Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

This is an adage I have heard many times growing up and it may help to frame the discussion I wish to present. I have documented the tree stresses that have resulted from the last several years in previous issues of this newsletter: record wet weather years alternating with years of drought. In 2024 both extremes happened in the same year.

• Record amounts of moisture promoted a good allotment of growth to be put on in May, June and part of July, but shortly afterwards the heat and drought turned on. The extra amount of new, soft tissue to be supported during drought was a deep strain on the trees that lasted through the entire growing season.
• The wet spring enabled fungi like apple scab, rust, and needlecast to have an extremely long infection time and even sprayed trees dropped some leaves or needles. Crabapple leaves were “born” with apple scab and many of the first leaves produced fell off. The spray program still enabled many more leaves to be retained until fall so that some food was made, and some aesthetics were preserved for the year. Treatments prevented these foliar diseases from becoming serious health concerns.
• Yet another important group of fungi are known as root rots or root collar rots. These attack the root system and lower trunk. They also have increased over the years as trees weakened by previous years of drought encounter wet soils. Again, alternating too dry, then too wet soils greatly favor these diseases. Sudden tree death is often attributable to these fungi.

It is stressful enough for trees when these swings happen over years, but the strain was seen to be greater when this happens in a single growing season. The first half of 2024 was so incredibly wet that it was difficult even to get the number of dry days needed to accomplish necessary protective spray programs. Yet it was a mere 10 days after the last of the regular rains happened in July that the heat and dryness turned on, the soils dried up and began to crack open, and drought stress started to show up on many trees and shrubs.
The reaction that many people had to this was that they reasoned that the rainy period “covered” for the dry half of the year. The two extremes “cancelled each other out” and many did not know that the dryness had “gotten that bad.” They were not providing supplemental water to new plants or to those that typically needed it. As dry conditions have largely prevailed over the last 3 or 4 years, watering becomes more and more critical when the soil does get dry. Actually, the overly wet period produced its stresses and the droughty period produced its own stresses. These taken together yielded a greater stress than simply from their sum.
As trees lose more of their foliage, fine roots, or develop off-color foliage or dieback as responses to these stresses, help will be needed to promote their recovery. These stress signs and symptoms accelerated in the latter half of 2024. Much of what can be done to compensate these stresses and damages relate to rebuilding feeder roots and their protective root Rhizosphere:

• Spring and/or Fall-timed Fertilization with Root Biostimulants
• Root inoculation with beneficial Mycorrhizal fungi to increase root function
• Compost Tea soil application to help build root rhizospheres and connections to the soil food web
• Micronutrients with Root Biostimulants to help correct deficiencies/chlorosis
• Root Zone Enhancement for more profoundly stressed trees

Also, keeping up with the recommended insect and disease services on your prescription program will mitigate complications from those stressors.
Consult with your Wachtel Tree Science Certified Arborist to assess the conditions of your valuable woody ornamentals and ensure that you keep your estate looking healthy and beautiful.

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