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Planting shade trees on your landscaping has many wonderful benefits. Underneath a large shade tree is the best location for a backyard BBQ or for children to spend time outside. It will also keep your home cooler during warmer months of the year.

To get the full benefit of shade trees, you have to plant the right species and care for them correctly.

MN Tree Trimming has recommendations for the best trees to plant for shade, and some expert advice on maintaining your shade trees so they continue to grow healthy and strong.

Planting Trees for Shade

Any tree can technically provide shade, but there are some species that are built for the best shade. These types of trees often have a thick, wider canopy that extends out nearly as far as it does upward.

Below, we’ve provided some examples of shade trees based on whether they would be best suited for your front or back yard.

Back Yard Shade Trees

Shade trees in the back yard are primarily for your own benefit. Next-door neighbors and passersby probably won’t see these trees very much, so they can be planted purely for your enjoyment.

Besides just shade, these trees can create year-round color and some extra privacy from neighbors.

Here are popular options:

• Magnolia
• Sugar maple or silver maple
• Weeping willow
• Weeping cherry
• Red oak

If you have the space, a live oak is a fantastic choice. Live oaks are considered the fastest growing shade trees, and are able to get very big. A mature live oak is able to reach up to 80 feet tall and up to 100 feet wide.

Many of these back yard shade tree recommendations get extremely large, so you need to do your research to determine if the tree is going to have enough space to grow to its full potential.

If there is not enough space, the tree’s root system can damage your fencing or even your home. You will also have to prune the tree every year to keep it from being overgrown. A tree that is too big for its location will most likely have to be removed, which is an unfortunate and sometimes costly situation.

Front Yard Shade Trees

In the front yard, you are planting trees for your enjoyment as well, but these trees will be much more impactful for increasing curb appeal and value to your home than the back yard trees.

Buy shade trees for the front yard that are a little smaller so they don’t overshadow your home. These trees should complement your landscaping in size and color, while still offering plenty of shade for front yard play and relaxation.

These are some of our favorites:

Red maple
River birch
Dogwood
White oak
Ginkgo tree

These trees are colorful throughout the year, and they’ll exude even more color during the fall.
Another great option for your front or side yard is the ‘Green Giant’ Arborvitae. This hedge-like tree can be planted in a row with others to create privacy and shade.

With this advice in mind, we recommend that you plant what you like. In reality, any tree can grow to become a “shade tree.” Assuming the trees you choose are suitable for the weather in Minnesota, they will provide your yard and home with shade.

Benefits of Planting Shade Trees

The benefits of having shade on your property are numerous — and there are some that you likely don’t typically think about.

Shade, Obviously – When temperatures get too hot, you don’t need to hide indoors if you have a comfortable, shady yard. Place a chair or hammock below your biggest shade tree and enjoy time outside as long as you want.

Climate Control – Trees can help regulate the temperature in your yard and inside your home. Not only do trees protect you from glaring sun, but they can make it feel 10-15 degrees cooler below their protective canopies. This leads to less solar radiation on your roof and siding as well, which should also result in more affordable energy costs!

Better Air Quality – Trees produce oxygen and filter out pollutants, so there is healthier air around your house. Arbor Day Foundation research states that one mature tree absorbs around 48 pounds of CO2 from the air.

Shelter for Animals – If you’re into bird watching or think squirrels and chipmunks are adorable, your shade trees can provide them all they will need to build a shelter, find nearby food and raise babies.

Fun – What kid doesn’t want a backyard tire swing or tree house? If you have children, shade trees can offer hours of fun and countless memories.

How to Care for Shade Trees

Caring for shade trees is pretty easy as long as you’ve chosen the type of trees for the weather in Minnesota. Trees are strong and durable after the first few years, needing little attention or care.

Consult a local arborist from MN Tree Trimming if you have any questions about how to care for your shade trees, or to help you decide the best tree for your home.

Once you have determined the perfect shade tree(s) for your yard, follow this care guide until your shade tree is well established.

Planting Your Shade Tree

The east, west and south sides of your property get the most sun, so plant your trees on one of these sides of your yard. This is two-fold: 1) the trees will then provide the most amount of shade and 2) they will also receive the most amount of sun to grow healthy.

