Bruce Kreitler: Money may not grow on trees, but with some care you can save both
One of the things that I've been talking about for quite some time now is how tree prices are increasing.
Having had reason to recently really go deeply into that increase, I can say with confidence that tree prices have gone up 30% the past nine months.
That's a big change, and unfortunately - at least currently - I see that trend continuing.
I would like to point out that this just makes it that much more practical to try to retain existing trees, rather than replace them. And don't forget the time investment that exists in established trees.
On to the subject of retaining existing trees.
One of the big things that helps with this is the ability to help trees living in the areas around the house avoid stress, or at least help them deal with it when they need the help.
For instance, it's no secret that last year's cold did some serious damage to our trees. As I have said many times this year, there is no such thing as an un-stressed live oak in all of West Texas, no matter how the canopy may or may not look.
Not only that, you don't have to look far to find half-dead or dead ash trees.
For right now, one of the best things you could be doing for your trees is to water them. It's been hot and dry, and some of even the larger trees are feeling the pain to the point that they are showing it. Pecan trees, which were not hurt by the 2021 freeze, are now starting to visibly struggle over a lack of water.
When the freeze happened last year, the reason it hit the ash trees so hard is because they were active at the time, and that made them vulnerable to the cold. Of course, live oak trees, while not trying to push out leaves and blooms at the same time the weather below zero, also were active. While activity didn't necessarily mean that trees would be damaged by the cold, it did make the ones that weren't as cold hardy more vulnerable.
Pecan trees come out so late in the year that they were relatively inactive in February, were unharmed by the cold, and went on to thrive and produce a good crop of nuts last year. However, they are hurting now for water.
It's a lot harder to get trees to "come back" than it is to keep them healthy to start with. Some water spent now might be just the ticket to avoid other issues later.
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And just to point out, while pecans are the ones currently showing it, almost all other tree species are going to be going to feeling the same drought stress, but just haven't made it obvious yet.
Something else that I would like to point out is that for some reason, a lot of mesquites were damaged - although for the most part, very few people have noticed. What's odd to me about that is that mesquites are also late bloomers in the spring and should have come through it in the same way the pecan trees did.
Another thing that I found surprising is that almost no magnolias were harmed by the cold. The common knowledge about magnolias used to be that they couldn't take a lot of cold, and that if they were planted in cold areas, they would defoliate in the winter. Hah, I think below zero qualifies as really cold weather, and the magnolias did just fine.
As I said right after the freeze, we were about to learn a lot about cold weather and trees, and that has been/is happening.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Bruce Kreitler: Save your trees to save your wallet
