Archive for July, 2010

It is very well known that extreme weather conditions are generally bad for plants. Trees like a steady mild weather. When the weather has short extremes of hot and cold, trees can show signs of decline or even death. Most tree related issues happen because of environmental impacts. It is the job of an Arborist to find out as much information as they can to figure out the cause of decline in a tree. For example, one recent scenario was a beautiful Jap Maple living close to the street. The leaves suddenly started browning on the street side. The cause could be from accessive salt that was spread from all the snow this past winter. The leaves on the tree on the house side opposite the street are still alive and well. This is probably the right diagnosis but one cannot be sure until a soil test is completed to see how much salt is in the soil and the PH. The immediate recommendation is to water each night to dilute the salt if that is the issue and see if the tree responds over time. The leaves on this Jap Maple started to brown just after the 9 day drought and extreme heat – also most likely contributing to the trees quick decline.