Trimming Your Shade Tree

Prune during the first year or two after planting the tree in order to shape it and help it form a strong foundation. To be safe, and for the best results, call MN Tree Trimming for tree trimming in Minnesota. A certified arborist will arrive at your home and deliver professional care for the tree.

Watering Your Shade Tree

Watering a new tree is crucial. This helps them develop a deep and strong root system and will give the tree stability over the course of its lifetime.

Fertilizing Your Shade Tree

Homeowners should fertilize a shade tree just like you would any other tree in order to aid growth. Fertilizer is not necessary, but it can help your tree to grow faster and produce more leaves, which are the primary source of your shade.

We hope this blog post was helpful! Remember, when it comes time to trim or prune a new shade tree, MN Tree Trimming can help! Call us and a certified arborist in Minnesota will visit your property, examine the tree and decide the best maintenance plan for its long-term health and growth.

Tree trimming is best left to the pros. It’s a dangerous job, climbing high up trees, using chainsaws and dropping heavy branches to the ground; and it can be dangerous for the tree as well. Trees that are improperly pruned can experience a lifetime of problems.

Rather than putting yourself and putting the tree at risk, call an arborist who is knowledgeable and experienced to do the job for you.

This will result in healthier trees and a safer environment near your home for several reasons:

• Healthier trees are sturdier and not as likely to cause damage during storms
• Maintained trees don’t attract or spread diseases and parasites
• Trimmed trees produce more flowers or fruit
• Pruned trees provide shade and allow air to flow through their canopies and your property

MN Tree Trimming highly suggests pruning trees that are near your house or those that are an integral part of your property.

Is Tree Trimming Necessary?

It is not necessary. But it is beneficial. Trees are very strong and survive on their own everywhere in the world, in a variety of different climates and regions, without being pruned.

However, there are a lot of benefits of tree pruning, so it’s recommended for any trees that you care about. This can include sentimental trees, fruit trees and flowering trees or trees that perform an important job for your home, such as shade or home to wildlife.

Tree Pruning Gone Wrong

Pruning a tree is a complicated task. You are going to need the right equipment and a lot of information to ensure the job is done right. The majority of homeowners don’t have either of these!

But that’s not a problem, because there are plenty of services out there who know how to properly prune trees for an affordable price to you including all arborists throughout Minnesota we partner with!

Here are the 5 most common mistakes homeowners make when they attempt DIY tree trimming that can lead to many tree problems. These are things that a certified arborist from MN Tree Trimming will know, and that’s why their services are worth paying for!

Pruning Too Much

When done the right way, tree trimming is an ongoing process. Starting when your trees are only 2 or 3 years old, they should be maintained by an expert if you care about them and desire to keep them strong and healthy.

A big mistake homeowners often make when trimming trees themselves is cutting too much of the tree all at once. This happens because they have let the tree’s growth get out of control and try to fix it all immediately. Ideally, you should not cut off more than 5-20% of the tree’s crown at a time. It is much easier to do this during a time of year that the leaves are off, but an experienced arborist is able to properly trim trees any time of year.

Removing Bark from the Tree

After you cut a tree branch and gravity starts pulling it down, it can rip bark from the trunk right along with it. This exposes the tree’s inner layers, leaving the tree in danger of contracting diseases and making it easier for pests and rodents to scurry their way in.

To ensure this doesn’t happen, an experienced arborist will make special cuts beneath larger branches before making their final removal cut. Knowing how to place these initial cuts takes pressure off the branch collar and limits the stress at the exact point of the main cut so the tree limb doesn’t tear.

Pruning in the Wrong Place

A certified tree specialist knows where to trim each limb to prevent damage. This cut should occur just beyond the branch collar, the exact place where the branch connects to the tree trunk.

Cutting too close to the branch collar exposes the tree to decay, mildew and pests. Cutting too far from it leaves a stump when the tree recovers. Most DIY tree trimming leads to an improper cut, leaving either aesthetic or structural damage.

Pruning Big Branches

Branches any larger than 4 inches in diameter really shouldn’t be trimmed unless it is absolutely necessary. Cutting off a branch this large can lead to imbalance in the tree and expose it to insects and decay as the tree recovers from such a large loss.

