Tree & Shrub Care

  
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Is it Pruning Time? Should you pull out the pruning saw?

Most landscape trees and shrubs can benefit from an annual pruning to maintain shape and health. When trying to decide when to prune your trees and shrubs you must first determine when they bloom.

trees_ShrubFlowering shrubs that bloom after June can be pruned in winter or early spring. These shrubs produce flowers on growth of the current year and need to be pruned before growth begins. many of the deciduous ornamental trees and shrubs which are grown for their foliage, such as elm or maple, can also be pruned at this time.

Spring blooming trees and shrubs should be pruned after the flowering is finished. If these trees and shrubs are pruned in early spring the flowering buds will be removed. If you prune them immediately after flowering is finished the shrub has the entire summer to develop flower buds for the following year.

Your Trees & Shrubs Need Feeding Too

Nutri-Lawn is pleased to offer deep root fertilization for your trees and shrubs. Deep root fertilizing is a process in which a large spike is plunged into the tree’s root ball and fertilizer is pressure pumped through the spike into the soil.

Although any homeowner can go to a local garden supplier and buy a special attachment for their hose that will deliver a soluble form of nitrogen to the tree’s roots, it will not deliver the volume and potency that a professional rig will. The higher the pressure, the greater the spread of nutrients throughout the root system.

Deep root feeding has been shown by University studies to increase the growth rate of trees by 20% or more by supplying all the nutrients the tree will need for healthy growth.

Root feeding strengthens trees and helps the tree to cope with drought. A larger, healthier root system can draw more water from a greater area.

Deep root feeding is especially important in the city where there is no new source for nutrients other than the occasional broken sewer line and in suburbs where leaves are removed that would normally compost and feed the roots of the tree.

These applications are timed for late fall or early spring. It is important to remember that tree roots remain active until the soil drops below 40-degrees Fahrenheit -- this is several weeks after the leaves have fallen in the fall, and a few weeks before they appear in the spring. Deep root feeding in the spring will encourage tip and leaf growth. Fertilizing in the fall develops roots.