Talking Trees with Davey Tree

Weather Whiplash - How Does It Affect Trees & What To Do About It?

March 11, 2021 The Davey Tree Expert Company Season 1 Episode 9
Talking Trees with Davey Tree
Weather Whiplash - How Does It Affect Trees & What To Do About It?
Show Notes Transcript

Tim Holley from Davey's London office in Ontario, Canada, talks all about weather whiplash and how quick changes in temperature can affect your trees, as well as what you can do about it. 

In this episode we cover:

  • Weather whiplash - things to look for (0:53)
  • Trees that can be affected (2:11)
  • Things that can be done to help (3:30)
    • Fertilization (4:15)
  • Frost cracking (5:40)
  • Davey Tree in Canada (7:41)
  • How Tim landed at Davey Tree and his favorite part about it (8:17) (12:57)
  • Tim's favorite trees (10:13) 
  • Tree climbing (10:56)
  • Call an arborist to come check out your tree. Don't wait! (14:18)

To find your local Davey office in Canada, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.
To find your local Davey office in the U.S., check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about how temperature affects trees, read our blog, Freeze and Thaw Damage on Trees.
To learn more about fertilization for your trees, read our blog, Fall Fertilization Care: Replenish Lost Nutrients with Fertilizer.

Connect with Davey Tree Expert Company of Canada, Ltd.  on social media:
Instagram: @daveytreecanada

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company

Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert Company’s podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host Doug Oster. Each episode showcases one of Davey's certified arborists sharing advice with everyone about caring for your trees and landscapes. We'll talk about everything from introduced pests, seasonal tree care, deer damage, how to make your trees thrive, and much, much more.

Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees Podcast, we know trees are the answer. My guest this week is Tim Holley. He is the district manager for The Davey Tree Expert Company up in London, Ontario and today we're talking all about weather whiplash when we go from cold to warm in these crazy spring temperatures. Tim, how are you today?

Tim Holley: Very well, thank you. How about yourself?

Doug: I'm doing great. What's the first thing you think of when I throw out that weather whiplash topic? When the weather changes and it changes dramatically back and forth, actually? What's the first thing you're thinking about when you're thinking about the landscape was trees?

Tim: I was seeing more of that each year seems to be more common. I'm not sure if it's the climate change or whatnot, but it seems like the snow disappears quicker and we get the warmer temperatures earlier. With that over the last few years, one of the things I've noticed is a lot of frost damage on the trees where we have some concerned customers are calling and a portion of their tree or the majority of the crown in the canopy is not leaping out.

That it seems the buds are opening up but turning brown depending on that on that timing. It’s strange. It could be one tree in a property where the next tree next to it is totally fine. I think it's just a matter of those warm days and then you get that may be one night where you get some pretty extreme frost and can really do a little bit of a window can cause quite a bit of damage. We're seeing more of that in the last few years.

Doug: When I think frost damage, I'm thinking every spring we hear a story about fruit trees in Florida or something like that. What kind of other trees do bud early and want to leap out early that can be affected by a sudden cold snap?

Tim: I see it a lot in the soft maples. They're the ones that seem to be most susceptible or are the more common anyways on there and then fruit trees of course they seem to be raring to go early in the spring. I find it knows and then the odd time it seems to be the big oak trees and sometimes the sycamores, which is a little strange because they're a little later to come out. It just seems to be that timing when the weather can get a hold of them and really get them off to a slow start. Then the gulf is somewhat questionable and then the homeowners are quite concerned about it.

Doug: With something like a maple when that happens, those trees are tough. Are they able to shake it off?

Tim: Yes, most of the time. When I visit with the customers it's just a matter of let's just be patient, let's wait, and see what happens. More times than not, the trees are able to put out a second effort or a second batch of leaves but it uses a lot of extra energy of the tree. You notice some things we recommend to help it along but I'd like to sit back and wait and see how the tree’s going to react to it. It makes sure we're making the right recommendations.

Doug: After we do take a look at it, what kind of stuff could you see and what kind of things might you do?

Tim: Once that second batch of leaves come out, it looks like the tree has some promise and it's worth focusing on improving the health of the tree and strengthening up. Deep root fertilization is always one of the first things we recommend. We'll be doing that as soon as the frost gets out of the ground, but with those particular trees, we'll wait a little bit, see how they respond and then if it looks like there's some promise, we give them some fertilizer.