Conservative trimming every year ensures that your tree trimmer only has to cut off branches that are 2-3 inches in diameter, which produces a more attractive shape for the tree and less chance of damaging the tree or exposing it to decay and pests.

Topping the Tree

Tree topping is no longer a type of pruning, and for good reason! During this service, tree trimming companies would cut the top off of the tree to get the desired height. It was neither attractive nor beneficial for the tree, so the vast majority of arborists do not practice tree topping currently.

As a DIY tree pruning, you may think this is an easy way to lower the height of your tree with just a single cut, but once you have cut the top of a tree off, there’s virtually no chance it will ever return to a natural shape.

The Solution? Call MN Tree Trimming

Here’s the truth. Your tree may never recover from poor trimming.

Performing this project yourself might seem like a way to save a little money, but you could end up with way more expenses trying to revive damaged trees, so it’s a lot safer (and more economical in the long run) to hire a certified arborist in Minnesota from MN Tree Trimming.

Limbs will not grow back. The tree will grow more, but it will not grow back in the same places, which  causes strange shapes that could take years to correct. The tree could end up looking bad for the remainder of its life, all because of a single trimming error.

Bad pruning could also result in death of the tree. Removing too many limbs (and, therefore, leaves) can alter the tree’s photosynthesis process, which means it won’t get all of the water it needs or enough carbon dioxide and sunlight to continue healthy growth.

Cutting off too many branches might also send the tree into a state of shock. Shock can be overcome, but it does take a lot of care and patience. Even with the right care, a tree experiencing shock may still die.

Avoid all of these tree pruning mistakes and call MN Tree Trimming to speak with a tree care specialist in Minnesota able to come up with a long-term plan to ensure your tree continues to blossom and look beautiful for years to come!

Trees are living things, so that means that they can get “sick” just like people and animals can. A disease or other tree problem might take a little while to show up due to the overall size of the tree, and once symptoms become obvious, it could be too late to save the tree.

A professional arborist from MN Tree Trimming can diagnose and treat common tree issues so that there is a much greater chance of keeping the tree. Learn about our service here. Not only can an arborist help to prevent a tree from dying, but they can also help trees get more healthy growth and more flowers or fruit with professional tree trimming.

Have you ever noticed a tree on your lawn that has always seemed OK but all of the sudden seems like something is wrong? In the next section, we’ll describe some of the most common tree issues and what these symptoms mean.

If you notice any of these things on any of your trees, act fast to have the best chance of saving the tree and the ones nearby it.

Tree Diseases & Common Problems

These 7 things are the most common issues encountered by experienced arborists in Minnesota. The moment you think one of these things is wrong with your tree, contact someone with the knowledge and equipment to help!

Tree Diseases

Leaf Rust – Leaf rust is a fungus that is very common in both plants and trees. The name originates from the yellow and brown spots this disease causes on the leaves.

Leaf rust is bad because it interferes with the leaves’ photosynthesis, the process by which it breathes. Leaf rust can be tended to with fungicides and selective tree pruning of the diseased leaves. It might be necessary to cut off whole branches with leaf rust.

Witches’ Broom – This common disease creates a large grouping of twigs, dead leaves and branches that form a a broom shape. It is caused by insects, unusually wet weather or fungus. The formation of a clump of twigs and leaves is the tree’s reaction to infection or harm.

Some instances of Witches’ Broom are fatal for the tree, others are simply considered a growth malformation. An arborist can diagnose the issue.

Mildew – Mildew is a fungus that grows on almost anything in wet conditions, but even after the moist conditions are over with, mildew can remain and thrive. Mildew usually appears as a powdery texture, usually white, and it usually appears on the leaves of a tree first.

The the best method for treating mildew is to apply a fungicide that includes sulfur. This will remove the current mildew and help to prevent future mildew growth on the tree. You might also need to trim the tree to remove limbs, fruit, flowers and any leaves that were affected by the mildew

Gall – Gall is a tree condition that happens when pests or rodents build small nests on the leaves or branches of a tree to leave their eggs in. Most galls are not harmful to the tree, but they are not attractive.

Gall appears as as bumps on the tree, in various sizes. They can be white, brown, gray or some color in between.

