Houston Tree Service Review with Gene Basler: 2010/09

Monday, September 27, 2010

Pine Bark Beetle Symptoms from a distance

Questions, comments, arguments? Please feel free to comment or email. If you're looking for a Houston arborist or quality tree service, call Bartlett Tree Experts at 713-692-6371. Bartlett has been my employer since 2002. This is my personal blog, which is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

I inspect Pines from Aloft Lightning Damage and Pine Bark Beetles

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Julien and Gene at Texas Tree Climbing Competition in Plano 2010-05-22

My good friend Tom Dunlap of treebuzz.com gave me this photo yesterday (2010-05-24) at the 31st Annual Texas Tree Conference in College Station. I had taken video and stills with my ipod, and the files were lost. So this is the only picture of the occasion. One can see that Julien is not happy. I didn't know until he was on the ground that he had rope burn from his hands being in the wrong place during the belay. He wears the scar on the back of his hand with pride. Thanks, Tom!

Questions, comments, arguments? Please feel free to comment or email. If you're looking for a Houston arborist or quality tree service, call Bartlett Tree Experts at 713-692-6371. Bartlett has been my employer since 2002. This is my personal blog, which is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Follow-up to last week's large storm break

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Previous Improper Trimming Presents a Challenge

Leaf Population is the key to a healthy tree

Berms aren't common in the Houston landscape

Good Example of Prevention Through Good Soil Nutrition

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Leaning, cankerous cactus with rot

Native Trachyderes mandibularis Longhorn and Green Scarab feeding on Bacterial Slime Flux

Monday, September 13, 2010

Whitefly confused for leaf hopper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmvragZG5-k
That's not a leaf hopper. The feller in the video looks whitefly (the bug, not the esteemed Mr. Garrett). Whiteflies sure do hop, but they aren't leaf hopper (or a plant hopper or tree hopper). Leaf hoppers, as members of the cicadellidae, appear like miniature cicadas, with wings close to the housing when stationary, not deltoid, as the whitefly. You will find their pupal casings on Sophora and all manner of Quercus, often mistaken for scale or even misidentified at artillery fungus. I believe whiteflies are in the Aleyrodidae (sp?) family. Oh, and they do a heck of a lot of damage. Best to reduce plant susceptibility by boosting organic matter, promoting soil biology, improving internal drainage, and cutting off or restricting irrigation.

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Gene Basler Root Collar Surgery and Root Invigoration Part 4/4

Here's the final product, watered in.

Gene Basler Root Collar Surgery and Root Invigoration Part 3/4

Gene Basler Root Collar Surgery and Root Invigoration Part 2/4

Gene Basler Root Collar Surgery and Root Invigoration Part 1/4

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Pruning Girdling Root Part 1/2

Pruning Girdling Root Part 2/2

Buried Root Collar on Distressed Young Live Oak

Chilli Thrips Nymphs on Nuttall Oak

Monday, September 6, 2010

Unidentified Predator Occupying Abandoned Live Oak Twig Gallery

Residential Plant Health Inspection

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Organic, Homeopathic or "Chemical"?

Just where does the legendary Gene Basler stand on the organic-chemical spectrum? Seeing as how I work for "one o' them evil 'chemical' companies", I guess I ought to clear the air a bit, so that my clients, prospective clients and Green Industry colleagues might have a better understanding of how I approach every property, every landscape, and indeed every plant. In this article I intend to clarify what I mean when I myself use the term "organic", the key role organic matter plays in my diagnoses and prescriptive regimes, and why I consider the term's use in common Green Industry parlance is less than ingenuous, and in many cases, downright deceptive.

First of all, the notion of an organic-chemical spectrum, wherein "organic" resides way over on the left and "chemical" on the right, is as absurd as the widely-held misconception that there is any substantial difference between Democrat and Republican in Twenty-First Century politics. According to this linear model, anyone whose garden, household, dietary habits and energy sources aren't 100% organic is somehow morally compromised and out of synch with Momma Gaea.

Second, the idea that anyone who goes to the local bureaucracy to obtain a license to apply pesticides must surely be bought and paid for by Dow Chemical and Monsanto, is just as absurd. For my part, no pesticide manufacturer has ever approached me with offers of coke and back-room massages in exchange for peddling their poisons.