If there's some of the branches that maybe didn't bounce back, maybe the damage a little too severe, and maybe there's some dead wood that's accumulated, we might put together a bit of a pruning program to help maintain those trees.

Doug: Could you tell me a little bit about how that fertilization works for you? Is it different than how I would do it at home?

Tim: Davey Trees has been using aubergine and aubergine pro for well, more than 30 years from what I understand. It's an injection process that we inject it into the root zone of the tree under pressure. It starts off as a powder, we mix it in with the water. It's a suspended material that we are able to inject into the ground under pressure and throughout the root zone, and that's usually in the first 12 to 18 inches, descend to the sod layer so it's well distributed. We put it in with enough pressure that it can distribute into that root zone and it's available there for a full year for the tree.

Doug: I’m telling you what, if I was a homeowner and I had a tree that was struggling a little bit, you guys came in and did that deep root fertilization, I think I would be waving to you as you went by with a big smile because that is a good feeling when you have a tree that's struggling. I couldn't figure out any way to fertilize a big tree like that so that's pretty cool.

Tim: Yes, it's a message. It's worked great for a long time and it's fast and efficient. It's one of Davey Trees' best services that we can supply to our customers out there, that’s for sure.

Doug: I did a whole show on frost cracking but we should just probably briefly talk a little bit about it because that is one of the things that happens to certain trees when we get that sudden shift from cold to warm, right?

Tim: Yes. Though it seems to have been worse the last couple of years. Again, this was a warmer afternoon that I think it heats up and gets on the side of the tree, usually the southern facing side. If you're really focusing on it, it's usually about that, and when the peak temperatures are. Let's say around here it’s usually about one to two in the afternoon. You identify where it is on the tree or if we get a call that there's a crack in a tree, we almost know exactly where it's going to be before we even get there.

It just seems to be that that's more where that expansion and contraction happens. Once it warms up and then cooled back down again, it really leaves those trees susceptible to opening up. Some trees are worse than others, the smooth bark younger Maples, often the Boulevard trees seem to get it. Then some of the other big mature trees like the Sycamores and the London Planes they seem to be very susceptible as well to it.

Doug: For the most part, they again can basically heal themselves when this happens in general or sometimes that's like, oh boy, forget it?

Tim: Well, they'll try. Trees are fighters and they'll try to seal off, they're compartmentalizers, seal off that wound, and if you look closely, you'll see quickly the callus tissue or a healing tissue will come around the side trying to close it off. Sometimes it never really closes altogether, sometimes it'll seam up together depending on how wide the crack is.

It can open up and seems to close back up again, but trees learn to deal with it and again, just keep it healthy. They have a tendency to progress with that a little bit better.

Doug: Davey has a long history up in Canada. That was something I wasn't aware of.

Tim: Yes. I've been out of here in Canada since I'm just about into my 29th year here now. I’ve looked into the history a little bit. A lot of the guys that I used to work with had been around for a very long time were able to share their knowledge on that. From what I understand, they were in Canada since the '40s, I think mid-40s or so.

Doug: Wow.

Tim: In London, I think it dates back to at least the '50s anyways.

Doug: Tell me a little bit about your job and about working for Davey and what you get out of it and how you find your way to trees.

Tim: It started just getting out of high school and going to college and really not knowing exactly what I wanted to do but working outside. I have a love for the outdoors and a passion for it. I went in that direction and ended up in forestry and then focused on arboriculture. Davey Tree was my first job straight into college in Toronto. I started there and moved on to Mississauga and then not too long after that I ended up here in London as a manager after being a climber for a couple of years. I love it.

I just look after the operations here, I have a fantastic team that goes out and represents the company very well in my opinion. I've got great support with my assistant manager and my sales staff and my office support. We just are very fortunate to have a strong team here where throughout the city every day they see our trucks. It's like billboards driving down every road. We've got more than a dozen trucks on the road. We've grown it to something really, really special here.

Doug: Be truthful now because some managers miss climbing that tree, others don't miss it at all. Which one is it for you?

Tim: Oh, I miss. There's days where just climbing a tree would be heaven. I just don't get an opportunity to do much anymore, and it's come a long way since my day. I was pretty primitive. I Can get the job done but the skillset on some of my team members here, it's incredible. They're really something else. They know what they're doing out there and they do it safely and they do it very well.

Doug: Let's talk a little bit about some of your favorite trees because you mentioned one to me earlier this week that I was interested that you picked it. Tell me about your favorite.