You do not have to treat the tree for galls, but they can affect the growth of new trees. Treat galls by killing the pests. You should also clean out from under the tree after the leaves fall off, since this is where the insects live during winter.

Other Tree Problems

Incorrect Trimming – There’s a discipline to tree pruning, as well as many types, and if you don’t know how to do it, you could damage the tree past the point of recovery. Consider the type of tree, season and other factors. Under-pruning (or a lack of pruning at all) is just as big of an issue. Only an experienced arborist should be trusted to trim trees in order to keep them healthy.

Lack of Water – Young trees can be severely impacted by drought. If you plant new trees on your property, you will probably have to supplement how much water they get from rainfall. A tree that is not getting enough water will have its growth inhibited. The first sign you are likely to noticed is scorched, dry leaves. Find more tips for new trees here.

Too Much Sun – Do your planning before planting trees in a sunny area of your property. Most species of trees can handle it without issue, but too much sun can happen to any tree if the sun is too hot for an extended period of time and rainfall is light. A tree that is getting excessive sun needs even more water to fight against wilting, drooping leaves.

Certified Arborist Services in Minnesota

An experienced arborist from MN Tree Trimming will quickly identify what’s happening with your sick tree and lay out a plan to save it.

Here is what an arborist is trained to do:

• Review trees from below and from the branches of the tree if possible. Climbing into the canopy is typically necessary to see exactly what is creating the symptoms.
• Treat your tree with fertilizers and additives in the soil or products sprayed on the leaves. This person will have knowledge about the disease affecting your tree and the best treatments.
• Trim tree limbs to get rid of dead or diseased branches and to help healthy growth. Even if heavy trimming is necessary, they will know how to remove branches so that the tree can survive both the problem and the trimming process.
• Remove the tree from your lawn if there is no chance to save it. The worst case scenario is that the tree is dying, and removing it is the only choice to protect your property and surrounding landscape.

They can also inform you about the other trees that you have and how to best care for them so you don’t find yourself in the same situation again.

Some tree issues look very similar to each other, requiring a professional eye to correctly determine and treat the issue. If your trees are looking dry, unhealthy or disfigured, call a certified arborist from MN Tree Trimming for an inspection before it’s too late for your tree.

When it comes to the question, “What season is best for tree tree pruning?” The answer will likely be indirect.

Tree type will determine when many species are able to be pruned, along with pest population and activity, local tree and plant diseases and other species of plants and trees in the landscape.

With the guidance of a professional arborist in Minnesota, you can decide what season is optimal for trimming your trees to set them up for success next season and every year after that.

Best Season to Trim Trees

Without any other information, MN Tree Trimming recommends trimming trees during the winter. This would be sometime from November to March in Minnesota. Winter is optimal because trees are mostly dormant, so trimming will lead to the least amount of harm, if any.

There are several benefits to trimming trees in the winter:

Lower chance of insect damage and disease – Pests and plant diseases are usually inactive in the winter in Minnesota. Throughout the rest of the year, anything from insects to fungus can affect a newly pruned tree because the tree will be the most susceptible and these issues are more common when there is warmer weather.

Easier to see the shape of the tree when there are no leaves – Leaves prevent your arborist from seeing the overall shape of a tree. When the tree branches are bare, it is much easier to see diseased or dead limbs and branches that are touching versus those that are just too close to each other.

Trees can heal before spring – By performing significant pruning during the winter, your trees will have many months to build up callus tissue on the tips of the remaining branch collar. By spring, you’ll hardly be able to identify where the branches were cut off, and the tree will be able to devote its energy to produce brand new leaves, fruit or flowers instead of healing new cuts.

Less chance of harming nearby landscape – Most of the surrounding trees and plants will also be dormant during this time, so there is less risk of damaging them. Many times, a tree is surrounded by annual plants in the warmer seasons, but there are no plants to be disturbed in the winter since these annuals have already died out.

Do All Trees Need Pruning?

Yes, all trees benefit from pruning. Tree trimming in the winter is good for trees, but it is also a precaution for the safety of your property and your family. Let us explain:

Trimming Makes the Tree Stronger

Dying and diseased limbs are removed, as are stubs that are prone to pests and disease. Limbs that can rub against each other are also pruned so they don’t weaken each other or create an open wound on the tree.

