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Our trees are valuable in several important ways. They add significant value to our property. I often hear people say they purchased their home because of the beautiful trees. Shade provided by our trees in summer helps to reduce our energy bills, as well. We are sold on the value of trees, but how do we help them?
The Earth-Kind® Program which has been researched and proven by Texas A&M with clinical trials is growing in popularity as people are learning of it. That program is recommending mulching as the single most important beneficial thing that we can do for our trees. Dr. Steve George, a well-known authority in Texas horticultural, believes that our local chipped tree product is the best mulch for our soil.It is easy to decide to mulch our trees, but when we think about how to go about it in our very own yard, it gets complicated fast. If the tree’s shade is heavy it may not be too difficult, but the grass will need to be carefully removed out to the drip line of our trees. Hey, that will cut down on damage from string trimmers. There’s a plus and we’ve barely started. We can build beautiful curvy mulched beds around each tree and stop there or plant some of the beds, remembering that most of the tree’s feeder roots are in the top foot of soil. When choosing plants for the bed, remember, our big old trees do not like water or mulch too close to the trunk of the tree and should only be watered deeply, with drip or soaker hoses, about once a month when we haven’t had rain. So, the plants under a tree need to be drought tolerant and partial shade or shade plants depending on the thickness of the canopy. Most importantly, we must never raise the level of the soil around a tree. Raising the soil level one inch could cause the tree to slowly die. Through the years soil depth will increase as the mulch breaks down and nourishes the tree, but it is a very gradual increase. Fertilizer is not needed in the Earth-Kind® Program. To check how deep the moisture is push a rod in the ground until you feel resistance. Place your thumb at ground level pull the rod out and measure from your thumb to the end of the rod. That is how many inches of moisture your tree has. Six inches of moist soil is a good measurement. Maintain three inches of mulch and we have happy trees. Young trees will greatly benefit from the very same procedure, but must be kept moist the first year and carefully monitored for water for several years. Mulching under our trees improves the soil structure, oxygen levels (very important to Post Oaks), temperature and moisture availability. As the mulch breaks down it feeds the tree in a very natural way. Think of a forest and the decomposing matter on the forest floor. We talk about getting back to basics – this is it! For more information about this or any gardening subject contact the Johnson county Master Gardener Association at 817-793-4625.
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