Since the Autumn season has already begun here in Australia, the many trees will begin to go dormant. Many trees start to change colour and prepare for the loss of their leaves, especially deciduous trees.
The Autumn season can be challenging for the home gardener; as the temperature starts to drop, the leaves start to fall and get scattered across the yard making it messy. If it’s not taken care of, it can create a problem during the winter, when they become huge piles of wet leaves. So, it’s essential to take care of your trees and landscape during Autumn.
Autumn is also the best time to prepare trees for their dormant period; apart from cleaning up leaves and debris, you will need to check the health of your trees for infected branches, spray them with pesticides and much more. You need to be sure that all your trees are healthy and ready to thrive in spring.
To make your home gardening work easier here is some advice from the tree service professionals on how to take care of your trees and yards during Autumn:
- Take Care Of The Soil
The most important thing during Autumn is feeding the soil. Due to our hot summers, trees lose vital nutrients in the soil and to help them gain back the nutrients that they lost in summer and continue to feed them over the winter, fertilizing your soil is crucial during Autumn. It helps to gain nutrients and improve resistance to damage from insects and stressful weather. If you take care of your soil, it will take care of your trees.
One of the best ways to do this is by using a natural process. All the fallen leaves in the yard can be used to feed the soil. They are the best nutrients for the soil, which will directly help your trees to grow. Move all of the fallen leaves underneath your trees, shrubs, or on your flowerbeds. You want those leaves to decompose and feed into the soil. Similar to the leaves, you can do the same with wood chips or mulch.
If you don’t want to make your yard look untidy with all those leaves and chips, you can make compost, decompose all the natural waste and then wait until your natural fertilizer is ready.
You can also buy fertilizer from the store, but there is always a risk of excessive nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in store-bought fertilizer. Natural fertilizer is always the best option.
- Autumn Pruning
The dormant season is also an excellent time for a certain type of pruning. If you want to do structural pruning on a young tree that might require you to cut quite a few branches, this is the time to do that sort of pruning. You can also clearly see the structure of the tree, which makes it easier to identify the dead/damaged branches and get rid of them. Remove all the leaves and branches that are hosting fungal infections.
- Plant New Trees
You can plant trees any time, but it’s going to take a lot more effort, watering, care and establishment, which can be challenging. So, if you want to get trees or shrubs into your yard, Autumn is a great time to do it.
The good thing about this season is you don’t have to worry about pests; they are mostly inactive. However, certain sorts of pests need attention to save trees during winter.
- Take Professional Advice
It’s good to get a professional tree inspector to look at your tree once every season, but at minimum, one inspection during the dormant season is best to ensure your trees are growing and healthy. Before you make a rash decision and damage your trees call the tree service prover near your locality; schedule an inspection of your trees.
