The Tree Amigos

This time of year, Bur Oaks and Sycamores can suffer a type of damage called "Stipling" where they take on a faded yellow color. The color change is actually from thousands of cells being sucked dry from insects like Lacebugs, Plant Hoppers, and aphids.

Call the Tree Amigos today if you see this type of damage and we can make sure your trees stay healthy.

We just finished an amazing Tree Planting project putting in 8 Eagleston Holly trees.

We normally don't plant during summer, but the trees have plenty of shade and the client installed automated irriagtion right after planting. I am excited to see how these progress as we haven't ever planted this type of Holly before. Call Today to get a Quote for Tree Planting!

512-576-1845

https://austintreeamigos.com/contact

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We are in LOVE with our new 72 foot tracked lift. It makes intimidating, time consuming climbs a total breeze. We are now able to tackle projects our competition can't. We can now do things faster, safer, and easier than ever before.

Call today to see it in action!

This is what 15,000$ with Moon Valley Nursery will get you. I spoke with this client a year ago. They spent $15000 to have this massive Bur Oak planted in late April 2023. The tree was half dead by June 2023. Here we are a year later, the tree is stone cold dead, and Moon Valley still hasn't replaced it.

The Tree Amigos are your best choice for Tree Planting. We would never do something like this to our clients.

A Hummingbird in its nest at the Very tip of a Bald Cypress Branch

Hummingbird Nest at the Very tip of a Bald Cypress Branch

Tree PSA: The Pecans are Not All Right
I wanted to raise awareness about an issue that I have been seeing in my professional work over the last few weeks. This year we have noticed an exceptional amount of Red Oaks and Magnolia trees that died following last summer’s intense heat and drought. Now it is becoming apparent that many of our Pecan trees are showing signs of severe decline, likely from the same drought stress. It's becoming evident that these trees, an iconic part of our local landscape, are suffering massively, especially in the upper parts of their crowns. In some cases, they have died completely.

We typically consider Pecans to be extremely resilient as their deep tap root allows them to access ground water in even the most severe of droughts. But the environmental stress of the past 4 years seems to be catching up with our Pecans.
It's important to remember that Pecan trees can be late bloomers, sometimes not budding until mid-May. However, what I am seeing suggests that many will not bud and recover this year. A telling sign of severe damage is the presence of numerous sucker sprouts growing just below the leafless sections of the canopy. These sprouts often indicate that the tree is sending its energy into latent buds underneath the bark, because the vascular connections to the upper portions of the tree have died.
If your Pecan tree's upper canopy has not yet leafed out, it's crucial to consult with a professional arborist. They can assess the tree and confirm whether the upper sections are indeed dead and advise on the best course of action.

I have been using a drone to examine the branch tips to look for live buds. You can see in the photo above that the buds are gray and appear lifeless. Many of the trees I have examined show no bud swelling in their upper canopy.

It is my experience that when a Pecan begins to suffer from decline in the upper canopy, reversing this decline can be very difficult. Without significant intervention, Pecans suffering from large scale top dieback will continue to decline until they are dead.
The loss of these trees not only affects the aesthetics of our neighborhoods but also impacts local biodiversity and the overall health of our urban environment. If you are concerned about a Pecan tree in your yard, please do not delay in seeking expert advice. It might still be possible to save these trees or manage their decline in a way that minimizes further risk. It is also important to the safety of my employees and other tree service workers that these dead limbs be taken care of as quickly as possible. The longer dead limbs are left in the tree, the more brittle, unsafe, and difficult they are to work with.

TL/DR: If you have a Pecan tree, go outside and look at it. If it looks like the top of the tree doesn’t have any leaves, call your Arborist and have them check it out.

The most important thing you can do for your trees besides providing consistent irrigation is to install a mulch bed underneath the drip line of your trees. I refer to Mulch as the ‘Magic Potion’ of tree health here in Austin because it does so much to alleviate the biggest problems and challenges our trees face. In this post I will attempt to tell you why mulching is so important, how to mulch properly, and some local resources to get cheap or free mulch.

