When it comes to pest control, often the best thing to do is... nothing.
It’s a common feeling to go into attack mode when your landscape is being chomped on. A client told me, “I buy organic fruit for my family, try not to keep anything in plastic because of the chemicals it leaches, but when I saw my shrubs being devoured by insects, I was ready to get out the DDT!”
It’s practically a ritual in Westchester. Spread fertilizer on the lawn in the spring and fall, maybe even twice more during the summer, so it stays a bright green. Add limestone to keep the soil alkaline, to increase nutrient uptake. Apply a pre-emergent to control the weeds. Spray Roundup and pesticides when needed.
I recently went back to visit my old Queens neighborhood. I had fond memories of walking to school through a tunnel of maple-lined streets. But the place was hardly recognizable. No trees had been planted to replace the old, majestic giants, now gone. The street looked naked and harsh. I see the same thing happening to our neighborhood. Like Queens, Larchmont and Mamaroneck's development soared in the 1920?s. Most of the tree stock planted by the original developers is, if not already dead, at life's end. You need only to look at the picture above to see what a difference street trees make.
Winter was brutal in terms of tree damage. Shaking the snow off my shrubs helped somewhat, but the tree branches are too high up. Winter winds and old age take their toll on trees.
Most trees will survive lost limbs. The key is not to leave a ragged edge, which is harder to heal. It's better to make a clean cut. This will allow the tree to grow over the wound and compartmentalize it.
