Your landscape is your oasis. Nourish it with our comprehensive tree and shrub care services including: expert pruning, removal of hazardous trees, selective limb removal and thinning, stump grinding, cabling and bracing, pest control, plant disease evaluation and treatment, and fertilization and soil care.

Healthy trees are beautiful trees, so contact us now for a free estimate.

Outdoor Pest Control

Fertilization & Soil Care

Tree removal

Removal of dangerous dead wood

Thinning (or heading back) of tree canopy

Raising limbsor removing sucker growth

Fruit tree pruning

Repairing splits or cabling and bracing

Cutting away decayed wood

Wound repair

Treatment for disease and fungal infections

Pest and soil management

Soil and leaf analysis

Installation oflightning protection systems

Stump grinding and removal

Pest and freeze protection for evergreens and shrubbery

Landscape management for irrigation and overall health

Healthy trees are beautiful trees.

Managing ornamental shrubs and trees

Inject trees over 4" diameterand higher than 25 feet to prevent drift of pesticides

Shrubbery under 25 feet tall managed with sprays

Bait control for rodents

Keepingup with pests from your neighborhood with pheromonetraps

Recommend herbicides for weed control in landscapes and walkways and driveways

Staying on top of pest control problems is our priority.

Micronutrient injections and liquid feeding

Organic and chemical fertilizers

Irrigation timersrepair and installation

Tree dry and liquid feeding

Irrigation managementand supervision

Irrigation line repair

Athens Tree and Shrub can work with your commercial facilitymanagerto maintain the beauty and health of trees, shrubs and soilin your apartment complex, business, orshopping center.

Leaveyour outdoor plant management to us so your facility manager can focus on more important things.

Please contact us for a free estimate.

Contact us for a Free Estimate

or call 740-667-0010

Originally posted here:
Tree and Shrub Care Service | Athens Tree & Shrub ...

Here at Schneider, we are studying pathogens and aspects that affect them so that we can properly identify and treat diseases in your landscape. Diseases can be unpredictable; they wont be present one day, but will pop up unexpectedly the next! Some diseases will affect only the foliage of your plants, while others are more subtle (and more deadly) like root rot diseases.

Foliage diseases are usually more prevalent during the springtime when moisture is high and temperatures are between sixty and eighty degrees. If a pathogen attaches itself to a leaf, it will spread out over the surface, causing the leaf to die. When leaves die, it causes stress in the plant. Why? Because the plant cannot go through the photosynthesis process and create energy for itself! The best control for foliage diseases is preventative treatment. Applying fungicides in the spring when all the factors are present for disease growth will help control these pathogens.

Properly identifying diseases is extremely important; we can apply the property product to control the disease once it has been identified correctly. Application without identification is harmful to the environment and a waste of money! We make sure we accurately identify the disease affecting your plants so that we can develop a management plan for your property.

We use application methods that target the areas of the plant where the pathogen is most likely to be. For foliar diseases, we will target the developing leaves of the plant during the spring season. For root rot diseases, we will apply a product to the root zone of the tree.

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Residential Shrub & Tree Disease Diagnosis and Treatment ...

Tree disease protection begins with a comprehensive inspection of your landscape by one of our ISA certified arborists. During this inspection, your arborist will be able to determine the overall health of the landscape and recommend appropriate disease or other treatments which can improve the condition of your trees and shrubs and preserve the vitality of your property.

Our programs are custom-designed for your property to maximize the health and beauty of your landscape by accounting for site-specific conditions. Tree disease treatment is only effective when targeted for type of tree, specific disease, and desired outcome.

Most tree diseases are caused by fungi which thrive during moist, warm weather common at the start of the growing season. Properly timed treatment can prevent the production, growth and spread of spores that cause tree diseases.

Our certified arborists will act as experienced tree doctors who diagnose and treat many types of tree diseases:

There are many diseases affecting fruit trees. Although they vary by host and life cycle, the treatments are usually very similar. Blights, scabs, rots, leaf spots and rusts all occur on species of apple, pear, cherry, peach, nectarine and plum. These fruit tree diseases can affect leaves, stems and, of course, fruit.

Our fruit tree treatments follow a protocol developed by several leading universities, utilizing varying products and the minimum number of treatments required to facilitate a productive harvest.

