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Pest Management - Products - Soil Injections Instead of Sprays - Fertilization and Root Treatments - Tree Watering

Good pest management incorporates many techniques and strategies such as monitoring, record keeping, early detection, identification, and diagnosis followed by appropriate treatments.

Mountain High Tree Service offers various monitoring programs to determine when treatments are needed. We have several popular, seasonally timed programs, which include visits to your property to inspect plant material and to make appropriate, on the spot treatments.

Early detection of harmful insects is integral to good plant health care. Our comprehensive programs identify damaging levels of these insects and the poor environmental conditions in which they thrive.

Many damaging insects and diseases can be anticipated either because they have been identified as harmful or because of environmental conditions. Mountain High Tree Service provides preventative treatments that are typically applied before damage to your trees, shrubs, and lawn occur.

Products

We always use the safest, most effective products available. All products are registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A) and approved by the Colorado State Agricultural Department.

These may include horticultural oils, insecticidal soap, and natural biologicals. Often, however, synthetic pyrethroids and other more traditional treatments are needed for comprehensive control.

Soil Injections Instead of Sprays

Whenever possible, we use soil or sometimes trunk injections to avoid foliar sprays. One of these products, Merit, is applied to the roots through a soil injection. This systemic insecticide has proved very effective on insects. It is also economical because one treatment usually lasts the entire season.

In fact, we have found that after two or three consecutive years of treatment, there is enough residual carried over that treatments are reduced to every other year.

Merit can take up to 60 days to be fully effective. Also, several waterings are needed after Merit is applied to initiate uptake. Because of this, we most often do Merit applications in early spring or fall. When necessary, we add other faster acting agents.

Tree Fertilization and Root Treatments

Our Front Range soils are, for the most part, very poor—they consist mostly of clay and are drastically lacking in available nutrient content. Our trees and plants struggle under these adverse conditions. A quality fertilization program can achieve big improvements toward healthy plant growth. Thorough root fertilization with slow release fertilizer is recommended every two years. Our standard program includes both Mycorrhizae and Yuccah to maximize long-term benefits.

Additionally, we offer Mycorrhizae combined with other bio-stimulants as therapeutic treatment for newly planted, transplanted, and stressed trees.

Mycorrhizae is a naturally occurring, beneficial fungus that works symbiotically with roots to create a healthier root system.

Yuccah is another natural product derived from Yucca Cactus that loosens hard-packed soil and facilitates full absorption of treatments.

Tree Watering

Inadequate water (drought stress) is probably the most significant cause of plant problems in our area.

Due to the semi-arid conditions in which we live, irrigation systems, designed to satisfy the watering needs of our lawn, do not water deeply enough to accommodate the needs of our trees. Trees require deeper, longer, less frequent watering.

Rule of thumb: Water all established trees and shrubs deeply every four weeks when conditions are dry and mild. This is especially true in the fall and winter.

Use of a soil probe or soaker hose is a good way to deeply water your trees. A sprinkler can also be used if allowed to run long enough to thoroughly moisten the top 12 inches.

To test if your trees need water, dig down two inches deep and form a ball in your hand. If the soil remains clumped together, your tree does not need water, otherwise water deeply.




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