Tree & Shrub Care

TREE & SHRUB FERTLIZATION

Trees require certain essential elements or “nutrients” to function and grow. Trees established in forest have access to sufficient amounts of these nutrients in the soil. Landscape or urban trees can be growing in insufficient soils for many reasons unaware to the homeowner. It may be necessary to fertilize or to adjust the soil pH to increase nutrient availability. An experienced arborist can make the correct analysis and recommendations once a inspection of your landscape is completed. Ongoing deep root fertilization programs improve the oxygen content, microbial activity, and nutrient levels within the soil, leading to improved environmental conditions around and within the root zone. Performing liquid fertilization will have a positive effect of stimulating healthy, rigorous root growth as well as increased foliage production.

The main objective of liquid fertilization is to:

Promotes lush growth and more vibrant colors in flowering plants and trees.
Overcome a nutrient deficiency.
Correct for a deficiency detected from a soil or foliar analysis.
Aerates soil and breaks up compaction.
Replenishes reserves lost to stress, disease, infection, drought etc.
Promotes new growth to fill in spaces where privacy screening is an issue.

Understanding Plant Health Care (PHC) is similar to understanding your own health. Plants, like humans, grow best when their needs are met. Plants and shrubs that suffer deficiencies are frequently prone to attacking pest. Unfortunately, more than ever before, trees and shrubs are subjected to a host of environmental stresses such as disturbed and poor soil, drought, bad planting techniques, soil compaction, air pollution and much more. If a plants needs are met, it will grow more vigorously and stronger, therefore enabling it to utilize its own defensive system to ward off the majority of pests it encounters. Basically healthy plants generally have less trouble with pests than plants growing in stressful environments.

LAWNCARE

Proper landscape care includes mowing, fertilizer/pest control, cultivation, irrigation and overseeding. Most landscape care companies are more familiar with current developments in fertilizer and pest technology than homeowners. When lawn care is involved, lawn maintenance includes three factors, which must work with the others to produce an attractive and functional turf. The homeowner must properly water and mow the turf. Nature must provide good growing conditions. When temperature, precipitation and humidity fall out of the optimal range, problems may arise. Finally, the landscape care company must properly apply fertilizer, diagnose insect and disease problems and control weeds. Let a Rayal Tree Care professional help you achieve the healthy, green lawn you’ve always wanted at an affordable price.

Custom Fertilization Programs
The Rayal Tree Care Company will customize your fertilization program to your specific type of grass. Fertilizer has three main elements. Nitrogen, (the first number) Phosphate, (the middle number) and Potash (the last number). Each element has a particular purpose as to what it does to a grass plant. A balanced fertilizing program for your lawn will include all three main elements with some of the micro-nutrients also needed by grass. Some of the micronutrients are readily available in the soil you have, others have to be added. To be certain what is needed a soil test is the place to start. After receiving the results of your soil test, we will apply the recommended amounts of fertilizer in the proper quantity. We will recommend the appropriate blend of dry and/or liquid fertilizer applications that will:

Provides dark green rich turf color
Keeps grass healthy (from stress)
Keeps grass thick helping to keep weeds out

An early spring application will involve fertilizer and crabgrass control. This will prevent the crabgrass from growing before it starts. A second late spring application will involve a broad leaf control to rid the lawn of sprouting weeds and allow the new grass to fill in.

PLANT HEALTHCARE & INTEGRATED PEST MANAGMENT

The Rayal Tree Care Company’s Integrated Pest Management program establishes a long-term relationship with the homeowner, or landscape professional to satisfy their individual needs. Our experience arborist will design a care plan, which is customized to the specific landscape. Our goal is to improve the growing conditions, by applying environmentally safe treatments. This will correct small problems from eventually causing extensive damage and possibly irreparable loss of expensive trees and shrubs.

By proper plant identification along with proper diagnosis of insects, disease and nutrient deficiencies of plants, The Rayal Tree Care Company can make a difference in the health of your landscape plants. It must also be stressed that any successful sustainable plant health care program will included the cultural practices of pruning, watering, mulching and sanitation. Often overlooked, these practices are also vital to the health and development of your landscape.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) recognizes that the presence of a pest does not necessarily indicate a large-scale response. Small amounts of pest damage are natural and inevitable. In some instances pests are actually beneficial to the surroundings. In our area, we have observed the following insects causing moderate to severe damage to ornamental plants: aphid, whitefly, tent caterpillar, cutworm, scale and mites. All of these insect pests can be controlled successfully with natural, non-toxic substances. The use of non-toxic (except to target species) treatments insures that the natural insect predators (ladybug, lacewing, praying mantis and many others) continue to help us control the “bad” bugs.

INSECT & DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Pest presence does not constitute a pest problem. A pest becomes a problem when its population or the injury it causes, exceeds a tolerable level known as an action threshold. Insects such as ticks and certain vertebrates can be considered pests since they reduce personal enjoyment or safety in the landscape. Some pest problems result from organisms eating or inhabiting desirable plants, which can cause both physiological and aesthetic plant injury. As this level increases, control measures should be quickly implemented.

