Signs to Look for to Determine Whether Your Tree is Healthy or Not

If you’ve done your part on researching how to properly plant your trees and the best ways to help them grow and take care of them, that’s great. However, even if you’ve given your trees the best of care, trees cannot just survive sometimes. Below are some of the major indicators that could help distinguish whether your tree is healthy or not.? 

Wilting 

Once the stems and leaves start to drop, it means that you have a stressed tree. Their stress can be due to the following: 

• Infections/Diseases 
• Over-fertilized 
• Too little or too much sun 
• Overwatering 
• Lack of water 

Broken or dead branches 

Broken and dead branches must be pruned immediately after you observed them. That’s because they can serve as a passageway for diseases and insects to infiltrate a tree. Thus, you have to guarantee that such branches be right after you see them. You can try to assess whether the branch is dead by using your fingernail to scrape the branch. If you have healthy branches, then you can observe green underneath. Moreover, you can observe that the branches of a living tree easily bend while dead branches would immediately snap.?? 

Inspect the trunk 

The tree trunk’s bark must not be peeling or loose, with the exclusion of some tree species like maples and birches. Fungi shouldn’t be emerging around on the ground or out of the trunk. Moreover, you should never observe any signs of holes or large cracks in the trunk.? 

Bare patches 

When you have an evergreen tree, try to search for parts that have no leaves throughout the year. Or else, you don’t have to be concerned about having a deciduous tree until the leaves have come back during the spring. Remember that bare patches could be due to pesticide damage, improper pruning, or nutrients that do not reach the branches.? 

Leaf Characteristics 

One of the great signs of health would be leaves on a tree. Leaves must match the correct color for the current season unless the leaves of your trees are naturally yellow. The leaves must not be stunted or shaped. If that’s the case, then that’s an indicator that your tree potentially has diseases, watering issues, damage by insects, and/or nutrient deficiency.? 

Evidence of yearly development 

Yearly growth is the least visible sign that a healthy tree has. Trees strive and develop year by year. This means that both their branches and trunk will keep on showing new development. You can check your tree’s evidence of development by assessing the distance between the last year and the present’s buds. Every tree species experiences different development. If you don’t know how to do this, it would be best to ask for assistance from the tree expert and have your trees professionally diagnosed by them. 

If you think your tree is in a bad shape, ask the certified arborists to do the needed Great Falls tree service to restore their condition and have a longer life.