Why Mulch?
While trees and grass look good together, they are actually mortal enemies that are passively trying to kill each other. The tree gets the first chance to get all of the sunlight by virtue of being taller. Trees spread their canopies wide to try and block the sun to the competing plants below. Grass gets the first chance to get all of the water. Their root systems are typically above tree roots and they will attempt to absorb any moisture before it can get down to the tree roots. The grass does not care if it is starving the tree of water. Providing a mulch layer for as much of a trees dripline as possible ensures that the tree has its own space to spread its roots and absorb as much water as it can when water is available. Water is much more scarce than sunlight in our area, so making sure your tree can get as much as possible is crucial.

Moisture Retention: Mulch helps retain soil moisture by reducing evaporation, competition and runoff ensuring that trees have a steady supply of water, which is crucial for their growth and health. Mulch also acts like a sponge, absorbing water and releasing it slowly, making it more available for roots.

Temperature Regulation: It acts as an insulating layer for the soil, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. This temperature regulation is particularly important to prevent roots from drying out in our brutal summers.

W**d Suppression: By covering the soil, mulch prevents sunlight from reaching w**d seeds, significantly reducing w**d growth. Fewer w**ds mean less competition for nutrients and water, benefiting the tree's development.

Soil Improvement: As mulch breaks down, it adds organic matter to the soil, improving its structure, fertility, and aeration. This enriched soil environment supports healthier root systems and promotes overall tree vigor.

Disease Prevention: Mulch can help prevent the spread of certain soil-borne diseases like Phytophtora root rot. It also reduces soil compaction caused by heavy rains or foot traffic, which can otherwise lead to unhealthy growing conditions for trees.

How to Mulch?
Mulching a tree is not rocket surgery. It is a simple process, but there are some steps to follow and some thing to avoid.
Choose the Right Mulch: Any hardwood mulch is fine. You can order bulk double ground mulch from a local mulch producer, or get arborists to dump single grind mulch for free. Single-ground mulch is slightly better for the tree than what you would buy from a store, but is much less aesthetically appealing. Black dyed, double ground mulch usually looks the best, but is the most expensive. The big box hardware stores mulch products are typically very expensive. It is usually better to find a mulch that is created locally.

Prepare the Area: Clear the area under the dripline of any grass, w**ds, or debris. This preparation ensures that the mulch directly contacts the soil, allowing for moisture retention and w**d suppression. I have found that using a pickaxe and making shallow horizontal strikes is the best way to remove a large section of grass and w**ds.

Apply the Mulch: Spread the mulch evenly around the tree, starting 6 inches away from the trunk to avoid moisture buildup against the bark, which can lead to rot and disease. Extend the mulch out to the tree's drip line if possible, which is the outermost circumference of the tree's canopy where water drips off the leaves.

Maintain Proper Depth: Try to make the mulch layer about 3-4 inches deep. This depth is ideal for retaining moisture, regulating soil temperature, and suppressing w**d growth, without suffocating the tree's roots.

Water and Monitor: After mulching, water the area to help settle the mulch and provide moisture to the roots. Monitor the mulch over time, replenishing it to maintain the 3-4 inch depth as it decomposes and settles. In our area, with our high heat, mulch can disintegrate very quickly. It is usually good to inspect and replenish the mulch layer every other year. This ongoing care helps sustain the tree's health and growth.

DO NOT cover the tree or the root flare with mulch.
DO NOT create a volcano of mulch around the tree.
DO NOT stack the mulch 6 or more inches deep.

FREE MULCH

https://getchipdrop.com/
This is a website/app that connects you with local arborists and tree service companies that will deliver single ground mulch for free right to your door! They will dump it in your driveway and then you can shovel it into a wheel barrow and spread it around.

https://www.austintexas.gov/dropoff
The City of Austin Recycle and Reuse Drop-Off Center provides free double ground mulch that you can go and pickup. This is a very labor-intensive option though, as you have to manually load the mulch, bring it home, and manually spread it.

