Announcing the Spring Almanac

We're marking the beginning of spring with our Spring Almanac, a guide for taking care of your trees in the months ahead:

• Install Ooze Tubes for the spring-summer-fall watering campaign. Remember 25 to Stay Alive for trees that have been in the ground fewer than three years. Young trees need 25 gallons of water a week (or 1.5 inches of rain) to thrive in the Washington DC area.
• Protect your trees by removing winter weeds and emerging grasses from around the trunk base. Add trunk guards if lawn mowers or weed whackers come near your trees. Consider deer guards for tender trunks.
• Mulch your trees to keep them moist and discourage summer weeds. Use a thin layer (2-3 inches) and keep the mulch at least 3 inches from the trunk to prevent insects from damaging the trunk base.
• Inspect for dead or crossing branches. Take a careful assessment of trees that were damaged in the winter storms. Damaged branches should be pruned carefully. Dead branches should be removed. Damaged or stressed trees might need special attention this year. For guidance visit www.treesaregood.com/treecare/pruning_young.aspx
• Appreciate your trees. Red maples and elms are blooming now. Serviceberry flower buds are emerging, and cherry and plum blossoms are due. Spring gives us a chance to take a closer look at the evolving leaf, flower and branch structure. Observe how many of the leaves will make subtle color changes in the coming months. The elm leaf will open lime green then darken. 

You can download the Spring Almanac from the Fact Sheets page on the Casey Trees website.