The Scoop on Soil

Did you know that poor soils cause 90% of tree health issues? Without good soil, trees have difficulty obtaining water, nutrients, support, and oxygen - yes, roots need to breathe! This makes it easier for pests, diseases, and severe weather events to wreak havoc.

Our urban soils are often damaged by activities like construction and compaction, causing poor tree health. Here's how to improve poor soils and keep tree health issues at bay!

healthy_unhealthy_tree_soil

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Common Soil Problems &
How to Fix Them!

1. Nutrient-Poor Soil

Solutions:

  1. Essential Plus - All-purpose soil amendment of nutrients, rooting hormones, wetting agents, and biostimulants. Liquid formula delivers nutrients directly to the tree's roots.
  2. Micrel Total - Contains nitrogen and eight micronutrients often deficient in urban soils. Use if your trees and soils lack micronutrients like iron, zinc, and boron.
  3. Mulch - Trees love mulch! Mulch provides organic matter, weed suppression, water retention, and temperature insulation. Plus, it's cheap and easy to apply!
natural-mulch-landscape

2. Compacted Soil

Compacted soil has very few air pockets, causing root suffocation, low microbial activity, and water runoff & waste! Basically, it weakens trees!

Solutions:

  1. Mulch, again - Ok, you already know the nutrient benefits of mulch. But mulch also combats compaction. When it breaks down, the organic matter and microbes improve soil aeration, increase water absorption, and reduce compaction.
  2. Biochar - Biochar is a granular carbon product made by burning organic material. It is highly porous and carbon-rich, improving soil structure and encouraging microbial growth.
biochar_essential_before_after

Biochar and Essential Plus combo treatment.

3. Small Soil Volumes

Solutions

  1. Make sure the soil has enough nutrients and isn't compacted. Basically what we've just discussed, except it's even more important when trees have small soil volumes to grow in!
  2. Tree Growth Regulator (TGR) - This is a synthetic growth hormone blocker. One treatment reduces tree growth by up to 80% over a 3-year period. Perfect for small spaces! Plus, it reduces pruning needs and has added benefits of improving root growth, disease resistance, and drought tolerance.
TGR_comparison

Tree Growth Regulator Results from One Application

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About the Author:

Sophia Huang is a Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). She also holds a Qualified Applicator License (QAL) from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Sophia received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from Santa Clara University, CA. Discovering her passion for urban trees, she went on to earn a Master of Science in Environmental Horticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA. Her studies and research focused on urban tree identification, biology pedagogy, and using leaf traits as predictors of tree drought tolerance. She has peer-reviewed publications in The American Biology Teacher and Urban Forestry and Urban Greening. 

Sophia joined the A Plus Tree team in 2019 as an Urban Forest Specialist and is now their Marketing and Education Leader. Her role includes training the team and educating clients on urban tree care – tree pruning, planting, removals, pests, diseases, fertilizers, irrigation, and more! She also writes for the A Plus Tree blog and helps run their Tree Health Care program. 

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