Third, many companies, within the Green Industry and without, play fast and loose with terms such as "organic" and "sustainable", as though they were really just marketing gimmicks, without really understanding what they mean for the average residential or commercial landscape, much less for the individual plant.

Trees and landscape plants actually ask very little of the people whose job it is to care for them. Provide a healthy growing medium in which to grow and thrive, and they will reward you with vigorous growth and very few problems. What do I mean by healthy growing medium? By healthy growing medium I mean rich soil, high in organic content, porosity, internal drainage, and containing a vibrant soil biology. Once this fundamental first step has been accomplished, then the tree or landscape plant will better withstand the countless stresses that the urban and suburban setting impose upon them, and the need to intervene with pesticides and fungicides will be virtually reduced to nil.

Therefore, my position on "organics" is that soil needs lots of organic content, not just residing on the surface in the form of a layer of mulch, or poured into the soil in the form of a tea, but incorporated into the soil to as great a depth as is practical (in another post I intend to address the exhortation on the part of the good folks at Urban Harvest not to till or otherwise disturb the soil--a philosophy I agree with, with important exceptions).

So, put another way, organic matter plays the central role in the remedial and preventive courses of action that I routinely prescribe for people's plants. But it's important to realize that by the time I or one of my arborists is called out to inspect a tree, it is usually in an advanced state of decline. The objective in stabilizing a tree that's heading South, is to arrest leaf loss and root loss by as many means at our disposal as possible. This means (dare I ustter it?) that we may have to kill some bugs.

If I have a headache, I may take an aspirin to get some immediate relief. But if I really want to stop the headache, I have to address the imbalance in my life--stress, diet, rest, exercise--of which the headache is merely a symptom. This applies to sick trees as well. Look at the typical residential or commercial property that I visit (my YouTube videos provide examples of both). You will find that not every homeowner or property manager is willing to rip up the driveway or parking lot, eliminate the turf grass from every square inch of the tree's root zone (which can extend well beyond the drip line in most cases), apply compost, install a permanent mulch bed, cut off the irrigation, and cease any and all human activity that could cause soil compaction. And even if we were to succeed in retrofitting the ailing tree with the ideal cultural correction, we'd still have damaging and defoliating pathogens, insects and mites to contend with.

On that note, I regard the practice of keeping trees permanently under-the-weather and dependent on arboriceutical intervention to be nothing more than horticultural Muchausen-by-proxy Syndrome.

This is not to say that I espouse the philosophy (held to one extent or another by anyone who believes in the existence of the State), that the end justifies the means. Quite the contrary: this is why I believe in using the least toxic, least harmful control available. And I'm not just talking about avoiding leaching into the water supply or protecting kids and pets. I want to avoid harm to beneficial insects, mites, fungi, bacteria--to wit, all the elements of a landscape's ecosystem, both above and below ground.

See, the science of pest and disease management has come a long way, as has our understanding of plant nutrition. It's been nearly 30 years since the company I work for abandoned the use of most harsh general pesticides, such as malathion, diazinon, Sevin, and Orthene. Why nuke 'em all, when nowadays you can target the pest without harming beneficials?

Now for a little calling-out of some of my brethren in the Green Industry.

I don't like being sold a bill of goods. I don't like the FDA telling me what's best for me and my family. I don't like hormones and antibiotics being sneaked into my food, and I don't like deceptive use of language. So when it comes to pest and plant disease management--as well as gardening, agriculture, diet, medicine, air, water and energy--what's most important to me is to ask whether one's practices cause unintended harm, harm to beneficial soil biology, non-pest insects and arachnids, non-pest plants, wildlife, pets, kids, people.
I have long held that the terms "organic" and "chemical" are used disingenuously by so many garden show hosts, landscape architects, professors and other trendsetters in the Green Industry. The "organic" movement has frankly gotten out of hand, having in large part piggy-backed itself onto the more fascist/authoritarian aspects of the environmental movement as a whole.

I won't insult anyone's intelligence by pointing out the dictionary definition of "organic", which is any compound that contains carbon. If we dig down to the meaning of the original Greek word, organikos, which pertains to organs of the body, we learn how the term found its way into modern parlance. Early scientists thought that anything containing carbon came from a plant or an animal. Later, scientists discovered that numerous compounds containing carbon could be synthesized, putting that old notion to rest. But the notion that all things related to agriculture and horticulture should only come from plants or animals, persists. What most Green Industry professionals mean when they use the term "organic" is "free from chemical pesticides or fertilizers", which begs the question: What is "chemical"?

