JT’s Tree Tips

April 2022

At least we got some rain Sunday night. But after nothing at all for over 80 days we may be in real trouble later this year.

REMEMBER: The Cherry Blossom Festival is this month on Saturday April 30 and Sunday May 1. Join us and work on your trees for the show coming on Saturday, October 1st at the same location: the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino. We hope everybody will show at our club show and we can help you prepare.

Spring Growth

Spring doesn’t wait on storms. Its pushing everywhere. I’ve been transplanting and refreshing the top soil on many of my trees. Also it’s been a great time to catch the new emerging shoots as they are extending. Every morning and evening, I go around and pinch off the extending shoots on my refined trees. They don’t all come out at once from all areas of the tree. I guess I can’t use the lame excuse that I don’t have the time to do it. About forty-five minutes, morning and afternoon seems about right. Try it. I bet you feel more connected with your trees. At the same time, look for bugs that love the tender new shoots, and scale, which are easy to scrape off.

Deciduous trees are flush with new growth except for beeches. Pine candles are extending and evergreens have light green growth at the tips. I always have some branches that just die but that’s par for the course. They are starting to take more water each day as the foliage expands and increases.

Pest control

With the warmer weather, succulent growth accelerates and sucking insects will come out in droves. When it is dry for a day or so we need to be thinking of spraying for insects and diseases. Clearys 3336 or Daconil (fungus) and Merit (insects) are good choices. A couple of applications this month in the late evening or early morning (to avoid burning the foliage) should do the trick. Be prepared to spray for aphids and the like with Malathion® or Diazinon® or even Safer® soap. Ants are a good tip-off for this condition. They harvest the honeydew from these insects. I found that Bayer has a product called 12 Month Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed ™ that contains Merit® and will also take out grubs and larva that feed on our trees’ roots.

See a lot of slime trails around? Slugs and snails are not only chewing the plants but they are laying eggs in the soil. I have used a product called Sluggo® whose active ingredient is iron phosphate and it is the most effective treatment I have ever used. A little more expensive than some others but it really works. Plus it is safe to use around pets.

Don’t forget the tropical and semi tropical trees that do best when transplanted in the warmer weather of later spring. And, how about repotting some of the broadleaf evergreens. I find that some evergreen oaks and boxwoods do well when transplanted in the early Summer after hardening off the Spring growth. And here you thought you had escaped the transplanting season.

Water and Fertilizing

Now, as the trees push leaves and shoots they start to really drink up the water so be sure you are there to provide it. Don’t let the tree go to the point of letting the foliage dry and droop as this weakens the cells and can retard the growth of the tree.

You should be fertilizing your young trees in the early base developing phase early in the year when you don’t care about size of leaves or inter-nodal length and are just interested in enlarging the size and girth of the trunk.

On well developed and finished stage trees, wait until the initial growth has hardened before you cut back and fertilize—usually about May. If you have just transplanted a tree, wait until it throws out leaves by itself before stimulating it with fertilizer. I believe that a weak application of fertilizer given constantly is more effective and better for the health of the tree than periodic heavy doses. The tree can take what it needs and you don’t run the risk of turning your soil into a toxic chemical dump.

We will be wiring longer shoots in May and June as well as other chores so stay tuned.

Hope to see you all soon.