miss this disease once we enter the hot dry months of summer. Without fail, each July/August I start to see trees turning brown and wilting suddenly, usually in patches within the canopy that can be traced back to entire individual limbs that have died. More dramatically, an entire tree…
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The Importance of Green Leaves
I have been noticing what I consider to be an unacceptable amount of chlorosis in urban trees around Columbus. In general, chlorosis is the yellowing of plant foliage caused by a lack of chlorophyll. This is a problem because plants depend on chlorophyll to absorb energy from sunlight and to survive. Several…
Black Knot Disease In Plum & Cherry Trees
Witch-Hazel Cone Gall
I find insects that cause galls to be really interesting. There are many different types, usually host-specific, with various shapes and sizes of galls formed. In most instances, the feeding of the insect causes an abnormal growth reaction in the plant that forms this gall where either the adult or the immature insect lives inside.
Fire Blight is No Delight
This year has been a particularly bad one for fire blight on Pear and Apple trees. Fire blight is a bacterial disease that affects plants in the Rosaceae family, causing a characteristic blackened wilting of leaves and twigs. This family of plants is also popular for its landscape value, both for flowers and fruit production. Pear, Cherry, Rose, Apple, Serviceberry, Cotoneaster, Hawthorn are just a few trees and shrubs that are very familiar to us. Have you noticed a profusion of dead, blackened leaves in your neighborhood? In your trees?
Watch out Crabapples! Apple Scab is a Major Threat!
Plant diseases love Spring! As temperatures warm and tender new growth emerges, conditions are ideal for pathogens to settle in and take up residence in our favorite trees. It is now when many plants are susceptible and treatable for diseases, such as Dothistroma needle cast of Austrian Pine, Rhizosphaera needle cast of Blue Spruce, rust diseases on hawthorn and pear, and for the purpose of this article: the aesthetically devastating apple scab on flowering crabapple.
Are Your Trees Being Suffocated By Their Own Roots?
More and more trees are growing up in confined urban environments that force their root systems to wrap around the base of the tree causing girdling roots. Girdling roots will block vital nutrients to flow to the tree's canopy which can eventually cause the tree to die. The good news: girdling roots can be fixed if caught early!
Neonicotinoid Use in Ornamental Landscape and Effects on Honeybees
Neonicotinoids are chemical products that are effective in systemic control of insect pests in plants. Systemic application of insecticide has multiple advantages over other methods, such as topical applications. When applied systemically, neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plant, and persist for a longer period of time, so that insect pests subsequently feeding on plant parts ingest the chemical and die.
Because of this mode of action, there has been concern about neonicotinoids persisting long enough to be found in plant products such as nectar or pollen, where they could be ingested by foraging bees.
20 NEED-TO-KNOW TREES BY TJ NAGEL
Did You Know Construction Can Kill Trees?
We see it all the time: trees surrounding a newly built home dying as a result of soil compaction and mechanical damage from heavy machinery, as well as change in the native grade affecting soil depth and water flow. A tree preservation plan is needed prior to construction which prioritizes your woody landscape as an important part of your construction project. With a Pre-Construction Tree Preservation Consultation from Arbor Answers, our experts will build a custom plan for your construction site to encourage the trees to thrive following the completion of the project.
Oak Wilt in Franklin County
Several weeks ago a client called the office about some Red Oaks that were dying, one by one. I arrived at his home in north Columbus and he quickly filled me in on the details: Two years ago one tree died, last year one other tree died (neighbor’s tree nearby) and this year two more trees had died.