Organic or synthetic fertilizer: how they differ and what a tree needs
Why a root takes the same nutrients from either bag, how organic and synthetic fertilizers differ in release, salts and soil life, and when a tree needs any.
Topic
Protection & care
Articles on caring for trees: where to cut a branch, what to mulch with, keeping deer, voles and rabbits off the bark, the vines to clear, and what not to do.
Most of what protects a young tree is done in its first three years: a cage or tube, a mulch of leaves and water when rain is short. The watering calculator sets the schedule, and each plant page says what that species needs.
Articles tagged Protection & care
Is my bald cypress dead? The conifers that drop every needle in fall, and when brown means trouble
Why a bald cypress turns brown and bare each fall, what browning in summer means, how pines and spruces shed old needles, and how to tell if the tree is dead.
Native shrubs and trees deer usually leave alone, and why the lists disagree
Which native shrubs and trees deer usually pass by, why deer-resistant lists contradict each other, and which natives need a cage because deer favor them.
Juglone: which plants a black walnut poisons, how far its reach goes, and what to plant beneath it
Why a black walnut kills tomatoes and azaleas, how far and how long its juglone reaches, what to do with leaves and hulls, and which natives thrive under it.
A year-by-year care calendar for a newly planted tree, from the day it arrives to its fifth spring
How much and how long to water a new tree, when guards and wraps go on and come off, when to make the first pruning cut, and how to tell it is growing.
Frost cracks and sunscald: why young bark splits in winter, and what a trunk wrap can and cannot do
Why a young tree's bark splits or dies on its sunny side in winter, which trees are at risk, what a trunk wrap can and cannot prevent, and how cracks close.
Bare-root trees on arrival: the first hour, the first week and the first spring
Bare-root trees on arrival: checking roots, soaking, heeling in, depth and backfill, cages, watering, and how late a first spring can run before a tree is dead.
Photosynthesis without leaves: the green layer under bark
Where the green layer under bark sits, why wet bark shows it, how much of what it fixes is carbon the tree itself has respired, and when it matters most.
Epicormic buds: the sprouts that appear after damage or new sunlight
Trees carry sleeping buds in their bark for decades. A broken top, hard pruning or sudden sun wakes them. What the sprouts mean and what to do with them.
How trees defend themselves
Trees cannot run, so they fight with resin, thorns, tannin, latex, thick bark and stump sprouts. A tour of the defenses, with the debated parts flagged.
Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods
Vines and shrubs topple canopy trees and stop a forest from regenerating. Free the trees first, then the shrubs, then keep after the seedlings for years.
Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy
A forest floor of leaves, twigs and fruit feeds a tree and holds water in ways a wood-chip bed cannot. How to build one in a yard, and where chips still belong.
Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer
A trunk that looks like one stem can be two or three that grew together with bark trapped inside. How clumps form, why fused trunks fail, and what to do early.
Protecting forestland for good
A conservation easement is the tool most private forest owners end up using. What it does and does not do, the weaker tools, and what to ask a land trust.
Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels
Voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels each leave a signature on a young tree. Each has a fix: hardware cloth, cages, pulled-back mulch and guards removed in time.
Pruning at the branch collar, and when to make the cut
Cut just outside the branch collar, never flush and never leaving a stub. How to find the collar, use three cuts instead of one, and pick the right season.
Sapsucker holes and the wasps that follow them
Neat rows of small holes weeping sap are the work of a sapsucker, not a borer. What the bird is doing, who else feeds at the holes, and when it matters.
The habitat around a tree is part of the tree
Leaf litter, stick piles, an exposed root flare and uncompacted soil keep a tree alive for centuries. Nails, straps, fill and parked trucks quietly undo it.
Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection
Move a tree while it is dormant, set the flare high, water deeply for two summers and cage it from day one. Small transplants usually outgrow big ones.
Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees
Most trees that die in their first decade were doomed on planting day. Here are the ten mistakes we see most, starting with planting too deep, and the fixes.
Why new leaves come out red
That bronze-red flush on spring oak and maple leaves is anthocyanin, a sunscreen, not stress. Here is what the pigment is doing and when to actually worry.