Talking Trees with Davey Tree
Your trees and landscapes require year-round care, and The Davey Tree Expert Company is here to help provide you with expert advice. Join our professional Davey arborists and gardening-expert host Doug Oster to learn all about caring for your properties. We'll talk about introduced pests, seasonal tree care, tree diseases, arborists' favorite trees, how to help your trees thrive and everything in between. Tune in every Thursday because here at the Talking Trees Podcast, we know trees are the answer.
Talking Trees with Davey Tree
Feeling the Heat: How to Protect Trees from Heat Stress
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Jay Judd from Davey's East Denver office joins us to talk about how heat stress impacts trees, the warning signs homeowners should watch for and practical steps to help stressed trees recover.
To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.
To learn more about heat stress, please read our blogs How to Help Trees During Unexpected Heat Wave, How to Keep Your Landscape Resilient During Seasonal Summer Drought, Tree Heat Stress Is Real: How to Protect Roots During Summer Heatwaves, Signs and Symptoms of Tree Stress (Plus Treatment) and The Dirt on Drought Stress and Its Effect on Your Trees.
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Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com.
Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!
Welcome to the Deby Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oester. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees Podcast, we know trees are the answer. I'm joined again this week by Jay Judd. He is a district manager for the East Denver office of the Debut Tree Expert Company. Today we're talking all about heat stress. And Jay, right before we came on here to record, I realized my air conditioning compressor is not turning on. So there's the first type of heat stress.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Doug, for having me on again. Yeah. It's a bad year in the Denver area for uh anything uh that wants to stay cool, including people. Um very, very hot, dry winter into a very, very hot, dry spring into what's started out at least as a very, very hot, dry summer in the Denver area. Um, the trees are definitely showing it.
SPEAKER_00So before we even get to the trees,
How do arborists work in the heat?
SPEAKER_00I wanted to talk about uh the guys that have to go out and work on the trees because uh talk about heat stress, climbing in those conditions can't be easy. What what are some of the things that you guys do to make sure that the team stays healthy during the the heat of the summer?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a huge concern for our crews right now, absolutely. Um trying to time stressful work uh in the early part of the day, um you know, not having the big climbs, the strenuous work in the afternoon, um handing out electrolytes, electrolytes, electrolytes. Um at Davy we do 10 and 2 breaks um throughout the year, but adding in additional breaks where everyone's checking in with each other. Um, I think the biggest two is just monitoring one another, any signs of some sort of stress, um, heat stress, dehydration, um getting them in a cool spot, tell them to hey, slow down, hang tight, not worth it.
SPEAKER_00So dry
Drought in Denver
SPEAKER_00spring, dry summer, it does not sound like too much fun for trees. It sounds, are we talking official drought or just no rain?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, official drought um in the Denver area this year. Um we've got major water restrictions. Um, that goes for turf irrigation. Um, the announcement from the City of Denver Water is don't worry about your grass, you can replace it. Your trees, you can't make sure they're getting water.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's certainly sage advice. Uh when
How do we identify drought stress?
SPEAKER_00we're looking at a tree, how do we tell that that it's stressed by heat?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So initially, you really can't tell, especially in a situation like we had where we came out of a hot, dry winter. Trees use up reserves. That's the the first thing that happens, right? When a tree's stressed out, there's no outward signs. Um, you know, the next stage is you start seeing wilting on leaves, uh, dieback within the canopy, uh, leaves changing color. Um, you know, uh the the I think the biggest sign for me this year uh is the insect activity and the evergreens in particular. And I know in the past we talked about Ips beetle on spruce. Um, these beetles are attacking the pine as well, the population's up. Um, you can spot a dead pine uh from pretty far away, and they die out quick within weeks. And generally, a tree that's getting attacked by insects is going to be a tree that's stressed out with these um engraver beetle um attacks. You know, a dried-out pine or a dried-out spruce just doesn't have the quote unquote juices to push this insect out its boring hole. Um, you're relying solely on topical applications, um, and everybody needs to be doing those applications. So I think the first sign for me was you know these dying out uh evergreens, and then as the foliage came out on our trees, we uh started seeing the impact of the dry winter and uh canopies not being full, uh, a lot of dead wood, and trees have just some trees have just declined since then.
