Arborist Trevor Hall from Bartlett’s Elmsford office, which provides tree service in the greater New York City area, made an Arbor Day Presentation at Pleasantville’s Bedford Road School, handing out saplings to the second grade students.

View more information on the Pleasantville Patch →

A crew from Bartlett’s Wilmington, Delaware tree service worked on an Arbor Day project in New Castle recently and had some pictures to share. On Friday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the State of Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs partnered with Bartlett Tree Experts in efforts to preserve the historic copper beech tree located on the New Castle Green.

Read the full news release on www.bartlett.com

If you would like to optimize the performance of your plant, optimize the soil in which the plant lives. Get the soil right and you’ll have a healthier, stronger tree.  It’s as simple as that! But how to do that can prove to be a bit of a challenge…

When I first started doing plant health care and fertilization, I would try to determine the deficiency based on the symptoms the plant was exhibiting.  This proved ineffective as similar symptoms can result from different soil deficiencies. After fertilizing the plants for years without good results, I tried fertilizing according to soil lab analysis and voilà – the plants improved to near-perfection.

Soil lab analysis is a process whereby a soil sample is taken from the base of the tree or shrub and analyzed for pH levels and to determine what nutrients are present (or not).

With soil, the problem could be a micronutrient deficiency or a pH problem or boron toxicity – all common issues in our area. The only way to really know is through soil testing and analysis. I know I could have saved a lot of time and fertilizer, (not to mention that the plants would have improved much more quickly and the clients would have been happier!), if I had just started with soil analysis.

Good intentions gone bad are common in regards to fertilization. Let’s say you have a citrus tree that’s looking yellow. You go to the local nursery and buy a package of citrus food. You apply it to the tree and instead of improving; it starts to look even worse. Wow! What went wrong?

It seems like simple logic: you have citrus, you give it citrus food. But here’s the problem: citrus food has a lot of sulfur in it to reduce the soil pH. Continual application can eventually bring the pH down below acceptable levels. In most cases, low pH can be as bad as high pH, and may cause the plant to respond with symptoms never seen before.

It’s like most products out there.  Just because the label says it’s good, doesn’t mean it is.. When you really think about it, it’s impossible to have a “one size fits all” fertilizer.

Plants can live with nutrient deficiencies. But to grow to their optimum potential, they must have enough of each of 16 critical nutrients, yet not too much of those nutrients to cause toxicity.

The only definitive way to know exactly what is in your soil is through soil lab analysis. With a lab report, custom fertilization can be done that will most quickly improve the soil rooting medium and the plant’s health and vitality.

While there are many factors, including organic matter and irrigation, that help improve the health of plants, fertilization is critical to optimum growth.

Before you head to the nursery to undertake any fertilization, consider getting your soil analyzed first. It’s a good, low-cost investment and in the end, it will save you time and money and allow your trees and shrubs to thrive!

Bartlett is proud to work with neighborhood groups as part of the Treecycling effort in Philadelphia. The idea is to keep discarded Christmas trees out of the trash and out of landfills, and to recycle them into mulch, wood chips, and other useful products. The Treecycling program has grown over the past four or five years, and there are now 17 neighborhood groups and associations participating in Philadelphia. Bartlett has been volunteering time and resources to this effort to chip Christmas trees over the past four years. The neighborhood groups involved request a small donation, and the atmosphere is a true neighborhood gathering: there is food, people come out, and everyone absolutely loves it. Over 1,000 trees are recycled in this process, trees that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage and filling landfills. The trees that are recycled into woodchips are used in reclaiming abandoned lots, creating city dog runs, and in community gardens around Philadelphia. This year’s weather really brought the people out, but even last year, when the weather was 10 degrees, people were still out to thank us for all our support. It’s always nice to be able to help the local neighborhoods and to be able to give back.

Facebook profiles maintained by our local tree service offices:

In the 1980′s, two supporting props were  installed on a 80′ long, 24″ diameter low limb, but during a recent storm the massive limb collapsed onto the sidewalk. John Studdy, Arborist Representative from Bartlett’s Bala Cynwyd office, and his crew: Rubio Rosales, Michael Sanchez, Damean Snyder, Chip Brumbaugh, and Daniel Dyer, proudly stepped in to improve the health of the beautiful tree.

Bartlett Tree Experts replaced the supporting props, pruned, fertilized, and spread woodchip mulch to help improve the overall health of the sycamore tree. Bartlett Tree Experts with the help of Erica Sollberger and the Borough of Lansdowne, will continue to monitor and maintain this historical tree.

Read more about Bartlett’s support of the National Arboretum.

In this edition you will find pest and disease alerts, seasonal tips on how to best prepare your trees and shrubs for fall, and the latest research from the Bartlett Research Laboratories . Sign up to be notified via e-mail when new editions of the Tree Tips newsletter are posted.