Call a Tree Service
Look on Google Maps and see if a Tree Service has their shop located near you. If they do, you can call them and ask for a free mulch drop. They will usually happily oblige as it saves them time and money to deliver the mulch to you as opposed to a landscape supply center.

BUY MULCH

https://www.westlakeband.org/mulch
The Westlake Band has an annual fundraiser where they will deliver bulk mulch to your door. It is not the cheapest mulch, but delivery is free and it goes to support their band group. They also have an option to get the kids to help you spread the mulch. I am not sure what it costs, but if the idea of watching sweaty band kids do your landscaping projects appeals to you, this may be a good option.

https://www.989rock.com/
Whittlesey Landscape supplies is one of the biggest tree waste recyclers in our area. They have a variety of mulches that are pretty affordable, especially in bulk. This is where we get our mulch products from. They will deliver and have great customer service.

Whittlesey Landscape Supplies | Round Rock & Austin TX Supplier of specialty rock, gravel, mulch, topsoil and sand to homeowners and contractors since 1975, with locations in Round Rock, Liberty Hill and Austin TX.

Protecting Austin’s Urban Forest: The Oak Wilt Epidemic

Someone asked me to create a post about Oak Wilt in Austin last week, so here we are. KXAN also posted an article about Oak Wilt yesterday which was lacking in so many elements that I felt like I had to write one of my one. I do not want to reinvent the wheel, so I will link to websites and interviews that go over the basic information around Oak Wilt down below. I thought it would be interesting and helpful to write an article specifically about Oak Wilt in Austin. My team and I have 25 years combined of diagnosing and treating Oak Wilt in Austin, and these are the most important things we have found for protecting your trees from this horrible disease.

Oak Wilt Basic Information

https://texasoakwilt.org/

This website will teach you a massive amount about the disease and how to detect it and options for treating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_DW9gsPQCs

This is a great interview by the Central Texas Gardener with a Central Texas Board Certified Master Arborist about Oak Wilt.

Where is Oak Wilt in Austin?

The City of Austin put together a heat map that will help you figure out if Oak Wilt is in your area.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Minimalist/index.html?appid=77bd761640454639992165ca91a9a0c5

This map is extremely useful but is not perfect. Sometimes you have to zoom in and out to get it to show the heatmap, and sometimes the heatmap just fades entirely, but if you play with it enough you will see if there are spots to be concerned about in your area. It also does not relay the severity of the disease in an area. For example, there is just a small blip in Shady hollow, but we know that Oak Wilt has ravaged sections of Shady Hollow and is a significant threat there. It also completely excludes Steiner Ranch, which has been suffering a major Oak Wilt outbreak over the past 10 years.

I don’t see Oak Wilt in my neighborhood on the map, what should I do to prevent my neighborhood from getting Oak Wilt?

If there is no Oak Wilt near you, the main thing you need to do is NOT prune your trees between February 1st and July 1st. Pruning wounds can attract the nitidulid beetle, which is responsible for long distance transmission of the disease. Oak Wilt is like a fire, with these beetles being arsonists. Once the beetle infects your tree through a pruning wound, the disease will spread like a fire into the whole neighborhood through the tree’s root system.

I live in an Oak Wilt hot spot; how do I know if my tree has Oak Wilt?

While Red Oaks and other oaks are susceptible and do get Oak Wilt, the main victim are the Live Oaks due to how they are connected underground via their roots.

The best indicators that your home or neighborhood may have Oak Wilt are:

- Leaves start falling off of Live Oaks starting at the top and working its way down
- A wave of dead and dying Live Oak trees moving through the neighborhood
- Symptomatic leaves on the trees or on the ground (See the photos for what they look like)

You can also call an arborist and have them assess the Oak Wilt threat to your trees. I will many times launch my drone and inspect the surrounding area for Oak Wilt outbreaks that threaten my client’s trees.

What should I do to protect my trees?

The main way to protect your trees from Oak Wilt in an urban environment like Austin is with preventative injection of a fungicide. These injections provide about 95% protection to uninfected trees for 2 years. The effectiveness on already infected trees is very low, but can work if the disease is detected early enough. Trenching and other management techniques are rarely viable in a dense urban setting.