Trimming trees every winter is a good way to get expert eyes on the health of your trees so that early warning signs of decay, disease and pest problems can be spotted and handled as soon as possible.

A Cared-For Tree Serves Its Purpose Better

When a tree is overgrown, it’s hard for water and nutrients to reach every limb. This can leave the tree looking weak and sick and definitely not doing what it’s meant to do.

Pruned trees, on the other hand, blossom more fruit, healthier leaves and better shade. They are fuller and healthier and less likely to cause landscaping issues. So regardless of why you decided to plant a new tree, routine trimming each winter will improve the results you want from it.

Trees are More Attractive After Trimming

If the curb appeal of your landscaping is important to you, tree trimming is a necessity! Pruning trees results in an attractive, uniform shape and size. This is especially important if you have several similar trees on your property.

Trimming lower branches and upper branches that grow at awkward angles enhances the overall beauty of the tree while also promoting tree health.

Less Chance of Dropping Branches

Tree trimming – from a professional – encourages the remaining tree branches to grow healthier and stronger. Therefore, storms and high winds won’t damage your trees the same way they would an unkempt tree. Your home and family will be much safer living under and around pruned trees.

Another safety concern for overgrown trees is that they can block the view of traffic lights, road signs and driveways. Tree trimming, crown raising and other professional tree care services will keep the tree at a manageable size and stop it from blocking various views.

Call MN Tree Trimming for Tree Trimming

Hiring a professional arborist in Minnesota gives you access to their knowledge on the subject of tree trimming. We highly recommend relying on their years of experience if there are trees on your property that you’d like to keep healthy for a long time.

An arborist won’t just consider the immediate situation. Instead, he or she will take the time to research your trees and understand their unique scenario (including their location and factors that may put them at risk of disease or infestation). After collecting all the information, an arborist will create a long-term plan based on the trees’ unique needs and stick to that plan until the goals for your trees are met.

This plan could take many years to implement, but rest assured, it will lead to healthy trees that you and your family can enjoy for generations.

This kind of annual care will promote healthy tree growth, help your landscaping fight off plant diseases and improve fruit or flower production from your trees. It will also fortify your trees so there is not as much risk of falling trees or branches.

Being proactive about tree care will save you a lot of money too. Preventative maintenance is much more cost-effective than the cost of emergency tree services, storm damage cleanup or restoring a sick tree from a disease that has spread out of hand (and one that was easily preventable).

If you care about the health of your trees and the curb appeal of your landscaping, trust a certified arborist for tree trimming and maintenance from MN Tree Trimming. Discover our service area here. We work with arborists across the entire state of Minnesota. Call today!

Tree pruning in Minnesota is an important landscaping service that can beautify and reinforce trees so they will fight off insects, diseases and severe weather – and look good doing it!

Pruning should be performed if you want healthy trees, but it needs to be done correctly by someone who has experience in what they’re doing. Like a certified arborist from MN Tree Trimming. Homeowners may be able to prune trees safely while they are still small and growing, but you also may be doing permanent damage to the tree in the process.

To correctly prune trees, you should know all of the following:

• When is the best time to prune your species of trees
• How much of the tree should be pruned at at once
• Where to cut each branch so you do not harm the tree

Removing too much from a tree can kill it or result in structural damage, but minimal pruning done annually benefits trees in several ways. Pruning helps to improve the appearance of trees, makes them healthier, eliminates dying or diseased portions and expedites fruit or flower production.

For the best results, pruning should be performed each year, but as trees get older, you might be able to go two years between pruning services. Regardless of how routinely you have your trees trimmed, be sure your arborist is qualified to perform the type of tree pruning your trees need. This won’t be an issue if you call MN Tree Trimming in Minnesota!

Types of Tree Pruning Methods

There are 7 ways to properly prune a tree so that it grows stronger and healthier each year.

Depending on the shape, type and health problems of your trees, one method may be more effective than another, but each technique has different benefits.

Crown Thinning Your Trees

Crown thinning is common for larger, overgrown trees in Minnesota. This process removes weak branches within the crown to allow more light and air flow throughout the crown. Air flow is especially important to help prevent disease.

