According to Realtor Magazine, a home with a healthy landscape can boost that home’s value by up to 12%.
A common, 20-foot Maple tree could cost as much as $700 to remove. Then, installing a fairly large replacement plant could cost $800-$2,000, and take 5-10 years to reach the prior tree’s size.
Decaying trees can become big safety concerns for your property, which could potentially result in property damage, injury, or death.
Most varieties of shrubs can only be purchased at less than 24” of plant height, which makes a dead-plant replacement stick out like a sore thumb in a more mature landscape.
Tree & Shrub Health Care programs can not only keep plants looking their best, they are substantially less expensive than removals and replacements.
A landscape full of beautiful trees and shrubs adds both visual appeal to your property and to your enjoyment of your home in Cincinnati, Dayton, OH or Northern Kentucky, along with functional benefits such as shade, winter wind screening and privacy. These plants can also increase your property’s return on investment.
However, most people do not realize the true value of their trees and shrubs until a plant has declined and died, and they are faced with the cost and inconvenience of finding a replacement for the empty spot in their landscape. It is an unfortunate fact that most trees and shrubs in our landscapes have predictable, specific problems with certain pests and diseases or obtaining appropriate nutrition.
For these reasons, landscape professionals recommend preventative tree and shrub health care treatments throughout the year in order to improve appearance and forestall costly damage.
There are dozens of common issues frequently seen in trees and shrubs in Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Here are a few of the most notorious, damage-inflicting challenges to be aware of:
These pests are often overlooked by homeowners because they can be hidden below small, cottony masses or very tiny shells which blend in with bark and twigs. Affected plants will slowly decline and may eventually die from scale insect damage.
Several species of mites are commonly known to injure many different trees and shrubs in our area. These tiny pests can be seen well only under magnification and frequently go unnoticed until infested plants start losing color and foliage.
Most commonly feeding on evergreens, these caterpillars construct a bag (resembling a small cone) around themselves from chewed plant needles. They start off very small and can go undetected until injured plants suddenly turn brown and barren in late summer.
These small, sneaky insects with lace-like wings feed on the undersides of the leaves of several species of trees and shrubs. Damaged foliage exhibits a stippling effect as it progresses toward the telltale result of dull, mottled leaf tissue.
As the larval form of certain species of beetles, borers actually do bore through the internal cambium of the tree, disrupting water and nutrient flow to the branches. A borer attack can often be the fatal blow to an already weakened plant.
These tiny larvae move about within plant leaves, creating “mines” of tunnels. This interrupts the normal translocation of nutrients and water; as the pest feeds on vital elements, leaf tissue discolors and dies off.
Any one of dozens of fungal diseases existing in Ohio and Northern Kentucky can cause spots, lesions, discoloration, and defoliation for trees and shrubs in this area.
When trees and shrubs are planted in landscapes, they may be inadvertently placed to compete with other plants and turf areas for nutrients or may experience inadequate nutritional issues from poor surrounding soil. Symptoms of this type of deficiency can include loss of color, stunted leaves or thinned plant structure.
Fortunately, there are practical recommendations to keep your trees and shrubs healthy and protect them from these notorious challenges. Preventative tree and shrub health care programs are designed to target pests and diseases in their early stages, keeping damage from reaching a threshold at which the plant begins to deteriorate.
These proactive treatment programs also often include nutrient applications that will help your trees and shrubs maintain optimum health, so that they are prepared to resist many common problems. After all, the best defense against these potential plant issues is to have healthy trees and shrubs to start with.
There are a lot of companies in the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky areas that perform tree and shrub care services. However, they won’t all achieve the same results or take the same approach.
How will your tree and shrub program go beyond treating symptoms and focus on creating more self-sustaining, healthy plants in the long run?
How many years has your company been performing plant health care services?
How often do you come for treatments throughout the year?
What is the cost of your program, and do you have any discounts if I bundle other services with you?
We’d love to learn more about your tree and shrub concerns, answer these questions for you, and explain how our proactive Tree & Shrub Health Care program can keep your landscape looking its best. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for pricing and discounts for bundling other Oasis services!