August Treecologist Tribune: Why Your Trees Need Some Extra TLC Right Now

As I’m writing this, I’m enjoying what we locals refer to as “First False Fall.” It’s absolutely lovely. I enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning in the pre-dawn chill and watched as the sun slowly painted the morning sky with hues of rose and copper. A brief period of complete silence commenced right before the sky shifted to yellows and blues, and the bumblebees began their hum as they droned between the Partridge Pea blossoms that blanket my front yard. Back to work for the bees, and back to work for me!

Last month a reader suggested that I should begin with the readers’ questions section instead of information about weather, rainfall, and local conditions for trees. I’m going to try this. Let me know if you like this better or if you prefer the old format, starting with the facts.

Marcee sent the following email: “How do we get realtors to factor in the value of a tree when assigning market value to a home and lot? As you know, trees actually add value to the city, not just aesthetic value, but livability due to lower temperatures (in summer) directly under a big tree, thereby affecting the nearby homes and extending to the neighborhood and city. How do we get the information to people who don’t already know it? Is there any way to rein in the widespread habit of taking down big mature trees to build a bigger house? This is not helpful to you! But I’m throwing it out there anyway because I know you are doing everything you can to help us all see the value of trees for their own sake and how their benefits extend in every direction. THANK YOU for all you do! Please keep at it!”

These are excellent questions. I could write an entire essay answering these, but I’ll keep it brief:

• First question regarding realtors: To some extent, home values already account for large trees. Think about this: Here in the Triangle, the most expensive neighborhoods are the ones that have old, mature tree canopies. It’s indirect, but it’s there.
• Second question about awareness: There are so many theories of change and great ways to inspire it. Our preferred approach is twofold: provide education (like our multiple newsletters) and provide opportunities for people to engage in experiential learning, which is the heart of why we began Project Pando.
• Third question about mature trees and home building: Get involved in local politics. It’s more difficult to change state and federal policies (and please don’t give up trying!), but we can steer local politics more easily, even with just a handful of active participants. Local ordinances and HOAs are places where we’ve seen the greatest possibility for change.

What does this look like in actuality? Small actions lead to bigger change. If you’d like to ensure trees are more valued in your community, here are some practical steps:

• Talk with a neighbor, friend, or organization like you did here!
• Present at a local garden club, library, or garden center.
• Contact your HOA or neighborhood association to ask about their tree-planting policies.
• Create and post videos to a website, YouTube channel, or social media. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures.
• Distribute information on neighborhood listservs, online forums, and work communication channels.
• Volunteer with an advocacy organization that keeps on top of state, county, and city ordinances that govern landscaping, construction projects, tree planting efforts, and zoning districts.

Now, let’s talk temperatures, rainfall, and so forth. Temperatures are predicted to rise quickly this week. By the time you receive this, we may be back into the high 90s and low 100s. Luckily, First False Fall was a welcome break for the trees. Lower temperatures and humidity meant they were less stressed and better able to focus on growing, protecting themselves from pest attacks, and producing seeds. Over the past month, we have only had two rain events, one of which was the Tropical Storm Debbie system and the rain that preceded it, which brought around 5” of rain to our area! Aside from that, rainfall has been quite low.

Despite recent cooler temperatures, we are seeing a higher-than-usual rate of tree deaths in the sub/urban space. This is due to the drought and heat from earlier in the summer. Trees often react slowly, which means we’ll continue to see decline and death over the coming months and into the new year. Even those that do not die were stressed by this period. You need to be giving your trees a lot of TLC right now, and you can do this by enhancing the soil in their root zone by adding arborist wood chips, leaves, and compost tea. Or, you can hire us to professionally manage improving the health of your soil. One of the ways we do this is to use an air gun that allows us to “till” the soil in the root zone without damaging the roots. While doing so, we mix in leaf compost and then add 3-4 inches of wood chips on top when we are done. In one session, we can accomplish what might take 10+ years by simply laying compost and wood chips on top.

Before I go, a few more items that may interest you:

• I will be giving a presentation based on my book, From Wasteland to Wonder, at the 2024 Cary Environmental Symposium on Wednesday, September 11, at 6:30. You can learn more about the symposium and my event on their website. Bonus: After the costs of the event are covered, they will donate the remaining funds to tree planting! This is money well spent.
• I was on The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast recently. I was able to have a bit more tree service industry related discussion on this podcast than normal.
• I was on two additional podcasts you may be interested in: Nature Revisited and Washington Gardener. Last but not least, I had a great time chatting with Mark Weathington, director of the JC Raulston Arboretum, on his show, Garden Conversations.

I hope that was not too much! Please send me your feedback about the new format and this newsletter in general. And don’t forget to send questions for me to answer in future editions of the Treecologist Tribune.

Until next time, my friends!