This pruning method also removes branches and limbs that are touching so they do not rub up against one another and break or create weaker areas that can be an entry point for insects and pests. Limbs that grow at odd angles are typically removed during crown thinning.

Crown Raising Your Trees

This pruning technique removes branches at the lowest part of the crown so limbs start higher up on the trunk of the tree. Letting low branches get too big makes them very difficult to cut off, and they can pull nutrients away from the top of the tree, resulting in less fruit and a weak tree.

There are many reasons you may choose to raise the crown of a tree. Many times, it is done in order to clear the line of sight for automobiles and pedestrians, but it can be done to create space for landscaping beneath the tree.

It is a common technique for overgrown trees that are too close to homes and other buildings.

Crown Reduction

Crown reduction reduces the total size of the crown from its exterior edge. It shortens limbs vertically and horizontally to maintain the tree at a certain size. By reducing the crown size, you can remove the need to cut down the tree because it won’t come into contact with traffic lights, power lines or street lights.

Even if the tree isn’t near structures like these, crown reduction will make the tree look neater because it eliminates irregular growth. This is a good solution for trees that are a variety of ages but are supposed to look uniform.

Crown Cleaning

Also referred to as deadwood pruning, crown cleaning is a minimally invasive type of trimming technique that removes dying, broken or diseased limbs so that the rest of the tree will continue to grow normally. These limbs can only create issues later.

Crown cleaning makes the tree look a lot better, and it prevents branches from rubbing together. Plus it is a safety practice that lowers the risk of falling branches, since healthy branches rarely fall.

Crown Restoration

Crown restoration is an intense pruning method for trees that have been severely damaged (either by pests or weather). It should be attempted by a professional who knows where the tree is going to grow in the future and just how long it’s restoration is going to take.

Unlike other tree pruning services, crown restoration happens throughout an extended time period with conservative trimming that reshapes the tree. The arborist will have a definitive plan to restore the tree, but also must be flexible as the tree grows and reshapes on its own, adapting to the tree’s new growth pattern.

Vista Pruning

If you are looking for trees to increase the beauty of your landscaping, you are most likely interested in vista pruning. The goal of vista pruning is to help to make the tree more aesthetically pleasing from a particular viewing point.

It encompasses several pruning techniques including crown thinning, crown cleaning and crown reduction – anything that makes the trees look prettier. Remember, though, that a professional will never sacrifice the health of a tree, so the focus of vista pruning is still to create strong, healthy trees.

Espalier Pruning

Espaliered trees are pruned heavily to grow flat up against walls or a trellis. It is a different style of tree trimming that will attract a lot of attention to your lawn. Espalier pruning should be started when the tree is very young and then continued very consistently during the tree’s life span.

of espalier pruning include facilitating maximum sunlight to get to the trees, as well as making it easier to harvest fruit.

Professional Tree Pruning in Minnesota

Tree pruning can be dangerous for a tree, your landscaping, and, of course, for you! MN Tree Trimming highly suggests professional tree pruning over DIY.

Aside from the dangers of tree trimming, you can do a lot of harm to a tree if you don’t prune it correctly. Over-pruning is one of the most common mistakes made by homeowners trimming their own trees.

Trees in Minnesota that get annual care from a professional are much better off, and hiring an experienced arborist from MN Tree Trimming to care for trees on your property is a choice you won’t regret. Locate your city in our service area. We work with arborists across the entire state of Minnesota!

Planting a tree on your property has several benefits. Trees provide much-needed summer shade, create privacy, filter contaminated air and increase curb appeal. Everyone should plant trees.

Once full-grown, trees are simple to care for: another benefit! Trees are durable and tend to grow despite minimal care. But, if you want to see your trees achieve their potential, they need more effort.

Lack of care for young trees might lead to rotting, disease, under watering or pest issues.

Fortunately, tree care isn’t too difficult, but you do need a little information to do it right. Research the new trees you plant in order to know exactly what they need. Then properly care for them and watch them flourish.

Below, we’ll describe the five best tips for planting a new tree and seeing it thrive. You probably are aware of the basics, so we’ll dive a little deeper and lay out how to complete each step.