Needle cast has become a major tree disease resulting in severe and lasting damage to many varieties of evergreen trees. Caused by several species of fungi, these diseases target Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens), white spruce (P. glauca), white fir (Abies concolor), several species of pine (Pinus spp.), hemlock (Tsuga), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and cedar (Cedrus).

Wet spring seasons with mild temperatures encourage the growth and spread of these tree diseases. Symptoms may first appear on lower, interior branches, where needles will look purple to yellow before browning and dying. Needle cast symptoms will gradually progress from the base of the tree towards the crown and from the interior spread to outer stems. Younger, smaller trees are at higher risk of mortality from these diseases. Proper watering, nutrition and pruning can help prevent infection. However, once infected needle cast may be managed through treatments including removal of dead or dying limbs and/or appropriate application of technical materials.

SavATree has programs and treatments which can help prevent and treat other common tree diseases including dogwood and sycamore anthracnose, Dutch elm disease, bacterial tree diseases and more.

Sphaeropsis tip blight, formerly known as Diplodia, is a fungal tree disease most commonly affecting Austrian pines (Pinus nigra), Scotch pine (P. sylvestris), ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa) and mugo pine (P. mugo). This tree disease will occur on well-established plantings and those already under stress.

Symptoms include stunting and browning of current years growth, which after several consecutive years will stunt the trees entire growth. Initially identified on lower branches, the blight will make its way progressively towards the crown. Proper care and maintenance can help prevent infection. Once afflicted, disease treatments can include removal of dead or dying limbs and/or appropriate application of technical materials.

Sycamore anthracnose is a common tree disease that results in extensive defoliation, shoot dieback, and twig death of your sycamore trees. This can happen especially when extended periods of cool and wet weather occur in the spring. Since its very difficult to control through conventional disease treatments, we use a trunk injection that will prevent infection of your sycamore specimens for 3 years.

Call (800) 341-8733 today for a complimentary consultation with SavATrees fully trained professionals and certified arborists. Click here to sign up for a complimentary consultation

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Tree Disease Treatment | Tree Disease Diagnosis | Fungus

Shrub disease protection begins with a comprehensive inspection of your landscape by one of our ISA certified arborists. During this inspection, your arborist will be able to determine the overall health of the landscape and recommend appropriate disease or other treatments which can improve the condition of your trees and shrubs and preserve the vitality of your property.

Fire blight is caused by the bacteria Erwinia amylovora, over 130 members of the Rosaceae family are susceptible, including; apple and crabapple, cotoneaster, firethorn, hawthorn, mountain ash, and pear. Infected leaves, stems, twigs and fruits will turn brown to black. Fire blight will blacken the smooth-barked, green branches and affected twigs develop a shepherds crook.

Needle, tip or twig blights occur on arborvitae, cypress and juniper species turning tips of twigs and ends of needles brown or grey. Black, pimple-like fungal fruiting structures may develop on needle surfaces. These blights can be caused by fungi in the genera Phompsis, Diplodia or Coryneum.

Cercospora species and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides are two of several fungi which cause leaf spot diseases on Rhododendron species and azalea cultivars. Small, irregular brown to black spots will appear on leaves, which will eventually drop prematurely, when infected by Cercospora spp. Lesions caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides are round, brown spots visible on both upper and lower surfaces of leaves. These fungal diseases may first appear as symptoms of winter desiccation.

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Shrub Disease Treatment | SavATree

Birch are deciduous trees that belong to the family Betulaceae. There are around 60 different species of birch that grow around the world. Birch require well-drained soil, enough moisture and direct sunlight for the proper growth. It usually grows near lakes and rivers. Birch is known as pioneer species because it easily populates habitats destroyed by fire. This plant is mainly cultivated because of its ornamental beauty and high-quality wood. Out of 60 birch species, 11 are listed as endangered mainly due to habitat destruction and various fungal diseases. Common birch in our area are yellow birch, river birch, white/paper birch, and the weeping birch.

