Hello again Westside Gardeners.
After recent blustery storms, I thought it would be appropriate to write this article.
In most cases, a healthy tree can usually withstand strong winds, up to a certain degree, but when you add prolonged, heavy rain and disease, which can saturate the soil and weaken the tree, it becomes a different story.
Most of the tree damage I have seen this past weekend had nothing to do with saturation of soil, but rather disease. Don’t get me wrong, I did see a few that were weakened by saturation of soil, and with winds gusting over 50 mph, the trees didn’t have a chance.
Most importantly, the average homeowner never has the thought that their mature trees might have fallen from high winds and disease.
Then there’s our street trees. The majority of which are over 60 years old and are highly diseased with hollowness in their interior core.
My recommendation to homeowners is to have a certified arborist, come out and inspect your trees.
The arborist will determine if your trees are structurally safe and maintained correctly. I find in most cases trees are found to be not maintained correctly. Over a prolonged period of time, diseases or infestations will cause the tree to die or weaken and fall.
Arborists cannot detect every condition that could possibly lead to structural failure of a tree. Trees are living organisms that fail in ways we do not fully understand, only speculate. Conditions are often hidden within trees and below the ground. Arborists cannot guarantee that a tree will be healthy or safe, under all circumstances or for a specified period of time.
Anyone needing a certified arborist, I am here to help.
Mark Koehler of Los Banos is an arborist and master gardener, who has degrees in Landscape Architecture and Landscape Horticulture from UC Berkeley and Northeastern University. Please send any questions or comments to markgardenguru@gmail.com.
