If Your Trees Look Ill, Don’t Wait to Look For a “Tree Doctor” in Lake Forest!

Trees, like people and animals, get sick. How do you find a “tree doctor” if your trees show evidence of poor health?

Leaf loss, in one area or across a tree’s entire crown, is the most usual indicator of a problem. Mushroom growth, regularly from a trunk or base, is another. A spate of dead limbs can be a symptom.

An ISA-Certified Arborist from Dorshak Tree Specialists is your top bet for prompt, responsive tree treatment service in Lake Forest! Educated to detect and analyze diseases and insect pests, these tree specialists prescribe treatments for problems that affect Wisconsin trees.

Changes in leaf color are another identifier. Yellow leaves can be evidence of a fertilizer deficit, often with oaks. However, yellow is the normal color of leaves on a sunburst locust tree. A Certified Arborist knows the difference, and how to interpret the messages of leaf colors!

Averting problems is the most efficient approach to tree health. It’s advisable to have your trees inspected every three to five years by a Certified Arborist. Dorshak Tree Service, with seven Certified Arborists on staff, offers this service for free for tree owners in and around Lake Forest.

What are they watching for? The aforementioned symptoms, of course. Another area of potential alarm is crevices or cavities in trees, where moisture and insects gather. The goal is to identify existing or possible problems proactively. Preventing a disease or insect infestation is much simpler than curing them once established.

Colorado blue spruces dot many yards. A close viewing, though, might find evidence of Rhizosphaera needle cast, a fungus that attacks this non-native species. Brown needles, or piles of needles beneath a tree, are a symptom. Treatment can thwart the fungus from devastating and ultimately killing these beautiful trees.

Another possibility – again, long before reaching this point – is planting trees with similar aesthetics, yet far more resistance to insects and disease. Concolor firs and Norway spruces are substitutes for Colorado spruces.

Other tree species in Lake Forest are vulnerable to fungi diseases, too. Oaks suffer oak wilt. Elms contract Dutch elm disease. Proactive inspection can identify these circumstances in time to save the trees.

Application of fungicides can avoid root rot, a condition that affects trees growing in wet soil. Root rot isn’t choosy, either – its decay affects trees from a variety of species.

Insect pests pose serious dangers to residential trees. Insects are usually host specific, meaning they target one species. The deadly bronze birch borer attacks birches. Linden borers mostly target lindens. 

The emerald ash borer has been an unwelcome initiation for Lake Forest homeowners. The Asian invasive has decimated ash trees across Lake Forest and Wisconsin in recent years.

Another invasive, the spotted lanternfly, is inching west after its discovery in Pennsylvania in 2014. The China native feeds on more than 70 tree species, including maples, oaks, lindens, hickory and black walnut.

Preventing insect damage, once again, is often a matter of proactivity. Repellents are applied in two ways: injecting directly into trees, or drenching soil beneath for roots to take in.

Just as you wouldn’t miss seeing a doctor for years on end, don’t gamble with the health of your trees. Contact Dorshak Tree Specialists for a complimentary checkup. Yes, their “tree doctors” still make house calls to Lake Forest.