Everything is chemical, in a manner of speaking. Every component of the physical world is composed of elements on the Periodic Table. The real question is whether the method you employ to solve plant problems such as nutrient deficiencies, diseases and pests, is harmful to people, pets, wildlife, or beneficial insects.

Many methods touted by radio show hosts as "organic" might better be described as "homeopathic". One example is aspartame. I have heard self-described "100% Organic" garden show hosts say that it's a great way to get rid of sugar ants in the kitchen. Well that may be--I've never tried it--but organic it surely ain't.

I'm more concerned with toxicity. I want to avail myself of the research in suppressing diseases and pests without harming non-target organisms. For instance, on any given spring day, we might find whitefly pupal casings, box elder bugs and genista caterpillars, all of which can really damage the plant. But at the same time, the plant might be covered with ladybugs, assassin bugs, and even praying mantis. The typical tree guy or landscaper will apply a general insecticide, which will upset the balance in unintended ways.

So, in summary, take radical ("radical" means pertaining to the root, by the way, and I'm using it in its most literal etymological sense, here) steps to promote healthy soil, and with time--and not as much time as conventional horticultural wisdom would have one believe--pests and diseases will become less and less of a problem in your landscape.

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Post Oaks All Over Houston

2010 has been a tough year for post oaks in Houston. Some have died, while others have lost all or most of their leaves. Once a post oak has defoliated in the middle of the summer, it's really difficult to stabilize the plant and keep its systems going until the following spring, when the new foliage offers an opportunity for recovery. Post oaks are notoriously sensitive trees, and how they respond to site alterations, such as home construction, turf grass installation, irrigation installation, paving and landscaping, is a flip of the coin. Let's face it, if you have a post oak on your property or under your care, you should be prepared for it to die just to spite ya. If you have a post oak, and you're worried about its health, then don't panic. There may be a few simple corrections that can help keep it stable and (more or less) healthy.

What I've been looking at this summer have been three main sets of symptom expression. One is the flash, in which the entire tree flashes paper-bag brown. Another symptom is premature defoliation, wherein the leaves begin raining down from the tree. The leaves aren't necessarily brown in this case, but they may appear scorched. The third is leaf scorch; here, the leaves appear scorched, particularly at the ends, and leaves don't necessarily rain down wholesale from the crown. I happened to visit a property with all three of the above-mentioned symptoms in the same front yard, which you may look at in the linked YouTube Video. There are numerous other symptoms that can be identified on post oak, including sticky-cottony yuck on the leaves, nipple galls, stippling, powdery mildew, and others. I do not address them here, but I'll be happy to do so--just ask!

Flashing brown has over the years been called post oak decline. Whenever you hear the word "decline", you should understand that this is a generally amorphous term used to describe a set of symptoms or pattern of mortality, the causes of which have not been determined. I use the term in a different way; generally I use it to describe a tree that is slowly dying from the tip down, and that has multiple stress agents associated with the symptoms. Whenever I go onto a site to inspect a post oak that's flashed brown, The prognosis is always the same: the tree is dead and needs to come down. Determining a cause of death is difficult, because there are usually so many factors that can be pointed to. Every conceivable way the site was altered in the last few years is a possible causal factor. Is the home less than ten years old? Was an irrigation system recently installed? Was sod put down on the root zone? Was the grade changed? Is the soil compacted? What is the internal drainage like? What is the soil's organic content? These questions are important if you have surviving post oaks that you want to preserve, but they don't really change the prognosis about the one that's flashed.

Premature defoliation can frighten a homeowner or property manager just as much as flashing brown. It usually happens some time after midsummer, and well before normal fall leaf drop. Premature defoliation has many causes, including nutritional deficiency, root loss, root stress, drought, leaf spot disease and bacterial leaf scorch. The best ways to prevent premature defoliation are to promote healthy soils with good internal drainage, aeration, soil biology and high organic content, to eliminate turf grass from the entire root zone of the tree, to take the tree off the irrigation schedule, and to apply a layer of mulch, taking care not to bury the root collar. Topical leaf spot diseases can, as mentioned, cause premature defoliation. One of the best ways reduce spore counts on a property is to rake, bag and haul off (or compost) the leaves after they have fallen. While I will apply fungicide in the springtime to reduce the incidence of leaf spot disease, I usually only prescribe this course of action when the tree is either in an emergency state, or the homeowner or property manager is unable or unwilling to improve the growing conditions.