When should I Inject my Trees to protect against Oak Wilt?

The furthest I have seen Oak Wilt spread underground in one year is 150 feet. I recommend preventatively injecting all Live Oak trees that you want to protect within 150 feet of any infected tree.

We get the best results when we perform the injections in Late April and May, but the injections can be conducted most of the year.

I think my tree is infected, what should I do?

Call an arborist or three to inspect the tree and make recommendations. Arborists will typically give free consultations and estimates, so it is good to get three opinions to make sure the information is consistent and that you are receiving fair pricing.

Infected trees can be saved by injections as long as the infection is detected early enough. If you live in an Oak Wilt hot spot, it is crucial to be vigilant and monitor your Live Oaks.

My property has Oak Wilt, what do I do?

Have an arborist or 3 thoroughly assess the property and come up with a plan. Ideally you want to inject the Live Oak trees that you want to keep and remove the low value trees and the trees that are too far gone with infection. Herbicide the stumps of the infected trees to prevent the root systems from harboring the disease.

TLDR:
Here’s a cool map that can help you figure out if you need to be worried about Oak Wilt in Austin, https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Minimalist/index.html?appid=77bd761640454639992165ca91a9a0c5

Oak Wilt is a very frustrating and nuanced disease to manage. If anyone else has some tips or personal experiences, I would love for you to share here!

1. Introduction

Since September, a typically rare disease known as hypoxylon canker has been showing up much more frequently on our urban trees than in the past 13 years I have been practicing arboriculture. Red Oaks, Live Oaks, and Post Oaks, already weakened by this summer’s harsh drought and heat, are falling victim at an alarming rate. It's important for us, as responsible citizines, to recognize and work to prevent hypoxylon canker, not just to preserve the beauty of our urban landscape but also to help prevent our trees from becoming hazards.

2. Identifying Hypoxylon Canker

Perhaps the sole silver lining of Hypoxylon canker lies in its distinct and recognizable signs. On our local Oaks, this disease manifests as patches of grey, tan, or brown lesions on the bark of the stem and branches. As the bark peels away, it reveals the underlying fungal infestation. On Sycamore and Pecan trees, Hypoxylon canker presents as black patches, usually confined to dead or dying wood. Prompt removal of these infected branches is crucial to halt the spread of the fungus and protect the tree's vital stem wood.

3. The Danger to Our Trees

Hypoxylon canker serves as a grim signal of the decline and death of an Oak tree. Typically triggered by severe stress (typically drought, compaction, or construction damage in our region) it preys on weakened trees, swiftly infecting them and quickly leading to their death.

The appearance of hypoxylon canker on a branch or limb is a near-certain sign that the branch or limb will die and need to be removed. When the canker spreads to a tree's stem or trunk, it almost always spells the tree's end. Once hypoxylon manifests visually, intervention is often futile. In exceptional cases, prompt and aggressive care with water, mulch, and fertilizer might save the tree, but usually, such efforts are in vain.

Quickly removing trees afflicted with hypoxylon is crucial. In its advanced stages, the disease causes white rot, drastically and quickly reducing the tree's structural integrity and posing a significant hazard. The removal of a tree severely weakened by advanced hypoxylon is not only dangerous but also typically more costly due to the increased risks.

However, if the infection has compromised less than 15% of the canopy, there is a glimmer of hope. Pruning the dead branches and rejuvenating the tree through soil decompaction, mulching, and regular watering might just turn the tide against this devastating disease.

4. Prevention

Hypoxylon canker, a fungal disease, is usually already present as spores in the bark many of our local oaks, pecans, and sycamores, but it typically only infects and becomes harmful when the tree is under severe stress. The most effective strategy to prevent this disease from damaging your trees is straightforward: maintain a consistent 3-4 inch layer of hardwood mulch covering the root zone, and ensure regular watering during drought periods. By keeping your trees strong and stress-free, you greatly reduce the risk of hypoxylon infection, safeguarding the health and longevity of these vital members of our urban and natural landscapes.

