Winter Tree Care: Did you know that winter can be the best time of year to have work done on your trees and shrubs?

With improved access, no threat of insect and disease, no flower beds and visibility of plant structure without leaves, easier clean up less landscape sensitivity all allows work on your property to be performed with more efficiency saving significant time and money.

Tree Tech works year round and during the winter season and we can offer a faster turnaround time to schedule and complete your tree work. So why wait for the spring rush, schedule your appointment and get a winter season discount.

Flight of the Wintermoth

The moths you see flying around are the male wintermoths. Both male and female usually emerge in November around Thanksgiving and continue their activity through December and if the temperatures are mild enough they can be active into January.

The time of year they are at this life stage there are fewer predators around to eat them when they fly. Because they do not feed at this time there is no moisture in them which prevents them from freezing. So their numbers remain high and they can be successful in reproducing.

The following spring eggs hatch when temperatures average around 50⁰F. So as early as March Larvae can appear. The pale green eggs turn reddish orange when they are ready to hatch. The hatching usually occurs before budbreak on the trees. The larvae climb the tree and move from bud to bud as they feed. As they grow they feed on the expanding leaf clusters. You may notice as the leaves open they may have a “lacey” effect which means the caterpillars are feeding on your tree.

The larvae are pale green caterpillars know as loopers or inchworms that grow to be 1” at maturity with a white stripe running down each side of the body. They produce a strand of silk which makes them air buoyant. They may drop or balloon on this thread which enables them to spread to a different tree or area which was not infested in a previous year or beginning of the season. You not only will notice the worms but you will also notice their frass (insect waste) which can really make a mess of decks, cars and other well used open areas.

Just a heads up: some of their favorite deciduous trees are (but not limited to) oaks, maples, cherries, ash, crabapples, apple, and blueberry. So if these trees are in your yard keep an eye out for any chewing activity in the early spring.
Tree Tech offers a wintermoth treatment. One of the products we use is Conserve SC the active ingredient is called spinosad it is not a broad spectrum insecticide so it is less harmful to the beneficial predators and parasites. It is a bit more costly and must be requested.

It is very important to sign up for the treatment early so we can make sure that your property is treated in a timely manner. We always do our best to accommodate last minute calls however waiting too long to schedule your trees may already be heavily damaged and it may be past an effective treatment time.

Golf Courses

During the winter months Tree Tech is out working on many of the area golf courses with our bucket trucks, cranes and climbers caring for the trees on the fairways, around the Club house and the rest of the grounds. With the frozen ground and no leaves the trees are easy to access for pruning, to remove deadwood and raise the canopies (so you can get a better shot to the green, of course).

We feel privileged have been chosen by these golf courses to do their tree work and take great pride in our work at each one.

Odocoileus Virginianus

The Whitetail Deer. Even if you haven’t seen them on your property you will know they’ve been there if the leaves or needles on the lower five feet of your ornamental shrubbery are missing.

Deer damage is becoming an increasing problem in our area. With their habitat becoming smaller in suburban areas, a lack of natural predators and an abundance of food in gardens and ornamental landscapes, has the White-tailed Deer populations thriving. Even “deer resistant” plants are fair game when the food is in short supply during the winter months. Why forage through the woods when they can easily enjoy the convenience of dining on your yews, arborvitaes, etc.?

Tree Tech offers a Deer Control Treatment. We use a contact repellent which is applied directly to the plant. It repels by taste and we have been successful in keeping our clients vulnerable trees and shrubs from becoming deer damaged.
If you are in need of this treatment one of our sales representatives, a certified arborist, would come evaluate your property for deer-susceptible plants at no charge. One treatment should keep the deer away or in the case of a bad winter at least may minimize damage. Contact us for details

Tree of the Season: Fagus (Beech)

• The two well known species of beech in the U.S. the only native beech is the American Beech (Fagus grandiflora) The second is European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) which is also common in the U.S .The ornamental cultivars are the beautiful copper beech, the fern leaf beech, dwarf beech and the weeping beech.
• Beech trees can live to between 300 and 400 years. They can grow up to 140 feet and with a spread almost as wide.
• The American beech is often found in forests that are in their final stage of succession along with the Oaks, Hickories, sugar maple, and Eastern Hemlocks. Many small beech trees hold their brown/gold leaves though the winter and will stand out in the forest against the other leafless deciduous trees.
• The early settlers knew where the beech grew was a sign of good fertile soil so many were cut down as the land became used for farming. But due to the fact that the nature of the wood was heavy and hard so in a time prior to the chainsaw many large beech trees survived because they were nearly impossible to take down and remove by hand.
• Beechwood is an excellent fire wood it burns hot and slow so it has a high heat value. The wood is also good for turning and steam bending. Because it wears well it is used for flooring, containers, furniture, tool handles, and veneer. Budweiser beer uses beechwood chips in its brewing process. Beech logs are burned to dry the malts in some German beers and also used to smoke cheeses.
• The beech tree can reproduce by growing suckers. Suckers are shoots that grow from an already established root system. It is beneficial for the tree to reproduce using suckers because suckers have a better chance of survival than seeds since they can feed off of the root system of the "mother tree".
• The thin bark of the beech is not able to repair itself if it is cut into and often has scars on it. Needless to say it is a popular tree to carve initials as they are easy to carve and permanent as the as the tree grows the carvings get larger. Unfortunately, this also makes the tree vulnerable to wood-rotting fungi that can be very damaging to the tree.
• The Beech tree linked with time, wisdom and knowledge. Beech bark was used in thin slices to write upon and form the very first books. Beeches were called "Boc" by the Anglo-Saxons, which later became book. In Swedish word "Bok" means both book and beech and in German "Buch" means book and "Buche" means Beech.