Root Invigoration
As a home and tree owner, you can assist in promoting a healthy tree by maintaining your trees and soil. Our fertilizers include the correct blend of nutrients that will help your trees maintain their health and vitality. In the 1950s and 60's, the technique was to use an electric drill to create many holes over the top of the root zone the fertilizer was poured into the hole. Today our crews use hydraulic pressure injection to place the fertilize into the root zone.
Why is Root Invigoration Necessary?
Soil compaction over the top of your tree roots reduces total pore space. Soil compaction increases bulk density which inhibits root growth, as well as water and element absorption. It also reduces beneficial mycorrhizae activity. One of the most significant advantages to periodic fertilization is the benefit from soil aeration. Our hydraulic fertilizing equipment pressure injects the fertilizer into the soil at 150-180 pounds of pressure. This method effectively alleviates soil compaction and improves soil condition by enhancing a root systems ability to absorb oxygen, water and essential elements.
Tree roots are also at a disadvantage due to direct competition with lawn or turf grass root systems. Lawn over the top of the tree roots has replaced the organic layer found in our natural forests. Fallen leaves and twigs that may have, in a more natural setting, accumulated as an organic layer over time and provided for a continual source of recycled elements, are routinely raked up and removed on our lawns.
Poor soil conditions, as described above, reduce plant vitality, making your trees susceptible to secondary problems such as stem and twig cankers, root diseases, leaf diseases and leaf-feeding or sucking insects. Poor soil conditions are further exacerbated by New England weather extremes. We have experienced a number of significant drought conditions in the last 10 years. Drought events have the greatest impact on shallow rooted trees, and trees in low vigor. Non-woody absorbing roots, usually located in the top 12-15 inches of the soil, are the first ones affected. When these roots dry out, they become non-functional and a water deficit develops since the roots cannot provide water to the top of the tree.
Fertilization and the benefits from the soil aeration cannot be accomplished with a one-time application. The Haupt Tree Company’s special blend of fertilizer is time released over a period of 20 months and includes humic acids, which are organic biostimulants that promote plant growth and vigor by increasing a plant’s ability to more efficiently absorb nutrients and soil moisture. We also incorporate MYCORRHIZAL INOCULANT into our fertilization program. The presence of beneficial mycorrhizae greatly improves root growth and the ability for water and nutrient absorption. Tree fertilization/soil aeration can be scheduled for any time of the year, with the obvious exceptions of frozen ground or during periods of extreme drought when soil moisture levels are very low.
Root Invigoration Gallery
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