Seasonal Tree Care – Summer Checklist

Help your trees maintain their health with a seasonal checklist.

Prune: When pruning trees in summer, cut conservatively. Remove heat damaged and dead branches. It’s time to shear hedges for improved geometrics and shape smaller shrubs and trees growing at odd shapes, but hold off on large scale pruning until cold weather and dormancy sets in. Trees with open pruning wounds could be vulnerable this time of year to disease or insect invasions, but removal of dead branches won’t harm the tree. Remove high risk trees that may be subject to rot or other disease. Remove low growing branches for fire suppression, so grass fires have less of a chance of igniting your trees.

Pruning your trees regularly is important to remove dead and dying branches and safely maintaining a tree in its space. Appropriate seasonal pruning reduces competition between trees if they are planted close to each other and allows increased airflow and sunlight for tree health.

Inspect: This is a great time to inspect trees for signs of heat, disease and insect damage. If you have a water conserving irrigation system, it’s time to check your hoses and connections for signs of wear. Water leaking out at the wrong point can lead to saturated roots, and water consumption at this time of year needs to be monitored carefully.

Soil Care: It’s time to check your soil to make sure it is nutrient rich for tree health. Avoid fertilizing trees in the summer months when they are stressed by drought, but adding rich compost over the soil around the trunk, watering the soil in, then mulching can deliver nutrition while surface mulch protects exposed roots.

Prepare your trees: As we can experience high winds this time of year, it’s a good idea to brace limbs so they don’t break. If cabling and bracing mature trees is something you need help with, call our team. After an assessment of your trees, we may suggest upper crown reduction or one of our other tree maintenance services.

Municipal and commercial queries are welcome. We have full WCB coverage and over 40 years of experience in our industry. Our certified utility arborists are ready to work for you, maximizing the safety of parks, roadways and commercial settings.

For more information, please see our Tree and Landscaping Services page.