Birch are medium-sized trees that can reach 30 to 50 feet in height. Some species may grow to the height of 80 feet under appropriate conditions. Birch have green leaves that are oval or elliptical in shape. Leaves are single or double serrated on the edges. Bark of the birch can be white, grey, yellow, silver or black in color. Young trees have smooth bark. Deep ridges on the bark are characteristic for the older plants. Bark of all birch species (except Grey Birch) peels off in long horizontal strips. Birch have shallow root systems which can damage sidewalks and roads in urban areas. Individual flowers are arranged in long clusters known as catkins. They hang from the branches during the summer. Birch trees produce fruit called samara which can release around 1 million seeds each year. Wood of birch tree is highly flammable. It can catch a fire even when it is wet. Because of that, birch tree is used as high-quality firewood. Birch tree can live from 30 to 200 years, depending on the species, quality of the soil and climate. Pollen of the birch tree is responsible for 15 to 20% cases of hay fever in northern hemisphere.

The most widespread pest on birches is the bronze birch borer. The birch leaf miner and the Japanese Beetle are also commonly found on birches. Other pests on birch trees include aphids, caterpillars, leafhoppers, sawflies and worms. Birch trees are susceptible to several fungal and bacterial diseases that cause leaf blisters, leaf spots and leaf rust.

Originally posted here:
Birch Tree Facts|Birch Tree Disease Treatment Milwaukee

Maintainer Care from Lawn Doctor is aimed at protecting trees (under 20 feet tall) and foundation plantings(plant beds and landscaping found around your home) to give you the best in tree and shrub care.

The Tree and Shrub Care Maintainer Program includes:

Your local Lawn Doctor experts aim to keep plants healthy and thriving throughout the year, in addition to monitoring plants for indications of disease or insects. Our local experts in trees and shrub care use their expertise regarding dangers common to your area so that any symptoms can get treatment immediately and pests can be identified as well as controlled.

From palm trees to evergreens, fertilization assists plants (particularly young plants) in growing at ideal rates. Healthy plants and trees also resist disease and insects more naturally. Lawn Doctors treeand shrub care also applies specially chosen nutrients to enhance the appearance and growth of your plants. It is important to pay continual attention to shrubs and trees since lacking just one nutrient could result in the death of your plants. Foliage may not be a reliable sign of the health of your plants.

Lawn Doctors Guarantee

If any of our applications of lawn care fail to achieve the desired results, just let us know. As your Lawn Doctor franchise operated locally, well make it right.

Lawn Doctor is the top choice for Tree and Shrub Care and Outdoor Pest Control services.

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Tree and Shrub Care - Protect From Insects & Disease|Lawn ...

Toadstools, puffballs, dwarf benches and mushrooms are just a few of the names given to describe some of the fungi that can be affecting the health of your trees.

Formerly thought of as a group of simple plants lacking chlorophyll, fungi are now classified as a separate kingdom of living organisms. Fungi cause disease when a spore germinates on a susceptible host under the appropriate environmental conditions, producing hyphae (threads of fungal tissue) that enter and feed on the host.

Tree diseases caused by fungi can be broken down into four broad categories:

Root and Butt Rot Diseases The diseases in this category infect and kill roots and cause decay of the roots and trunks of trees. These diseases can seriously impair the structural integrity of the trees they infect resulting in total tree failure often with little advanced notice.

Canker Diseases These diseases commonly enter through wounds or branch stubs. The pathogen infects the bark tissue resulting in a sunken or discolored area of bark on branches or stems. Since many canker infections originate through branch stubs, the use of proper pruning techniques is very important in the prevention of canker diseases.

Foliar / Shoot Diseases These types of diseases are some of the most commonly encountered plant diseases. Symptoms range from small spots to large blotches on leaves and needles and death of entire leaves, needles and shoots. Impact to plant health from foliar and shoot diseases can range from minor aesthetic damage to death of entire plants.

Vascular Wilts Trees die quickly when wilts invade their vascular system, interrupting the transport of water and nutrients.

Management Options Since fungal tree diseases cannot be treated in a curative fashion, management efforts must focus on prevention. The best defense against tree pathogens is a healthy tree. Tree and site selection, watering during periods of drought, and regular maintenance fertilization are the keys to maintaining healthy landscape trees. Fungicides are technical materials that control certain foliar/shoot diseases by inhibiting the growth of fungi when applied preventively (before infection occurs).