TLDR: Hypoxylon Canker is a devastating disease that quickly follows severe stress, rapidly killing urban trees like Oaks, identifiable by distinct bark patches and often fatal once your tree is infected. Infected trees should be removed quickly as the disease makes the tree hazardous very quickly. Prevention involves regular tree care, including mulching and watering, to strengthen trees against this deadly threat.

With the few days of freezing weather we have coming in the forecast, I wanted to share some easy, straightforward steps to help protect our trees. While this upcoming event might not be as severe as last years or 2021, it is still important to try and help our already distressed tree population.

Water the Trees: Moist soil retains more heat than dry soil, thus providing warmth to the roots. Ensure that you water deeply right before the freeze, focusing on the root zone beneath the dripline.

Mulch Around the Base: Apply a 3-4 inch layer of hardwood mulch around the base of the tree, extending out to the drip line. Mulch acts as an insulator, keeping the soil and roots warm. It also helps retain soil moisture. Be careful not to pile the mulch directly against the tree trunk, as this can cause rot.

Wrap the Trunk: For young, fruit, or thin-barked trees (Red Oaks, Loquat, wrap the trunk with a commercial tree wrap or burlap. This helps to prevent frost cracking, which occurs when the tree bark expands and contracts rapidly due to temperature fluctuations.

Cover the Tree: Use frost cloth, burlap, or even old blankets to cover smaller trees and shrubs. The cover should reach the ground to trap heat more effectively. Remove the cover during the warmer parts of the day to allow air and light to reach the plant, and put it back at night when temperatures drop.

Stay warm and safe everyone!

Fun AI art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S2vVL704kg&t=3s

Board Certified Master Arborist Andrew Anstrom was featured on this weeks episode of Central Texas Gardener. Check it out and leave a like!

Troubled Trees The trifecta of snow, ice, and drought the past two years really damaged trees in Central Texas. Certified arborist Andrew Anstrom breaks down the issues and...

Thank you to our neighbors! We are honored to be voted a 2023 Neighborhood Fave.
This award means so much for our business and helps us continue to grow in our community!
Be sure to visit us on and leave a recommendation:
https://nextdoor.com/pages/tree-amigos-cedar-park-tx/

The Tree Amigos Tree Amigos LLC is an Austin born, based, owned, and operated tree service company.

We love Crestview and their Trees!

Certified Arborist Travis Moore going out on a limb to make this ancient Post Oak beautiful and safe.

Santa loves when you plant Trees.

Looking for happy new tree smiles? Come join us this Sunday 11/20 from 12-6p at Live Oak Brewing Company for a Sap & Tap during their 1st Annual Fall Festival. We will have lots of trees for everyone to adopt! Thanks to our partners EarthShare Texas & Ale Trails America for their support

Please visit our Reddit Post and give us an Upvote!

I reject everything about this "Zombie Trees" interview on KXAN. There is this trend that is appearing where news agencies interview arborists about "Zombie Trees". KXAN posted another article about Zombie Trees...

My first Summer working for a Tree Company was in 2011. We suffered 90 days of 100 degree plus weather that year. This year we are on track to beat that number. Be sure to Thank any outdoor laborers you know or contract, because making anything happen in this kind of heat is significantly harder.

For the sake of all that is shady, Water your Trees! They have to stand out in this heat all day.

Nextdoor is possibly our favorite Social Media because we don't have to do anything to maintain it! Please visit our nextdoor page and drop us a like!

https://nextdoor.com/pages/tree-amigos-cedar-park-tx/recommend/

Join Nextdoor, an app for neighborhoods where you can get local tips, buy and sell items, and more Nextdoor is the neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services.

One year ago today Texas suffered the worst Winter Weather event in living memory. Winter Storm Uri killed countless trees all over the state and almost single handedly wiped out Austin's Ash tree population. We still don't know the longer term effects of this event on the health of our trees. Some negative effects can take up to 5 years to manifest in our trees. Keep a close eye on your favorite trees this spring, and make sure they are healthy and set up for success.