The third symptom is leaf scorch. Here, the leaves appear damaged, but don't necessarily fall from the tree. Note that there is some overlap here, between what I described above as defoliation and leaf scorch. There's this nifty little bacterial pathogen called Xylella fastidiosa, which is transmitted to the plant by some types of sucking insect. This has only recently been found to be the cause of decline and mortality of a great number of trees and landscape plants, the cause of whose problems was previously lumped into the "decline" category. While it's great to be able to pin the cause of one symptom, it's important to remember that when we're talking about the urban/suburban landscape setting, there are many other stress factors that need to be addressed. Bottom line, if your tree's leaves look scorched, and if you notice a little yellow halo between the brown, scorched area and the green part of the leaf, then it could have bacterial leaf scorch.

There is no cure for bacterial leaf scorch, and the disease usually causes slow decline and death. The symptoms can be suppressed, however, and this is a great way to get continued enjoyment out of one's trees. Symptom suppression can also be argued to prolong the life of the tree. This is only done in the spring--usually the spring following diagnosis. The only known treatment for suppressing symptoms is application of the antibiotic oxytetracycline by trunk injection. Please note that this is one of a very few instances in which I will advocate the injection of trees. I point this out, because there are so darn many arborists out there leaping on the trunk injection bandwagon for all manner of ailments--diagnosed and undiagnosed--from micronutrient deficiency, to fungal disease to borers. Before you ever sign on to a treatment regime that includes capsules or injections, please get a second opinion from a grown-up arborist.

While I'm on the topic of post oaks and diagnosis, let me address some common diagnoses bandied about by some of the other arborists out there. The most common are anthracnose, Asian ambrosia beetle and borers (gotta get them borers!).

Anthracnose is a general term used to describe a number of different symptoms on a number of different host plants, caused by a number of different pathogens, most of them fungal. Now, with a definition like that, it's little wonder that a homeowner can be confused by his or her arborist! Anthracnose isn't really a term I associate with post oaks, but there are some symptoms--usually fungal leaf diseases, and arguably even bacterial leaf scorch--that could, I guess, be described as anthracnose. In any case, I'd be wary of anyone who wants to spray fungicide at the time of diagnosis. In keeping with what I stated above, most fungal leaf diseases infect the foliage as they emerge in early spring, although the symptoms don't show up until later in the growing season. This does not mean that I never apply fungicide any time other than in the spring: quite often, in fact, I'll see newly emergent foliage on a tree--especially live oak--and apply fungicide to protect it. But we're talking about post oaks, and for me to observe newly emergent foliage on a post oak that has any of the above symptoms would be a surprise indeed.

Asian ambrosia beetle mainly attacks fruit trees, and post oak is not currently considered to be a host plant for this pest. There is a native ambrosia beetle, by the way, but it's not interested in oaks, either.

Borers are blamed for decline, decay, cavities, etc. more than just about anything. It's so easy to look at a distressed tree and find a hole or two on the trunk. See? Look here, there's borers on the trunk. There's your problem, right there! Fact is, most wood-boring insects are simply capitalizing on exposed dead wood. It's best to think of them as a friend: their presence can be evidence of decay that you might otherwise not have known about. So, while I may treat a tree to help suppress borers, it's usually a newly transplanted tree.

In summary, the recommendations I make for post oaks are the basically the same as the recommendations I make for all shade trees, only with ten times the urgency: promote healthy soil in the entire root zone of the tree, and it will have few problems. This means, in a nutshell, good soil organic matter. High organic content in the soil means good soil biology. Good soil biology means good plant nutrition, decreased susceptibility to diseases, pests, moisture extremes and abiotic stress factors. Put a protective force field around your tree, starting at the dripline, and don't allow the soil to become compacted. You just might get years of enjoyment out of your post oaks.

Please feel free to leave a comment or send an email. If you're looking for a TCIA Accredited Houston Tree Service or Certified Arborist, call the company I've worked for since 2002, Bartlett Tree Experts, at 713-692-6371. This is my personal blog--it is not affiliated with Bartlett Tree Experts.

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