An integrated plant management (IPM) program such as SavATrees Arbor Patrol Program incorporates cultural, biological, and chemical control measures through routine monitoring of both the trees and pathogens. The selection of the appropriate method(s) of control is based upon the overall impact of the disease on plant health and landscape aesthetics.

This overview of the fungi that infect trees barley scratches the surface of the fungal world. Please consult with your arborist to determine the best course of action to protect your landscape.

Click or call today to arrange a complimentary consultation from our fully trained and certified arborists for tree service, tree fungus treatment and tree pruning from SavATree. Click here to contact the office nearest you.

Read more here:
Tree Fungus Treatment & Identification | SavATree

WHAT ABOUT "DORMANT OIL" SPRAYS?

We are often asked about dormant oil sprays. They are still routinely applied by many companies and can be beneficial in some cases. We have largely abandoned the use of oil sprays for a number of reasons:

1. Dormant oil sprays are promoted as a less toxic alternative to the use of insecticides and miticides. In fact, they are less likely to harm beneficial insects and if applied properly, with correct timing and technique can help to control scale insects and possibly cool season mites. They may also be effective for some adelgids. Our experience has been that even with good equipment and good technique, control has been limited and disappointing to us and our customers.

2. Oils work by "smothering" the insects or mites. In order for this to happen, a continuous layer of oil must be applied to all the plant tissues and must persist for long enough to kill the pest. The optimal conditions for this to happen include a specific temperature range at the time of application, correct humidity conditions and the timing has to be right to contact the pest during a vulnerable stage of its life cycle.

3. Oils can cause damage to some evergreens and some tissues and young foliage on deciduous trees. In many cases, this damage is worse than the damage of the pest being treated.

4. Oils can damage surfaces of houses, lawn furniture, vehicles, swing sets, etc. and it is difficult to keep the spray off of those surfaces when spraying even smaller trees.

5. It is virtually impossible to get adequate coverage of large trees for oils to work, even with excellent equipment and experienced applicators.

We have found that we can achieve excellent control of soft scale insects on very large trees with trunk injection of insecticides. There is long term control, no adverse effects on beneficial insects, and no environmental toxicity.

Mites can be treated with specific miticides. Adelgids can be treated with systemic, soil injected or drenched insecticides that have very low toxicity and do not damage surfaces or healthy foliage.

Excerpt from:
Tree and Shrub Spraying

By Lucy Fry

Crapemyrtles are unquestionably the most popular ornamental trees in the Southern landscape, offering something for every season colorful flowers in summer, brilliant foliage in autumn and interesting brown exfoliating bark in winter.

And they cope with Mother Natures heat indexes of 110 and drought conditions by producing huge fragrant panicles of crinkled white, pink, red and lavender flowers.

A drive around town reveals how much Fort Smith loves its crape myrtles. They are everywhere in parks, along highways, in small yards and large estate landscapes, on campuses and in front of businesses.

But lurking behind this beautiful summer display is a threat its called crape myrtle bark scale. It begins as tiny white or gray felt-like encrustations on small twigs and even large trunks often near pruning wounds or in branch crotches on older wood. Then it gives off sticky honeydew and finally turns into a black sooty mold on the bark. (Although it is sometimes mistaken for a severe aphid problem, it is not.)

This insect arrived in Arkansas via Texas and last year invaded the river valley with a vengeance that many crape myrtle growers remember all too well.

Several neighbors and friends have already spotted it this year and are considering topping their trees so that they can reach and clean the nasty little scale. This sounded so desperate that an imminent email to Plant Doctor Sherrie Smith (her real title is University of Arkansas plant diagnostician) was necessary for any new recommendations or remedies for controlling this pest.

As expected, she replied immediately: We have not added anything new. If the grower uses one of the systemic insecticides recommended, there is no need to top the crape myrtle.

Here are the UA Cooperative Extension Services recommendations:

It does not appear that crape myrtle bark scale will be easy to control, though soil-applied neo-nicotinoids do provide significant suppression. Our current best suggestions for control include:

For heavily infested plants, wash the trunk and reachable limbs with a soft brush and mild solution of dishwashing soap. This will remove many of the female scales and egg masses and make insecticide control more effective. Also, washing will remove much of the black mold that builds up on the bark on infested trees.

