When plants, trees, and palms are exposed to hurricane force winds like those of Hurricane Irma, the results can be severely damaging. With most properties losing some trees, palms, and landscaping, maintaining what’s left is critical to protecting the value of your property.
The same concept goes for restoring your property aesthetically to an appearance that brings you some degree of comfort, and feeling that you are re-turning to normalcy.
The physical signs of stress are often delayed. Exacerbating the recovery efforts is the fact that seasonally, we are in the time of year where the majority of plants, trees and palms enter a semi-dormant stage. This slows growth and the trees absorb less water and nutrients, delaying recovery.
Additionally, as temperatures drop in the recovery months, fungal issues become prevalent. A stressed tree, palm or lawn is much more susceptible to hosting fungi, resulting in a rapid decline. Lawns suffer the addition-al burden of remaining covered in debris, which aggravates the problem.
Taking fallen trees and palms out of the equation for the moment, what remains are leaning trees and palms. Trees with broken branches and missing foliage, along with palms that have missing, shredded and/or bent fronds. The sooner the trees are nourished and treated appropriately, the better the chance of survival, and the sooner they will recover physiologically, as well as cosmetically.
Leaning trees and palms should be corrected by a professional that will assess root damage in the areas where roots may still be exposed, deciding if any root pruning is warranted before straightening and burying the tree. Properly placed braces and stakes are critical to the long-term recovery of a leaning tree. It’s crucial that the tree is safely in place and won’t lean or fall again, especially in another high wind event.
Broken tree branches should be removed in a clean-cut manner by a professional. A clean-cut promotes the proper healing and compartmentalizing of a tree’s wound. If not clean-cut, leaving torn, jagged and irregular tree tissue provides tiny cavities for trapping moisture, hosting pests and disease, and results in decay.
Lawns that have been exposed to piles of debris will result in dead or severely damaged turf surfaces. In most cases, those areas should be dug out and followed up with new sod installation. If the areas are left to recover on its own, weeds will begin to fill the spaces long before healthy grass starts to grow back, and you’ll fight a losing battle trying to eliminate the weeds, not to mention having them migrate into healthy lawn areas.
In the case of palms, it’s the opposite of damaged tree branch protocol. As ugly as a palm may look, none of the damaged green fronds should be removed. Even if bent, broken or collapsed against the trunk of the palm, those fronds are still providing very important nutrient storage and are a feeding source for the palm. Only totally brown, dead fronds should be removed.
In many areas of our community, flooding and salt intrusion have affected plants and lawns. The saturation alone will stress turf grasses and promote root rot. High levels of salt can burn roots and temporarily change soil Ph levels enough to accelerate damage. Fresh water irrigation should be increased as needed to offset such salt retention, and our water restrictions allow for such increases when treating for stress, damage and/or new sod installation.
Another consideration for a speedy, healthy recovery is to treat trees, palms, lawns and landscaping with proper fertilizer, root growth hormones, fungicides and insecticides. This helps promote new feeding roots, boosts the building blocks of growth, and reestablishes the plants as soon as possible. Liquid organic fertilizers can offer an advantage over granular fertilizers to stressed landscaping. This is because liquid fertilizers are absorbed quicker, and transfers through the plant, tree or palm faster.
For information, contact One Two Tree at 305-267-1426 or visit onetwotree.com for a free evaluation and quote for services.