SPEAKER_00Man, coming out of something
Addressing heat stress with clients
SPEAKER_00like that for somebody like you that does what you do, us as homeowners, it's depressing, but for a professional, talk a little bit about coming out of this type of weather and dealing with this uh with your clients.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think um good message delivery of the situation, um, kind of like I started with you, you just because your tree is looking good right now doesn't mean in a few months that's not gonna change. And getting the message across that the watering is important, um, doing humates is a big thing out here. We've got terrible soil, so humates, fertilization, um, monthly watering if possible. Uh, that that needs to start before we start seeing half your tree dying, because at that point it's recovery, as opposed to just keeping that tree healthy. Um, and and you know, over winter we did a lot of those soil services. Um trees that we were doing that on on properties of mine, you can tell those trees are happy. They're they're in a much better state than the trees that weren't being supported in the very hot, dry, drought winter going into an even hotter, drier drought summer.
SPEAKER_00Of humates, fertilizing
Start treating with fertilizer
SPEAKER_00and water. Is water the first step?
SPEAKER_01No, uh, I generally like to start with something that's gonna help um stimulate the roots. So, fertilizer, we use Arborgreen Pro. Um, you know, starting with that, this stuff is injected with water. So there is some water getting to the root system. Um, for us in Denver, a lot of clay soil, so just that there's multiple advantages, you know, we're not looking at just getting some nitrogen to the tree or getting some water to the tree. When we're doing uh these deep root injections, we're doing it with high pressure. So we're also, which is important here, uh aerating that subsurface soil. Um when we're giving it a little bit of water, maybe a little bit of fertilizer or humates, um, that's helping enrich that soil, making that soil profile a little bit better and happier for the tree. Um, we're in an area where trees aren't native, so we don't have built-up organic soil here, you know. Um, so yeah, a fertilization's a good start, followed up by humates or even monthly watering after that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Tell me about the humates.
Humates
SPEAKER_00What is that? What does that mean when you're applying humates?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um basically that's humic acid, uh fulvic acid, uh, human. Um, and you know, it's it's uh organic biostimulant for the soil, right? Um, this is gonna help build up the soil profile in Denver's case, in particular, by just giving it something, right? Some sort of organic matter. Uh, but this stuff basically helps out with uh water holding capacity. So similar to the aeration of the soil, you can now build up soil so there are those macro pores for water instead of this extremely compact soil, right? Uh, when you build up the profile, you're adding other things into it, uh, which benefit the tree for sure.
SPEAKER_00Makes sense. After
Watering
SPEAKER_00we do that, when can we water? Or do we water right away? Or since there's some water in what you're doing and aerating, we could we wait.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, so you can absolutely wait. Um, I mean, where we're at here right now, every two weeks you could water mature trees and probably not be hurting anything. Um, you know, that's how dry it is, but um monthly is a good program for clients. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We've talked about it before, but break down how we should water a big tree. I know there's some type of formula. Uh if it was me, I would just be uh turning the hose on trickle and letting it run for quite a while. Uh, but with water restrictions, does that come into play too, even with watering trees?
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, absolutely. So um, you know, I think you're right. There's an equation, so many gallons per inch. But the reality is most people's tree roots aren't all in their property. They're in their neighbors next door, uh, they're across the street, especially on properties um in the Denver area, very tiny with very large mature trees, depending on what area you're at, of course. But um, we do a grid pattern um every three to four feet. Anywhere we can get into that turf area, um, we have concrete that we can't get through, and obviously we're not gonna inject in neighbors' yards. So we're basically trying to access as much of the root system as possible. If we have a tree that's in the middle of a field, you know, your most absorbing roots are going to be on the drip line. That's a target place if you have that availability, um, you know, underneath the canopy. I think uh uh common misconception is to take your hose, stick it at the base of the tree, turn the water on, and let it run for an hour, you know.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly what I was talking about. Yes, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh for a young tree, it's good to get, you know, the roots are kind of in that area. Um, so I guess it just depends on the size of the tree, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I would certainly prefer to
How homeowners can water trees
SPEAKER_00have you guys come do it and do your grid pattern. How should I do it though, if that's not gonna happen, or if I get you guys to do it one month and then I want to do it the next couple months, how should I do it? Are we running a sprinkler or what's the best way?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what we're doing out here. Sprinkler isn't great in this area just because the ground is so hard. Uh, we get a lot of runoff um and evaporation. So generally what I suggest to clients uh is to take uh utilize soaker hoses, something that leaches water very slowly. Um, and a part of the day that the sun isn't beating down evening is good after supper time. Um, and you know, these run about, I think it's a gallon per foot per hour, depending on the hose, but that's usually what it is. So um, you know, you could run that uh for an hour or two because it's coming out so slowly, it's not running off to the curb immediately, but soaking in. Um, that's what I've found to be the best option for these more mature trees if you're doing it yourself. Soil probes, are our soils just too hard, the pressure's too low coming out of the house, um, unfortunately, for those to be super effective.
