Every year as seasons change, so do the tasks required to keep our yards healthy. We prepare soil for new plantings in the spring, mow in the summer, rake leaves in the fall, and catch up on lawn equipment maintenance over winter. As the seasons change, tree care changes as well.
One of the best things you can do to keep trees healthy and looking good is to understand their seasonal needs. Alternatively, you can hire tree care experts to care for the trees growing at your home or commercial property.
Winter
Trees either go dormant in the winter (deciduous trees) or stop actively growing but keep their leaves (evergreen trees). Trees don’t have many maintenance needs during the winter, but there are some things you’ll still want to do, depending on the tree and the weather.
Monitor for Damage
Winter weather can damage trees. Freezing conditions might cause winter die off. Branches that die during the winter become brittle and are more likely to fall, possibly causing damage. Keep an eye out for branches with cracks, dry or brittle wood, and smooth patches where the bark is missing. Those can be signs that part of the tree has died over winter. A professional arborist will be able to give you advice on how to manage trees with winter damage.
You May Need to Water
Even though trees aren’t actively growing, they still have water needs. In areas with dry winters, water a few times during the winter to help keep trees healthy. Water only when the temperature is above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Water deeply during midday, and give the ground time to dry out completely between waterings.
Prune Certain Trees
Winter is the best time to prune some types of trees. For deciduous trees, it’s easier to see with the leaves gone. You’ll have an easier time seeing dead or damaged limbs, crossing branches, and the overall shape of the tree. For both deciduous and evergreen trees, pruning when dormant reduces the shock to the plant. Just don’t prune spring-flowering trees in the winter (since that will reduce the number of flowers) or sap-producing trees (since sticky winter sap can gum up your tools).
Spring
In the spring, trees start actively growing again and their maintenance needs change. If you want to hire an arborist to inspect your trees, try to book them early because this is one of the busy seasons of the year for them.
Check Branches and Cleanup
As trees start to green up in the spring, take some time to inspect for dead or damaged branches you might not have caught during the winter. Prune out dead and damaged limbs to help keep the tree healthy and prevent them from falling later. Also, clean up fallen branches around your trees.
Prune Early or Later
If you didn’t prune trees during the winter, there’s still time in early spring to prune while trees are dormant. For most trees and shrubs, it’s best to prune them before they start growing. For azaleas, Texas Mountain Laurel, and other spring-blooming trees, wait to prune until later in the spring after they are done flowering.
Feed the Trees
Spring is a good time to apply slow-release tree fertilizer around the base of your trees. Be sure to read and follow label instructions carefully. At the same time, use topsoil to fill any places where the soil around trees sank or cracked. Also, water the trees thoroughly near the beginning of spring (unless you’ve had plenty of rain already).
Summer
The main thing to do for trees in Texas during the summer is to them cope with the heat. If you’ve been following other tree-care tips throughout the year, then your trees will already be healthy and have a good start toward weathering the hot summers well.
Water Properly
The water needs of trees vary by species. Some trees will do fine even in drought conditions, while others need supplemental watering. Look up your specific type of tree to learn its water needs. The exception to this rule is young or newly planted trees. They’ll need more water than full-grown trees because they are still establishing their root systems. When the weather is hot, water new trees for 2 to 3 minutes (enough to thoroughly soak the soil) in the early morning or late evening every 2 to 3 days. If it rains, adjust your watering schedule accordingly.
Mulch Trees
Mulching trees is a good way to help them weather the heat. Mulch helps shade the soil and reduces water lost to evaporation. You can mulch in the spring when you fertilize trees, or wait until summer. When mulching, make sure the mulch is not touching the base of the trunk. You want to leave a little space around the trunk to reduce the risk of fungus, disease, and decay. Apply mulch in a layer 3 to 4 inches deep to a diameter of at least 3 feet.
Monitor for Pests and Disease
You can start monitoring trees for pests and diseases in the spring and continue through summer into the fall. Keep an eye out for insects, insect damage, discolored leaves, or unusual spots. If you suspect a tree has a disease, the best thing to do is call a professional arborist to inspect the tree.
Fall
As the weather starts to cool, trees head into dormancy. Deciduous trees drop their leaves, creating a new lawn-care task.
Keep Up with Watering and Feeding
Depending on the type of fertilizer you used in the spring, the package instructions may have told you to keep applying the fertilizer every few months during the spring, summer, and fall. Make sure you keep up with fertilizer application until the trees go dormant later in the year. The same is true for water. You won’t need to water as much as the weather cools and trees go dormant, but you’ll still need to keep up with watering trees, especially young trees.
Clean Up
Pruning in the fall isn’t generally a good idea, but you should clean out any dead, diseased, or damaged branches that you notice. If you have deciduous trees that shed their leaves, you’ll also need to clean up the fallen leaves. Modern leaf blowers make this task easy, and they’re much less noisy (especially the battery-powered models) than older leaf blowers.
Year-Round Texas Tree Care
Trees are generally low-maintenance plants, but keeping up with seasonal care tasks will help them stay healthy and beautiful for many years. If you’re ever unsure about what your tree needs—or there’s a task that you can’t handle on your own, such as trimming branches high above the ground—make sure you call a professional arborist.