Tim: When I started climbing, it was a lot of oak trees, a lot of red oaks, some whites, but reds were my favorite, and especially once I really got climbing down to Mississauga, and there was oak trees all over the place. It was common that you'd be in several throughout the weekend. They were just a fun climb and just a tree that I gained a lot of respect for. You can get a heck of a view up the top of one of those 90-foot oak trees. They were just always my favorite. I love them.

Doug: Well, one thing I've never asked an arborist and or a manager, I'm interested, was there ever any fear of being up high? Somebody like me, I've got a fear of heights. I know you can't have that when you're a tree climber but when you first started out, was there any kind of when you get to the top of a tree, do you ever think like, "Whoa, man, the wind's blowing," that sort of thing?

Tim: Oh, yes. When it was new to me, the higher I got, the more nervous you would get. It's not for everybody, that's for sure but soon you would overcome that and trust your abilities and safety measures that you were taught and then that just seemed to leave and it just didn't seem to matter how high you were or how far you're out on a limb. It just seemed to be if you had that skill set, and it took the nerves away and you really just enjoy it. It was really a lot of fun.

Doug: Like you said, things have got safer and safer and safer. What is it that a climber would have up there that makes them feel so safe? I'm sure there's many things, but is there one thing that like, I know when I've got this hooked on here, or whatever it might be, that's not even a concern for you because you know you're safe.

Tim: Yes, it's pretty basic. It's a saddle and it's the rope. Those are in the lanyards, and those are the basic equipment that when used properly as trained and a lot of them come out of school with that training and we carry on with it, or we teach it in house. Once you implement that, and you learn proper hitches and the techniques and stuff and you're using it, applying it properly, it is very difficult to be in harm's way. It's just they got you covered. It's very reassuring.

Doug: Tell me a little bit about what you get out of the job, Tim.

Tim: Like I said before, I love working outside, I love working with trees. Part of our job is taking down trees, we take down a lot of trees here in London, but more importantly, is our plant health care programs that we put together. For example, for the majority of the year, we're out there pruning trees, pruning of deadwood and pruning out infected branches and looking after the health and the maintenance of the trees. We're fertilizing trees, and we fertilize a lot of trees. That goes basically from the end of March right up sometimes into December, depending on the season.

That's constant fertilizing trees and improving the health of trees and then insect and disease control for gypsy moths and what seems to be an issue here lately and all kinds of other insects and disease that impede the health of the tree. We are able to identify what we can do to help and if we think it's feasible and we have a good program for that, then we apply that. I find that rewarding that, like I said, most importantly, it's the plant health care. It's maintaining a lot of these trees and what they call London, the Forest City. It's unfortunately sometimes we have to get down and take them down but we try and make up for the best we can to keep them healthy as well.

Doug: Well, one thing I've learned from hosting this podcast is if you think you have some trouble with a tree, don't put it off. Call Davey, call your certified arborist and have them come out and take a look because the longer you wait sometimes it could be devastating, right?

Tim: Yes, a lot of times we can catch things early like even just the way a tree is structured sometimes. If it is tight branch unions and maybe a couple of weak spots that if somebody has a concern about it then we can get in there and send out the canopy a little bit to relief some of the wind stress and maybe put a cable in the tree if we need to put a cable in to help support some stems together. If we do get heavy wet snow or an ice storm or something like that, heavy winds that we experienced sometimes.

A lot of times if we can be proactive and make those recommendations and the homeowner's interested in that, then they find when the dust settles after the storms, often their tree is still standing and something down the road that might not have been recognized had failed. It's really important to get an opinion from a certified arborist and see where the help is needed.

Doug: Well, Tim, that is just wonderful information. I appreciate your time. When do you think it's going to warm up in London, Ontario?

Tim: Well, we're getting there. It's about zero today but next week's looking really good. I think the snow is going to go and I think spring's going to get here. We're getting there soon.

Doug: One thing now I wanted to bring up living up there in Canada and loving the outdoors so much though, is we both have a hobby that we're both fanatical about. It's fishing. When I drive by London, Ontario, are you going to put me on fish is the question?

Tim: No problem. It's something we can figure out. That's for sure.

Doug: I appreciate your time, as I said before, and thanks again.

Tim: Thanks a lot, Doug. Have a great day.

Doug: Tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oster. We have some great stuff planned for the next episodes, small flowering trees, teaching kids the importance of trees, and much much more. Remember, on the Talking Trees podcast we know trees are the answer.

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