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Homeowners and property managers usually understand the importance of obtaining professional help when their trees develop problems. If you have an oak with a dying branch, you need to have it pruned. If a pine is leaning over your house, you may need to have it removed.
But while mitigation measures are obviously important, a proactive approach often allows you to prevent some tree problems before they even start. That’s exactly what our Plant Health Care (PHC) services are designed to do.
We’ll explain some of the key benefits PHC provides and outline a few of the most common PHC services we offer below.
Nine Key Benefits of PHC in Southeast Michigan
Plant Health Care (PHC) programs provide a wide range of benefits to property owners, but the following nine are among the most noteworthy.
1. Early Pest Detection
Southeast Michigan faces specific threats like the emerald ash borer, spongy moth, and various bark beetles. Monitoring for these and other pests is an important component of an overall PHC program and helps ensure these destructive pests are caught and treated before they cause irreversible canopy loss.
2. Proactive Stress Management
Trees in residential and commercial areas face unique stressors, ranging from compacted soil to salt runoff to inadequate root space. PHC programs help mitigate many of these urban stressors through the use of tailored irrigation and soil management strategies.
3. Increased Property Value
Trees can increase a property’s real estate value by 3% to 15%, depending on their species, size, and — most importantly — health. PHC protects this living investment, ensuring the trees on your property remain vibrant, lush, and structurally sound.
4. Custom Soil Adjustments
Michigan soils vary considerably, from the heavy clays of Wayne and Macomb Counties to sandier pockets in Oakland County. PHC services often include soil testing and targeted deep-root fertilization, which delivers the exact nutrients a tree needs to thrive in its specific location.
5. Reduced Storm Damage Risks
Southeast Michigan suffers plenty of severe summer storms and heavy winter ice. Some PHC treatments may help improve a tree’s structural integrity through proper growth regulation and health management, making branches less likely to fail suddenly during severe weather.
6. Eco-Friendly Treatments
Unlike old-school techniques that relied heavily on blanket chemical applications, modern PHC relies heavily on something called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM emphasizes the importance of targeted treatments and minimal pesticide use to help protect beneficial insects and pollinators while supporting tree health.
7. Reduced Tree Maintenance Costs
Providing your trees with proactive PHC services is significantly less expensive than removing a massive, dead oak or maple tree or dealing with the fallout that comes when a large tree falls on your home. It can even help you save thousands of dollars over time by extending the lifespan of your existing canopy.
8. Enhanced Aesthetics
A robust PHC program can encourage vigorous growth and prevent unsightly issues like premature leaf drop, yellowing foliage, spotty fungal infections, and skeletonized leaves. It helps keep your landscape looking lush, green, and professionally manicured all season long.
9. Boosted Immune Response
A core principle of PHC programs is that healthy trees can often fight off diseases better than stressed or declining trees can. So, PHC approaches strive to support a tree’s overall vitality and enable its natural defense mechanisms to fend off secondary pests and withstand environmental extremes, like summer droughts.
Common Plant Health Care Services Offered
Plant health care includes an array of different services designed to achieve specific goals. A few of the most common PHC services we find helpful in Southeast Michigan include:
- Emerald Ash Borer Treatments: We use targeted trunk injections to deliver highly effective, systemic protection directly into your ash tree’s vascular system, killing destructive EAB larvae before they can cause irreversible canopy damage.
- Miscellaneous Insect Control: Our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach precisely identifies the specific pests invading your property and applies targeted, eco-conscious treatments to eliminate them without harming beneficial pollinators.
- Oak Wilt Management: We provide preventative fungicide injections and strict containment protocols to help stop this fast-moving, lethal fungal disease from destroying your magnificent oaks and spreading through interconnected root systems.
- Spotted Lanternfly Monitoring & Treatment: We offer proactive monitoring and specialized systemic treatments to protect your landscape from this new and aggressive invasive pest that swarms trees and coats properties in a sticky residue.
- Fungal & Bacterial Disease Treatment: We diagnose the specific pathogens that thrive in Michigan’s humid weather and apply precisely timed treatments to halt infections like apple scab and anthracnose before they cause premature leaf drop.
- Soil Aeration & Decompaction: Using specialized air tools, we break up dense, compacted suburban soil around your trees’ root zones without damaging the roots themselves, instantly restoring the vital oxygen and water flow your trees need.
- Deep Root Fertilization: Our deep-root liquid fertilization involves the injection of a customized, slow-release nutrient blend directly into the subsoil where standard lawn fertilizers can’t reach, boosting your tree’s structural growth and vitality.
- Mycorrhizal Inoculation: We introduce beneficial, naturally occurring fungi into urban soils that fuse with your tree’s root system, helping to increase its surface area so it can absorb water and nutrients much more efficiently.
- Anti-Desiccant Treatments: We apply a protective, breathable film to evergreen foliage in late autumn to lock in vital moisture and shield your plants from harsh, drying Michigan winter winds and help prepare your tree to thrive once spring arrives.
- Dormant Oil Treatments: We apply eco-friendly horticultural oils during the winter to safely coat and suffocate overwintering insect eggs and scales hidden in the bark and provide a proactive approach that stops infestations before they even begin.
- Root Collar Excavation: We carefully remove excess soil, vegetation, and inappropriately applied mulch from around the base of your tree to expose the natural root flare, prevent trunk rot, and correct deadly girdling roots before they strangle the tree.
- Tree Growth Regulator Treatments: Our growth regulating treatments gently slow down vertical branch growth and redirect that energy into root development, creating a greener, more compact, and drought-resistant canopy.
Protect Your Trees with Longtree Tree Service’s PHC Services
Whether you want to protect your ash trees from EAB or you’re concerned that your maples aren’t thriving like they should, the professionals at Longtree Tree Service can provide the PHC services you need. We’ll be happy to send an ISA-certified arborist to evaluate your trees, devise a tailored plan, and provide you with an itemized estimate for the services needed.
Contact us today to start giving your trees the kind of support they deserve.
