A newly planted sapling requires special care to ensure that it thrives in its new home. Transplanting a tree can be shocking for the tree. It may lose leaves, its roots will change, and it may be affected by temperature swings and other factors. But with proper care, your tree will have a good chance of survival. That’s why we’re taking a moment today to talk about care that you can take to ensure that your young sapling develops into a sturdy, full-grown tree. If you recall, in our last blog we talked about the care we take in planting trees here at JRP Services. We’re ecstatic to help you implement trees throughout your landscape. And we’re here to help you to maintain the health of those freshly planted trees. Let’s dig into some tips and tricks that you can employ to ensure that your tree thrives.
Fertilization
As we mentioned last time, it’s important that your tree is properly fertilized. Trees, like all plants, require nutrients to thrive. That’s why we always add fertilizer to the backfill dirt that we use. But as your tree ages, you’ll need to ensure that your tree has sufficient fertilizer throughout its lifetime. Until your tree is well established, it’s a good idea to fertilize the roots of your tree once per year. Hire a landscaping outfit that can help. Your tree care provider can assess the quality of the soil surrounding your trees, and mixtures of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus may be added to promote tree health.
Watering
A young tree is thirsty! When you transplant a tree, the soil surrounding the tree can be especially dry, making it difficult for roots to grow. You’ll have to water your tree to ensure that its roots aren’t suffering. If you have a freshly planted tree, water it twice per day or as your tree care provider advises. Cut back your watering habits to once per day over the next two weeks. Once the tree has spent two weeks in its new home, you can water once per week. Watering helps to compact the soil around the tree, providing much needed structure to a tree with previously contained roots. In addition, since several roots will be cut in the tree planting process, your tree will need some extra water to repair these roots and catch up on its normal growth process. Once your tree’s roots have branched out, your tree will be able to tap into water resources more easily; therefore, you won’t have to water the tree as much to keep it alive and healthy.
Support
New trees often require support. A bit of wind or a big downpour can end up uprooting your tree. To prevent tree damage and uprooting, you can strap your new tree to posts (or we can do it for you!). To support your tree, you’ll want to drive a few landscaping posts into the ground, and then use wire or rope (wire is most common) and a tree strap to keep the tree from moving due to wind and weather. Be sure to use straps, since they’re designed to keep from damaging the bark of a tree.
JRP Services Tree Care
Here at JRP Services, we’re proud to be your source for tree care. If you need a tree planted, we can help you. If you need to revive a tree, we can help. If you need tree pruning, we can do that too. We provide all-inclusive tree care services for folks throughout the Houston area. Count on us to care for both your young and old trees.