Essential Tree Care Tips - Keep Your Tree Healthy

Ways to Growing a Healthy Tree

By

Updated on January 29, 2020

There are certain things a tree owner must know to keep trees healthy and in the very best condition. Read these tree care essentials for a basic overview of keeping a tree healthy over its natural and predicted biological life span.

01

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Limit Staking Your Tree

tree stake — (Claire Higgins/Getty Images)

Tree staking is never done with the intention of harming a tree. Staking is usually done with love and with a desire to promote root and trunk growth and protect a young tree from harm. What some tree planters do not understand is, rather than helping a tree develop root and trunk growth, improper tree staking replaces a supportive trunk and root system with an artificial support that causes the tree to put its resources into growing taller but not growing wider.

02

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Transplant Your Tree

gardener transplanting young tree — Gardener transplanting young cherry tree (Prunus) into new position, September. (Richard Clark/Getty Images)

Tree owners often need to move or transplant trees from a nursery or within the yard. Yard trees may have been planted too thickly or threaten to outgrow available space. Size is a critical factor in transplanting. The larger a tree, the more difficult it is to transplant.

03

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Protect a Tree's CRZ

Critical Root Zone of a tree — Critical Root Zone. (Athens-Clarke County Community Tree Program, Georgia)

Before starting a mulching project, become familiar the critical root zone (CRZ) or tree protection zone. This zone is generally defined as the area under a tree and out to its dripline. Improving conditions in this protection zone will also result in major health benefits to a tree.

04

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Mulch Your Tree

Mulching is the most beneficial thing a home owner can do for the health of a young tree. Mulches are materials placed on the soil surface to improve soil structure, oxygen levels, temperature and moisture availability. Properly applied, mulch can give landscapes a handsome, well-groomed appearance.

05

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Fertilize Your Tree

hand holding compost — Compost. (ERNESTO BENAVIDES/Getty Images)

Ideally, growing trees should be fertilized throughout the year. The greatest amounts should be applied during the early spring and summer months. Several light applications a year are preferred as the tree gets older.

06

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Prune Your Tree

woman pruning a tree — (Jupiterimages/Getty Images)

Pruning is essential in developing a tree with a strong structure and desirable form. Here are several methods showing you how to prune your trees.

07

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Prevent Ice and Snow Damage to Trees

Icicles on red berries — (Oleksandra Korobova/Getty Images)

Brittle tree species normally take the brunt of heavy icing after a winter storm. Many of the elms, most true poplars, silver maples, birches, willows and hack-berries are tree species that simply can't handle the weight of the ice slurry coating limbs. Learn how to select and manage trees to withstand ice and snow.

08

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Winterize Your Tree

tree covered in snow — (Wikimedia Commons)

Trees in fall are beginning their dormant phase. Trees may seem to be inactive but the fact is they need to be winterized - protected and cared for to remain healthy, free from diseases and insects.

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Nix, Steve. "Essential Tree Care Tips - Keep Your Tree Healthy." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/essential-tree-care-tips-1342701. Nix, Steve. (2023, April 5). Essential Tree Care Tips - Keep Your Tree Healthy. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/essential-tree-care-tips-1342701 Nix, Steve. "Essential Tree Care Tips - Keep Your Tree Healthy." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/essential-tree-care-tips-1342701 (accessed June 9, 2023).