One of the biggest challenges consulting arborists face is monitoring. One of Tree Health Management’s goals is to teach our customers how to better monitor their trees. The best outcomes for trees happen when a customer does a good job with monitoring so that their arborist has the most information possible to supplement field observations and discussion. A thorough arborist will get to know your tree as we do a new person, by asking about what’s occurred in the past as we start to piece together the kind of life your tree has had before you called. Getting better at monitoring will help us better care for your landscape together. Gathering pertinent evidence is important, in addition to knowing what is a potentially serious symptom that would warrant calling your arborist. Here are some things to look out for:
You see a new crack forming, or an existing crack expanding
- You find a cavity or a wound, or an injury occurs to the stem of your tree
- You see bark sloughing off
- You can see parts of the tree actively dying or part of the tree doesn’t leaf out
- You find mushrooms on or near your tree
- You see any discoloration on the stem, bark, or leaves or see evidence of leaf damage
- You see any weeping, dripping or slimy excretions
- You see lots of insects in one area of the tree, or find ants making tunnels in your tree
- You think the tree is looking “unwell”
If you observe any of the symptoms above, contact your arborist immediately so your tree can be assessed. Since there may be some lag-time before your arborist arrives, make notes about your findings and take photos if possible. Date observations and correlated photos so that your arborist can track the symptoms.
Notes on observations should include anything you’ve done to your tree, no matter how insignificant you might think it is. A good example of this harkens back to a customer I had in the nursery I worked at in Southern California. The customer claimed to not be able to grow anything in a corner of her yard. After asking every question I could think of, the customer revealed that she frequently had issues with snails and when asked how she was dealing with them she revealed she was dousing them with salt whenever she saw one on her plant. Salt is permanently destructive to soil texture and chemistry and that was the culprit. She was advised to remove and replace her soil and was able to resume gardening in that spot. She obviously quit using salt anywhere near her plants
Taking good notes, photos and keeping track of services purchased from your tree care company is all part of caring for the trees and shrubs on your property. Doing a better job of monitoring will not only reward you with beautiful healthy plants, but you might end up saving yourself money avoiding inappropriate treatments.