STC newsletter for fall

September 22nd marked the first day of fall. Here’s the latest seasonal news from the tree world, regarding:

Howdy, friends:
September 22nd marked the first day of fall. Here’s the latest seasonal news from the tree world, regarding:

• Why fall is the time to fertilize your trees
• The winding down of another brutal wildfire season
• Why some trees shed their foliage in fall and other questions about trees
• The mystery of tree memory and their innate sense of time
• Recent blog posts: safety practices for removing stumps and trees
• Dry summers can weaken trees, making them a hazard in fall and winter conditions

Now’s the time to fertilize your trees
Landscaping trees and other trees that have been planted/transplanted often need some help, particularly in their first few years. Fall is the time to give them a boost. See this article by Clemson University for tips on fertilizing.

Another brutal wildfire season is winding down
As of Oct 5th, only one wildfire is still burning in the state. This site includes info about eight of the biggest fires from this summer in WA, so if you’re curious about a specific fire, this is the place to find it.

We’re curious to compare the damage of this season’s fires to last year’s, especially after experts predicted 2021 would be even more dangerous. The official damage totals are not yet in. We’ll let you know as soon as we can find info on that.

Why do only some trees lose their foliage in the fall?
Ever wonder why deciduous trees drop their leaves in the fall, while conifers don’t? Here’s a brief breakdown:

The function of foliage is to convert sunlight into energy. Sunlight is scarce in the winter, meaning energy is scarce. Basically, there is a low return to producing chlorophyll, the chemical needed for photosynthesis.

To conserve resources, deciduous trees go into “hibernation” mode. This means no chlorophyll is produced, which makes the leaves wither and die. Shedding also helps them preserve their water supply when the water is all ice, since transpiration through their leaves is a major way that trees lose water.

Evergreens, though, have a different survival strategy for the winter. Their foliage is more adapted to contain water. However, keeping foliage through the winter has its own resource cost. This cost is weighed against the cost of having to grow new foliage in the spring. For evergreens, this is a no-brainer, because their foliage grows at a slower rate. They can’t just sprout new leaves in a matter of days or weeks, come springtime.

The mystery of tree memory: do trees have an innate sense of time?
Trees seem ordinary and simple, but it doesn’t take much study to realize how little we actually know about them. Pondering the winter survival strategy of deciduous trees raises an interesting question: How do trees know when it's time to let go of their leaves, or time to grow new ones?

The most obvious guess is they base it on temperature, but there has to be more to it than that. Trees, like all organisms, have to carefully budget their resources as a matter of survival. Those that shed their foliage have to make it through till spring on their reserves.

If their shedding and regrowing was triggered just by temperature, an early cold snap could cause a tree to shed all its leaves and have to weather a very long winter. This would severely deplete a tree’s stores. Likewise, an early warm spell in the winter could make a tree sprout leaves early, only to have its foliage killed once the cold comes back. Having to grow new leaves twice in the same spring would also take a serious toll on the tree’s reserves.

Trees rarely make these mistakes, though. Scientists speculate that they must have an innate sense of time that lets them track how long the temperature has been above or below a certain mark. Perhaps they can even count the days. And this leads us to confront the idea that trees must have some sort of memory, too. So how does an organism without a brain or nervous system have memories? One theory is that they store memory somewhere in their root system.

This month on the blog
Tree removal is dangerous work by nature. Carelessness can get people killed or homes destroyed, which is why safety needs to be top priority in order for a tree service to stay in business. This month on the blog, we’re sharing our approach to safety.

Is stump grinding dangerous? Read here.

How safe is tree removal? Read here.

Dry summers can weaken trees, making them a hazard in fall and winter conditions
In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned that 2021 was a dry summer, with drought being declared on most of the state back in July. Dry summers can compromise the health of trees, weakening them so that harsh fall and winter conditions bring them down. We recommend inspecting your trees for damage before the weather turns. You can read a good resource on that here.

And with that, we’re off to cut a few more trees and grind a few more stumps. Be safe, folks, and enjoy the fall. See you next month!