Monitoring your landscape is an important component of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Homeowners and landscape technicians can perform routine inspections to make observations and collect crucial information such as:

Site information (weather, landscape conditions)
Plant information (condition, developmental stage)
Pest information (identification, population level, life stage)

Many landscape pests can only be effectively managed during a vulnerable life stage. Certain insects cannot be controlled with pesticides once they reach adulthood and develop their protective wax covering. Employing tactics inappropriate for the pest life stage is a waste of time and resource. A Rayal Tree Care arborist or skilled technician is familiar with key pests and key plants in a particular region or specific property. We are skilled in the life history of these pests, signs and symptoms of the injury they cause, and appropriate management tactics. Whiteflies, Aphids, Thrips and Scales are some of the many pests we control.

Disease Management
Harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses may cause diseases of trees and shrubs. Some diseases can kill trees in a short period of time while others can virtually eliminate an entire tree species. The Rayal Tree Care Company programs are designed to prevent and control various diseases that attack specific tree and landscaping on your property. Our arborist can correctly identify the species of tree / bush and the particular disease characteristic which is effecting its health.

Some of the more common diseases we treat for are:

Anthracnose
Cankers
Cedar-apple rust
Dutch Elm
Elm leaf beetle
Elm Leaf Black Spot
Fire Blight
Folair
Oak Wilt
Tar spot
Verticillium wilt

TICKS

In Westchester, Putnam and Fairfield counties, residential development within recently reforested suburban areas has brought an increased number of people into closer contact with the tick vector, Ixodes scapularis, and consequently to the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi. This species of tick and its natural hosts (e.g., deer and small vertebrates) are thriving in most lawns and wooded areas. High densities of white-tailed deer, the most important host of the adult-stage tick, are constantly feeding on shrubs and plantings found in most residential landscapes. Mice and other small vertebrates are common hosts of the juvenile stage of the tick, and many of these hosts also serve as reservoirs of the disease. The Rayal Tree Care Company can reduce the exposure to your family and pets with safe and effective products.

Evaluation & treatment
The first step is to schedule an evaluation of your property with one of our many experience arborists. We will design a plan specifically for your landscape needs and expectations. Monthly applications are applied to keep up with any re-infestation caused by deer or mice. Only our trained technicians will apply these products within the guidelines determined by the pesticide agencies. Because no product provides 100% kill rate, tick checks and common sense are an essential component of tick control and disease prevention. To protect your family from ticks, call on the professionals at the Rayal Tree Care Company today.

Tick Prevention Tips

Clearing leaves, brush, tall grasses and woodpiles from around your house and the edges of your yard or garden may help reduce the tick population and the rodent population that the ticks depend on.
Keep your body covered as much as possible when working or playing in grassy or wooded areas.
Hats, long sleeve shirts, and pant legs tucked into socks will reduce tick bites.
Check your pets for ticks after they’ve been outdoors. Not only can your pet get Lyme disease, but it can carry infected ticks indoors where the ticks might fall off your pet and attach to you.
If you live in an area where Lyme disease is prevalent, check your children daily for ticks, especially during the summer months.
At the end of the day, take a shower and use a washcloth to clean your body. This will knock off any ticks that are loosely attached to your body. Remember, it takes about 24 hours for a tick to attach itself to the skin.

DEER REPELLENT

Watching deer strolling along your property is one of natures more enjoyable scenes. These beautiful and peaceful animals can cause damage to your shrubs, and flower- beds. Many of the most popular landscaping plants are highly palatable for deer because of their highly nutritional value, accessibility, and the tender new growth they provide. Many other small animals will feed on your landscape as well. Your most precious landscape can be severely damaged in a few days if not protected. Deer repellents are an effective means of protecting your landscape without installing expensive, cumbersome and unsightly temporary deer fencing.

SOIL ANALYSIS

A successful landscape or garden maintenance program strives to create a fertile soil. The goal of a sustainable fertility program is to activate a favorable environment for plants and millions of beneficial organisms. These microscopic critters assist plants in obtaining moisture and nutrients. Many of these creatures help resist drought and fight off a variety of pests including weeds, diseases, and insects.

There are several nutrients that are essential for plant growth. A soil test is used to determine the amount of these nutrients in the soil. In addition to indicating the level of nutrients in your soil, the analysis will also tell you the pH value or how acidic or basic your soil is, and it will make a recommendation for the amount and type of fertilizer and/or lime you need to add to the soil for optimum plant growth. Rayal Tree Care Company can customize your soil fertilizer and lime applications to your plants needs. Following our recommendations will help prevent problems with nutrient deficiencies (in the case of under-fertilization) or problems associated with over-fertilization such as excessive vegetative growth, delayed maturity, salt burn and wasted money. In addition, it can protect against any environmental hazards resulting from excessive fertilizer applications.