Plant Health Care Specialist
What is a Plant Health Care Specialist?
You've certainly heard of gardeners before and you probably know what an arborist is, but what on earth is a plant health care specialist? A plant health care specialist can be an essential component of your garden’s health and set you up for success for a garden that all of your friends and neighbors will envy.
Here's what you need to know about what a plant health care specialist is and whether you need one for your garden.
What is Plant Health Care?
Have you ever noticed that some landscapes and gardens seem to glow with healthy vitality while others appear a bit more scraggly and unimpressive? The difference between a garden with exceptional beauty and one that blends in or even looks unattractive often comes down to the health of the plants.
Just like us, plants need certain things to stay healthy and they can get sick. Plant health care is all about giving plants ideal growing conditions to keep them healthy and addressing diseases or parasites that make them sick.
Why You Need Plant Health Care
You want your garden to be beautiful and you want your investments into plants to pay off in beautiful landscaping, so you want your plants to stay healthy. Plants don't just stay healthy on their own.
Active planning and treatments are needed if you expect your plants to stay as healthy as possible. In short, if you have plants and care about how they do and whether they look good, you need plant health care. Here are some of the reasons that you need to be on top of plant health care.
- Problems spread fast. You may be astounded by how rapidly a disease or pest can spread through your garden and do permanent damage to your plants. By maintaining plant health care consistently, you have a much better chance of recognizing a problem while it is still manageable.
- A healthy garden is a beautiful garden. Paying attention to the health of your plants will give your plants an edge so that your garden will be more lush and beautiful than your neighbors’ gardens.
- You don't want to waste your investment in plants. It isn't cheap to buy the perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees that populate your garden. Unless you pay careful attention to their health, these plants may die and cause you to waste your investment.
What Does a Plant Health Care Specialist?
A plant health care specialist is like a doctor for your plants. They can prescribe good growing conditions for various plants and treat problems like insect infestation and diseases if they come up. A good plant health care specialist will have practiced for some time in your area so that they can diagnose the problems that tend to happen in your specific landscape.
Plant health care specialists focus on the health of all of the plants in the landscape, including grass and shrubbery as well as trees. After all, all of the various living aspects of your landscape interact together. Decisions made about pruning and fertilizing trees will have an effect on the plants underneath them and fertilizer and other treatments made to grass will end up being taken in by tree roots.
Prevention is Essential
One of the most important functions of a plant health care specialist is to continuously assess the health of trees and shrubs and prevent problems before they begin. It can take a lifetime to replace a mature tree, so it is essential to watch out for and prevent any problems that could negatively affect its health.
What to Look for in Plant Health in the Spring
The spring is an important time to assess your plants’ health. You'll be able to tell whether perennial shrubs and flowers are coming back or not and determine whether bulbs are still viable.
It is especially important to check for the health of trees because they are an important element in your landscape and because potential problems with trees can be dangerous. Here are some things that a plant health care specialist will look for to determine the health of trees:
Branches. Branches that are broken or dangling can be a risk if they fall. Cracks where branches attach to the trunk indicate that the branch is weak and will fall soon. Narrow angles where the branch attaches to the trunk can also indicate that a branch is prone to breaking. Missing bark or fungus growing on the bark may reveal decaying wood and structural problems.
Leaves. Trees that lose their leaves in the winter should grow them back in the spring. The foliage should come in evenly across the tree and have even coloring. Discolored or uneven foliage may indicate that the tree needs more fertilizer.
Roots. Some fungus and mushrooms growing around trees is normal, but lots of fungus and mushrooms on large anchoring roots or on the soil all around the tree may indicate that there is decay occurring.
Trunks. Any wounds, cavities, or cracks in the trunk or fungal growth or mushrooms growing out of the trunk may indicate structural weakness.
About the Emerald Ash Borer
The emerald ash borer is a stunning metallic green beetle a little bit smaller than a dime. This beetle is native to Asia, but it was discovered in the Detroit area in 2002, likely having been accidentally imported on wooden packing materials from China.
These beetles nest in ash trees and emerge in spring and early summer. Larvae bore into the tree and feed under the bark. The activity of the beetles makes it impossible for the tree to transport water and nutrients normally, which can weaken or kill the tree.
An infestation of emerald ash borers can kill a small tree in one to two years while larger trees may survive for three or four years before succumbing. The heavier the infestation, the more rapidly the tree will die.
How threatening are these beetles to ash trees in America?
The emerald ash borer has destroyed as many as 40 million ash trees in Michigan alone. Tens of millions of trees have been destroyed throughout America and Canada. While this beetle is primarily located in the Midwestern and Eastern United States and parts of Canada, it spreads rapidly and is moving through the states at a terrible rate.
What can be done about the emerald ash borer?
The best chance a tree has against the emerald ash borer is early detection. Keep an eye out constantly for signs that this beetle is invading your ash trees. When the tree is severely infected it may be impossible to save it.
Beatles move quickly through the tree so you don't have much time to recognize and treat the problem. If you are in an area that is at high risk for the beetle, you can utilize inoculation treatments to protect your trees against the pest. If trees do become infected, the beatles can be treated and other trees around it inoculated against it. If trees have been too badly damaged, it may be necessary to remove them.
Should You Hire a Plant Health Care Specialist?
If you are a dedicated gardener, you may wonder whether it is necessary to hire a plant health care specialist or whether you can take care of all of your plants’ needs yourself. It is certainly possible for you to learn everything that you need to know in order to keep your plants healthy, but it may be more of a job than is worth endeavoring to take on.
A plant health care specialist who is experienced in your area will be able to predict and protect your plants against problems, recognize issues at early stages, and treat plants appropriately when necessary.
Furthermore, the understanding and experience that a plant health care specialist can bring to the table will give your plants that special glow of health which will make your garden stand out in the neighborhood.
Why You Should Work with a Licensed Company
Lots of people claim to be a plant health care specialist, but not every gardener is licensed to diagnose and treat your plants’ health concerns. A plant health care specialist should be licensed and certified to prove that they know everything that is required in order to take great care of your plants. Don't waste your money on a gardener who claims to do great work with plants but is not certified to access or treat your plants.
Choose Kinnucan as Your Plant Health Care Specialist
Kinnucan Tree Experts and Landscape Company is highly experienced in providing the absolute best care to plants throughout Illinois. They use only the most cost-effective and environmentally sensitive practices and treatments to maintain and improve the appearance and vitality of your landscape.
We can identify and detect all sorts of pests and diseases which may be affecting your garden. They have treatments, prescriptions and management programs to fit every problem, budget, and garden.
Finally, they offer integrated pest monitoring so that you'll know if something unwanted arrives in your garden right away. Kinnucan is experienced in treating and preventing the Emerald Ash Borer, along with other pests and diseases, so you can feel confident that your trees will be safe from this pest as it moves into your area.