It has been proven that having a couple of strategically positioned trees in your yard can help increase your property’s market value by at least 20%. Reputable real estate agents swear by this statement as they found that they can sell an ordinary-looking house with a fair landscape better than good-looking houses with dull yards.
However, tree care is downright complicated and if you are not careful, you may end up with a clump of diseased or dying trees just waiting to fall anytime on an unsuspecting bystander. Not only are dead trees unsightly to look at, they also inevitably downgrade your property value. After all, if the first impression of the homebuyer has on your property is of a neglected yard, then the rest of his impression on your actual house will be less positive as well.
The best way to identify either a dying or already dead tree is to hire a tree service specialist in Marietta. Still, there are certain symptoms that even a novice like you should be familiar with. In these situations, the only thing that you would need a tree service for is to completely remove the offending tree from your yard.
Why trees die
Like any other living being on this planet, trees are also susceptible to illnesses caused by parasites or pests – especially when proper tree care is either lacking or non-existent. The disease can be microbiological as in the cases when the trees are infected by certain fungus, bacteria, or virus. These attacks the healthy cells of the trees and only manifests when present in large numbers such as the case of bacterial ooze found in sick eucalyptus or the presence of rust fungus on the leaves of a diseased barberry tree.
In other instances, the vermin are either in the form of small insects like leaf miners and mites, or parasitic plants such as weeds. Even larger animals such as rodents, birds, and deer can also threaten the health of a tree as these feed on the leaves and the bark, causing some irreparable damage.
The root cause might also be entirely unintentional. The homeowner, trying to save money by doing tree care himself, does more harm than good by having no working knowledge of tree biology, which eventually kills off what should have been healthy trees.
Poor nursery management is always a major cause of sickly trees. Saplings that are pot-bound are likely to have poor root system, which affects its growth considerably. Other causes listed are wrong use of chemicals such as pesticides, too much or too little water intake, poor soil choice or condition, wrong tree species planted in the region, and the improper use of mechanical tools such prune shears and chainsaws when trimming or cutting off wayward branches. These factors can increase the probability of parasites infecting your tree, thus weakening its health.
Identifying damaged, weak, and dead trees
Unlike people and animals, trees cannot whine or cry when they are sick. It is up to the owner and his hired tree service professionals to know how to spot the tell-tale signs of damaged, diseased, and ultimately dead trees.
The first thing that experts inspect is the tree trunk, since any damage on it will tell whether it is worth saving the tree or if they need to tell the homeowner that it is high time to remove them from the yard. While those cracks and seams on your tree trunk might seem normal to your untrained eye, tree service experts will tell you that it can be a sign of severe tree damage – particularly if the old bark starts to fall off only to be replaced by smooth wood.
A healthy tree will always produce a new bark to replace the old one (much like the human skin creating a scab when you get scratched). If you are seeing smooth areas scattered in your tree’s trunk, then it might already be dying. Furthermore, if there are large wood conchs attached to the trunk, then you can conclude that tree is already suffering internal rot.
Another thing that experts look out for is current thickness of the tree’s foliage. Bare branches especially in season when it should be thick with green, healthy leaves is a sign that your tree is suffering from some kind of disease.
Why you need to be concerned
A dead or dying tree is a disaster waiting to happen. Since these partially or completely dead trees can fall anytime, you will never know if you’ll be a victim of a freak tree falling accident. Furthermore, they have a tendency to infect other healthy trees and can invite more pests (like termites and rats) into your household.
A dead tree should only be removed by experts as they have the right equipment and skills to do the job efficiently and safely.
Sources
Why trees become unhealthy, ForestryDepartment.org
Wood Decay in Living and Dead Trees: A Pictorial Overview, UnitedStatesDepartmentofAgriculture.fed.us