Horticultural oil has not yet been shown to be effective against this insect; however, a winter application of dormant oil to the bark and crotches of the plants where scales shelter may be beneficial. Be sure to use sufficient volume to allow for penetration behind loose bark and into cracks and crevices. Winter is an especially good time to treat for scales because a higher (winter) application rate can be used without damaging the plant. Thorough coverage of the tree is especially important when treating with oil.

Application of systemic insecticides as a drench applied to the root zone has shown the most promise in tests to date. Imidacloprid (Merit or Bayer Advanced Garden Tree and Shrub Insect Control), thiomethoxam (Meridian) and dinotefuran (Greenlight Tree and Shrub Insect Control with Safari) have shown best control when applied between May and July. When drenching the soil with a systemic insecticide, allow several weeks for the product to be distributed throughout the plant. Additionally, acetamiprid and clothianidin, also neonicotinoids, have demonstrated good control.

Lady beetles should be preserved, as the twice-stabbed lady beetle is an efficient predator of this scale.

Twice-stabbed lady beetles (black with two red spots on their backs) are a gardeners friend thanks to their ability to hunt and consume plant-harming bugs, primarily scales, at an astonishing rate.

If fact, your garden will benefit from plants that attract friendly beetles and ladybugs that consume aphids with a vengeance. These plants include dill, cilantro, wild carrot, angelica, cosmos, yarrow, geranium and (most gardeners will hesitate before using this one) dandelions.

So, to all you desperate crape myrtle fans: Leave your chainsaw in the garage, pull on your gloves, scrub and treat your trees and pray for an invasion of the twice-stabbed lady beetle.

Next week, the topic will be: saving the pollinators one stamp or one plant at a time.

Lucy Fry of Fort Smith is a level 4 Master Gardener and writes the area Master Gardener newsletter. Her column, Gardening for the Record, runs weekly in the Times Record. Send questions to gardeningfortherecord@gmail.com.

Read more:
Gardening for the Record: Protect crape myrtles; bark scale is back in town - Times Record

Cercis uncertainty

In the last four to five days my Judas tree has developed a patch of browning, dying leaves, mysteriously on one side only, with no sign of an obvious cause. Rosemary Whitt, via email

The picture you sent showed amature Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum), one of whose two stems seems, as you fear, to be dying. This sudden collapse is possibly due to verticillium wilt to which this cercis is susceptible. Various wilts are responsible for all sorts of tree and shrub deaths: cotinus is notoriously prone and I have a friend whose mighty Eleagnus Quicksilver went this way, a branch at a time.

It is hard to be sure about wilts. If you chop off an affected branch, there may be a telltale brown/black stain running trough the wood which would indeed indicate that it is the cause of the problem, but if this is not obvious it is tempting to think that there may be something else wrong that will miraculously right itself. You could try to stay ahead of the game by removing the dying half of the tree. You might just save it, while leaving it a rather strange shape from which it might recover in time. I presume you have already taken a good look at the tree at ground level, to see if it one of its trunks has somehow been injured realistically, the only other cause of the problem.

I am planning to plant an ornamental birch in my garden in the autumn and have been looking around at the many different ways other people support their trees. What do you recommend? Anita Oliver, via email

Researchers have found that young tree trunks will thicken up more quickly where they are allowed to bend slightly in the wind, so depending on the size of your tree and on how sheltered your garden is, it may not need staking at all. However, if necessary, a short, slanting stake is recommended for container-grown trees, while a short straight one is suitable for those that are planted bare-rooted. The reason is logical: it would be easy to damage the roots of a container-grown tree by banging a stake right through the middle of the root ball. However, a stake driven in at an angle after the tree is planted avoids this risk. The top of a slanting stake should face into the wind, and a straight stake should be on the windward side, too, with 2ft (60cm) of the stake below ground and about the same above.

Tree ties are often wrongly fitted. You can see exactly how this bit of kit is used on YouTube look at Sue Beesleys demonstration How to fit a tree tie. Ties should be checked and adjusted annually. After three years the tree should have made enough new roots to become stable, and stakes can then be removed.

Read the rest here:
Helen Yemm: plum problems, wilting Judas, support for trees - Telegraph.co.uk