The Austin Tree Doctor

07/29/2024

I love this! Back when I got into Arboriculture there was not much research done on topics that I was most interested in and I had to figure a lot of things out myself with my own research and fairly crude experiments. Agricultural soil practices have been studied immensely, but it's very different in the urban environment. It had been my specialty. It's nice to see actual results verified and compared more and more every year. It seems to have taken a while, but finally people are realizing the importance of soil all over again like they did generations ago. One of my sources for information was a book written in the 1800's and it's nice to see the author's questions and theories answered/confirmed more then 100 years later. It took this long for some of what he believed to be proven as fact.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/oURbC1cD5tYDCFPH/?mibextid=WC7FNe

These samples belong to the same soil type and have been in corn-bean rotation for over 20 years, but their treatment was very different!!!.

The land on the left has not been plowed or fertilized with anhydrous ammonia for more than 20 years and has benefited from a rye cover crop.

The land on the right was plowed annually and fertilized with anhydrous ammonia in the fall.

This photo was taken about 2 minutes after the samples were immersed in water.

The plowed land practically “exploded” as soon as it hit the water. Repeated plowing of the soil has destroyed its structure, removing interstitial space and the biological “glue” that helps hold the soil together, leading to its disintegration.

In contrast, with minimal soil disturbance, the no-tilled soil had excellent porosity and high biological activity, giving it a healthy structure that could withstand water shock.

In less than five minutes, the plowed land disappeared completely, while the unplowed land remained almost intact.

We wanted to see how long it would last and continued adding water (to compensate for evaporation) for several weeks.

We stopped after 6 weeks, during which time the no-till soil sample was still 95% intact.

Credit: Daily Factfinder

06/30/2024

Proper irrigation is one of the most important aspects to having a vibrant, healthy tree. With our summer heat rising to its hottest time of year it's important to have your irrigation system checked by a licensed irrigator so that the system is working most efficiently with no major breaks and that your trees, turf and shrubs are getting the proper amount of water.

I noticed an issue at a cemetery early one morning and though it's clear to me they have someone who clearly cares about the irrigation, there were things that could be adjusted and made better. Here are a couple of photos showing where spray was hitting the nearby sign preventing a large area from getting irrigated and it was not a good use of valuable water. A few other sprinkler heads were hitting the iron fence preventing other areas from getting irrigated and in some places it was simply wasting water. The high water pressure also created a large amount of water droplet drift which may be difficult to see in the photos. These things can be easily fixed with a qualified irrigator.

I offer quality irrigation services here in the Austin area and would love to take a look at your irrigation system and of course your trees. If you're outside of the area just look up a licensed irrigator in your area.
Here is a good link for finding a licensed irrigator: https://www.irrigation.org/IA/Certification/Hire-Certified/Find-a-Certified-Professional/IA/Certification/Find-a-Certified-Pro.aspx

Send me a message and we can set up a time to do a proper irrigation check at your property or if you have any questions.

04/04/2024

I’ve used every major and many experimental methods, equipment and products to help declining trees but there are a few things we can do that continue to make the biggest difference. One of those is proper mulching, here’s a little article from Tree Folks, an organization I love and try to support in any way that I can.

To celebrate Earth Month this year, TreeFolks invites you to mulch a tree! What is Earth Month? Proper Mulching Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22nd since 1970 when 20 million people attended events at schools, universities, and community sites across the United States. More recently, many fo...

03/13/2024

January to late March is some of the best times to fertilize your trees, shrubs and lawn. You want to use a slow release nitrogen fertilizer such as composted chicken or cow manure, hardwood compost or a high quality synthetic fertilizer.

I’ve experimented with all types of application methods and unless recommended otherwise by an experienced Arborist for specific reasons, applying a high quality granular fertilizer to the surface of the ground works extremely well. Keep it simple.

It’s also a great time to have your irrigation system checked before it gets too hot. It’s better to find issues early rather than in the heat of summer and have the run times set appropriately for this very important time of the year.

Also, Live Oaks are dropping portions of their leaves right now and may look sicker than they really are, just keep that in mind if you see them turning yellow and thinning out, this is normal for this time of year and should leaf back out fully by mid April.

