Spring tree and shrub care

As Spring inches closer and the urge to prepare the garden space and plan landscaping changes grows stronger, the City of Ritzville tree board would like to offer some helpful hints, suggestions and reminders regarding care and planting of your tree or shrub species.

First, to cover the care of your existing plants followed by a few suggestions on species that you may want to add to your landscape or use to replace plants that you’ve lost. If you didn’t get around to pruning your trees and shrubs prior to winter, now may be a good time to finish shaping some of your plants that may need to be re-trained for aesthetics and overall plant health.

Prune for symmetry remove winter damaged limbs and inspect plants for insect or disease damage. Remove suckers from species that are prone to developing them. Suckers rob the main plant of needed energy and create plant tissue that is generally inferior and prone to damage.

You may want to consider testing the soil near your plants so that you can determine if you need to add micro-nutrients or just the standard macro-nutrients found in most fertilizer products. This may be especially important if you’ve noticed a decrease in plant vigor without finding evidence of pest, disease or water stress.

Keep the following suggestions in mind when you are planning on adding new plants, or just replacing those that have been lost to disease or other causes

• Remember to be mindful of the location that you are planting in. Look up for wires and think about what is below the level of the ground.

• Is your selected species too tall for the location?

• Will it interfere with utilities or potentially cause damage to a neighboring property if something happens to it?

• Is your selected species prone to self-pruning (loss of lower limbs)?

• Is it too close to the sidewalk or street and liable to cause damage?

• Remember to consider the location of underground utilities that the roots may interfere with them.

Select species that have characteristics for water use and general adaptability for our region. Species such as Lewis Mock Orange (Philadephus lewisii) and Common Lilac are quite lovely and drought tolerant. If your taste runs to the more unusual, you may consider species such as Apache Plume. Consider switching to a xeric landscape scheme and give up lawn water to help establish shrubs and native forb species. If you have the room for a tree, you may want to consider species such as Pinyon Pine or Burr-Gambel Oak in addition to the standard Ponderosa Pine or Maple.

If you prefer to have an edible landscape, dwarf varieties of common fruit species are usually abundant and generally easy to care for. Remember that some species in your existing landscape may be the reservoir for fruit tree diseases or pests. For the more adventurous edible landscape planners, the addition of dwarf variety nut trees such as almonds of filberts may be the way to go. The best advice is to educate yourself about the pros and cons of your intended selection.

Care of mature trees should not include topping. Topping a tree removes the majority of the crown leaf matter that serves as the food source of the tree and triggers a ‘starvation’ mode for the tree where a survival mechanism forces lateral buds to form multiple shoots below the pruning cut. This mechanism uses up most of the energy store by the tree from past growing seasons and if the tree does not have sufficient reserves, it will lead to stress, which increases the chance of disease and death.

Topping is also expensive. Beyond the initial expense of the topping procedure the resulting multiple lateral bud growths increase the probability the tree will need to be pruned in the next few years. The multiple branches produced from topping are usually weaker limbs susceptible to storm damage, causing additional risk and expense to homeowners. Topping is considered an unacceptable pruning practice and personal or property damage resulting from the procedure may result in a finding of negligence from a court of law.

If you find that you have to reduce the height and spread of a mature tree, consult with a certified arborist. Ask what alternatives there are to topping and if they insist that topping is your only option, find another arborist. An arborist that is certified with the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) are experienced and are also required to pass examinations regarding all aspects of tree care.

One of the primary directives of this board is to provide education and outreach to the community regarding tree care. The board needs your ideas on what information you want them to provide. For example, providing seasonal plant care workshops on pruning, planting and winterizing or the feasibility of rainwater harvesting.

The City of Ritzville Tree Board needs your feedback.

If you have an idea, comment, criticism or advice please send it to Kim Galland, [email protected], please place “Tree Topic” in the subject line. Or write to the board in care of the City of Ritzville, 216 E Main, Ritzville WA 99169.

A final reminder, April 27 is Arbor Day.