Tree Care Tips for New Trees

These five tips will not only help keep your trees alive, they’ll help them to grow much faster, resist damaging gusts of wind, fight off diseases ,insects and pests and produce more leaves, flowers or fruit.

Water Your Tree

New trees need more water than well-established ones. The trees you plant on your property are no exception.

The root ball of the tree and the soil surrounding it have to be kept moist, but don’t let it get soaked, as this might cause the roots to rot.

The best practice is 4-10 gallons of water every week. This includes rain water, and although it’s hard to have an exact reading, a rain gauge can help get you close enough to add the remaining gallons. Your new trees will need this much water for the initial 2-3 growing seasons.

Mulch Around Your Trees

Mulch is more than an attractive landscaping product. It actually helps protect new trees, especially the roots underground. But laying mulch the wrong way can cause rotting and decay – so much so, in fact, that the tree will not survive.

Place mulch 3 inches away from the trunk of the tree and spread it out to cover the ground underneath the longest limb. For new trees, this won’t be very far, but as the tree continues to grow, your mulch area will also grow as well.

Keep the mulch at least 2 to 4 inches thick in all areas around the tree. Be vigilant in spreading it out consistently and away from the tree trunk so it does not impede air flow around the tree trunk.

Fertilize Around Your Tree

Fertilizer provides the nutrients your land’s soil might not have naturally. Most young trees benefit from fertilizing, but you need to be using the right products and doing it at the correct time for fertilizer to be most beneficial.

The perfect time of year to fertilize is early spring. Sometimes early summer provides the right conditions (mild temperatures and wet soil), but don’t count on it.

If you are unsure about which type of fertilizer to use, consult a tree care professional for advice. Slow-release fertilizers are typically a good idea because they feed your trees over time rather than all at once.

Follow through with these things in the first few growing seasons after planting a new tree, and then reevaluate your watering, mulching and fertilizing as the tree gets older. As seasons go on, there will be tree care tasks that are more important for your young trees.

Prune Your Tree

Tree trimming is very important – but very challenging – in the initial years after planting a new tree. As the tree grows bigger, you may see a lot of little branches take off, trying to become the tree’s trunk. You may think this means that the tree is healthy and that it is growing well, but it can actually lead to a weak tree in the future.

Early trimming helps to shape the tree into what it will look like when it is much larger. As tiny limbs emerge from the lower trunk, they must be cut off so they don’t suck water and nutrients away from the branches at the top of the tree.

So long as there are trees somewhere on your land, they need to be pruned regularly. When the tree gets too big for you to trim them safely, you can trust MN Tree Trimming to do it for you.

Monitor Your Tree

Young trees are at the most risk for damage, disease and pest issues. But you’re never truly safe from these things. As your tree gets larger, watch it closely for signs of disease or poor nutrition, including the following:

• Leaf color changing out of season, with leaves turning yellow or brown
• Premature leaf drop, regardless of whether leaves look healthy or sick
• Wilting, even with adequate watering
• Single branches dying
• Bark peeling

These signs indicate a health problem. It is likely going to need professional maintenance if your hope is to keep the tree alive. An experienced arborist can usually diagnose the issue by simply looking at your tree, although they will do testing whenever necessary.

If you discover the problem early enough, you will likely be able to save the tree from dying. Being proactive is the best way to protect your growing trees.

The steps above are simple yet effective. Don’t underestimate the value of the basics! When new trees have proper care, combined with some sunshine and barring severe, damaging weather, the chances are probable that the tree will survive and look wonderful too!

Of course, you may already have a full schedule and don’t want to be responsible for these additional tasks. In many cases, property owners don’t have the ability or the tools to give their growing trees the necessary care.

No matter the situation, it’s a good idea to seek the help of a professional for caring for new trees. A certified arborist in Minnesota can consult with you about the best course of care for each tree species you plant on your property. They enjoy sharing their expertise and skills with homeowners planting brand new trees on their land, and they can make the difference between trees that struggle and trees that thrive.

Call MN Tree Trimming now for information on routine tree care in Minnesota – including tree pruning – for newer trees and old trees. A local tree service can determine the best plan for your trees! Locate your city in our service area here.