SPEAKER_00Has this weather pattern been
Hot and dry conditions in Denver
SPEAKER_00longer than one season? Has this been going on for a while there?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would say maybe 2020. We started seeing hotter and drier um each year a little bit more, a little bit more, as opposed to a one-off and then a really wet season. Um yes, uh last summer wasn't quite this bad, but pretty bad. Uh, you know, we did get some snow the previous winter, but uh it seems to be trending towards hotter, drier, hotter, drier each year and not going the other direction for the last several years.
SPEAKER_00Does it change what you plant and when you plant, or does it stay the same?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it definitely impacts what you're gonna be able to get to take. Uh, we we have a smaller collection of trees that do well out here as it is. Um, you know, that hasn't completely changed yet, um, but we're looking for trees that can handle um this climate um well. Unfortunately, ash was one that no longer is an option in this area with the emerald ash bore. Um, but you know, I think the species selection, if this continues, is really gonna drop. Um, like I said, nothing's native, none of these are native. Cottonwood on a creek. That's it, you know. So the creeks don't have much water right now, so they're not too happy either.
SPEAKER_00Oh boy, Jay, that sounds awful. It really does. Uh for anybody that loves plants, not not enough water is is just the worst. And to tell you the truth, watering is one of my least favorite jobs. Uh out east here, we've had heat, uh, but we have had rain, uh, but unusual uh heat for sure. Uh but we're so uh thankful to have the rain. It's it's thunderstorms every other day here and high humidity. Uh so tell
How clients react to heat and drought
SPEAKER_00me a little bit about your clients and how they react to this uh this kind of long-term dry period. Are they still excited about planting a tree or are they holding off from planting a tree because of this weather?
SPEAKER_01Clients are looking to plant, yes. Um, the general suggestion right now is maybe hold off till the fall. Um, I think trees that were planted in the spring, you know, definitely have a rough summer to deal with. My biggest concern personally is the transportation of the trees. So there's going to be a lot more desiccation when you're driving a tree across town from the nursery to a client's property when uh it is 95 degrees out and 5% humidity.
SPEAKER_00Are they listening to your recommendations? Are you are they listening when you say do not plant a tree this month? Trust me on that. Are they listening?
SPEAKER_01They are. Um, I think the city as a whole is pretty wise to what's going on. Um, the uh the clients always want their tree to be uh successful when you put it into the ground. It's hard to get a tree to take as it is, adding one more factor in. Um, I think they definitely listen to our advice uh and are willing to even hold off till next spring.
SPEAKER_00Of these non-native
What to plant in Denver
SPEAKER_00trees, in this situation you're at, when you find the right place for it, what are you planting, Jay?
SPEAKER_01Um, not a whole lot. Uh I guess it depends. You know, the again, you got to keep in mind uh every every tree has a specific location that works best for it. Um, but you know, we're putting in um uh Austrian pines, Colorado blue spruce on the evergreen side. Um, you know, the different different types of maples, oaks, uh Ohio Buckeyes uh getting more and more popular does pretty good. Um the uh Kentucky coffee tree is another one that we're starting to see more of. And these are kind of replacing the ash that we can't uh plant anymore around here.
SPEAKER_00Well, Jay, good stuff as always. I'm sorry to hear how your weather pattern is going. It's no fun for a uh plant lover for a tree guy. Uh, but thanks for filling us in and best of luck in the future there. And my next call is going to be to the AC heating company to come out and see why my air conditioner isn't working.
SPEAKER_01Good luck with that, Doug.
SPEAKER_00Thanks. I'll talk to you. Absolutely nothing worse than a drought. Now, tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees Podcast from the Deby Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oester, and as always, I want you to subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a show. I want to know what we should be covering. Send us an email to podcasts at Deby.com. That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-S at D-A-B-E-Y.com. You can also click the link at the end of our show notes to text us a fan mail message. Your ideas might be on a future show. Love to hear from you. And as always, we'd like to remind you on the Talking Trees podcast. Trees are the answer.