03/12/2024

I truly enjoyed this article, especially the video “Coffee Break”. As an Arborist and personally, I appreciate old school, traditional and elegantly minimalistic methods. Though, when it comes to helping trees I’m deeply familiar with the latest research, trinkets and the fads. I’ve personally used most every tool and process for helping trees in the urban environment because when it comes to getting a tree better it’s about the tree, not what I want or prefer, it’s about what works the best.

When I climb recreationally I use very traditional techniques that involve very little equipment; a rope, three carabiners, helmet and a saddle. In this video I could not help but be in awe of the skill and pure minimalistic equipment used to get the job done. This is an example of experience, mastering a craft, using what works and no more. It’s really humbling to remember where we have come from in this industry, every day is a new discovery, there is a universe uncharted in the world of trees. As many years as I’ve studied and worked in Arboriculture, I am still deeply in love with all that trees are and everything that relates to them.

The story of American and European harness design have distinct lineages, something of each have lasted into todays modern harness, and some things have been forgotten. In both cases, climbers went from using nothing, to wrapping rope around their bellies, all the way to todays array of modern desig...

01/15/2024

For those of you with irrigation systems into DIY in Austin and similar areas, here is a helpful video for the freezing weather from a great irrigation guy, Jimmy with 4L Irrigation. He’s the real deal, he helped answer my questions when I first got licensed for no other reason than to simply help a fellow irrigator.

If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, give him a ring, you may need him if any of the lines burst or just for anything irrigation related. He’s top of line! If you’re in Austin and don’t want to mess with it feel free to contact me, I’d love to hear from you.

Keller Texas Winter Sprinkler Preparation

02/02/2023

Wow, I haven’t had so many calls in a day in a long time!

Let me tell you this, if you have tree issues, companies are all booked up, there is more work than there are tree companies in Austin. So, I expect to see the “fly by night” companies setting up shop for a few weeks. Here are some tips.

1) Don’t try to prune your own trees if they are over 10 feet high and don’t go buy a chainsaw if you haven’t used one quite a bit already, it isn’t worth it. A high quality hand saw designed for pruning trees is a great option.

2) If you have anyone climbing your trees they should be a Certified Arborist, period. It’s easy to mess something up and right now trees can’t handle another stressor.

3) I always recommend an Arborist but, if you’ve got limbs down on the ground I don’t think it’s as important right now. If you can get the fallen limbs out of the way anyone can do it, just about. It would be nice if they have proper insurance but lots of these smaller companies don’t unfortunately. If they are corrective pruning the storm damage or any other canopy work, unless a limb is about to fall, save the complicated climbing work for a Certified Arborist and just wait, they will catch up.

4) Oak Wilt Season starts right about now technically in Austin but emergencies like this are more important. BUT, you want whoever you use to use proper Oak Wilt prevention methods, again, Certified Arborists know what to do.

5) There may be damage that’s hard to see like cracks or trees that are now out of balance and structurally compromised, we may see some Sun Scald over the next few weeks until we are out of freezing temps but we will certainly be seeing Sun Scorch and other issues coming up this Summer because of what’s happening now. We may see the Sun Scald signs/damage or symptoms show up this Spring. Proper watering will be even more important this Summer.

6) Send me pictures of what you have going on anytime you like. I love the questions and can help sometimes with just a few photos. If you have a neighbor or friend who wants to know what to do about their trees or if they are possibly dangerous feel free to send them my info. I cover all of Austin and surrounding areas. Depending on location and situation I can give a quote for the consultation. But in general it ranges from $145.00 to $225.00 for typical neighborhood lots .5 of an acre and smaller but I can do any size property.

7) If you’re wondering who to call send me a message, I know the best Arborists in the city and who are best for different situations and locations.

I hope this helps a little.

02/01/2023

With this freezing weather and precipitation, tree limbs are weighted down and bending onto roofs, into streets that are blocking traffic and limbs/trees are failing. It would be a good idea to walk around the yard carefully, looking up into your trees and see if there are damaged limbs or if any of the limbs are touching your roof or electrical drop lines. This would be a good time to call your favorite Arborist sooner than later because they will be even busier after this. It’s a good idea to get on their calendar or have them come take a look after everything thaws to see if there are any damaged or weakened limbs. I watched as a limb fell into a roof as I was noticing at all of the weight in its canopy. It didn’t puncture the roof but it was a hard crash. It’s going to be a common occurrence unfortunately.

01/19/2023