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

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

Leaf loss, in one section or across a tree’s entire crown, is the most usual symptom 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 best choice for prompt, responsive tree treatment service in Pike Lake! Educated to spot and analyze diseases and insect pests, these tree specialists prescribe remedies for ailments that afflict Wisconsin trees.

Changes in leaf color are another red flag. Yellow leaves can be reflective of a fertilizer deficit, often with oaks. However, yellow is the natural color of leaves on a sunburst locust tree. A Certified Arborist understands the difference, and how to read the messages of leaf colors!

Preventing 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 Pike Lake.

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 spot ongoing or possible problems proactively. Avoiding a disease or insect infestation is far simpler than curing them once established.

Colorado blue spruces fill many yards. A close look, though, might find signs of Rhizosphaera needle cast, a fungus that attacks this non-native species. Brown needles, or collected needles beneath a tree, are a giveaway. Treatment can block the fungus from decimating and ultimately killing these lovely trees.

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

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

Application of fungicides can block root rot, an ailment that affects trees growing in wet soil. Root rot isn’t picky, either – its decay affects trees from a wide range of species.

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

The emerald ash borer has been an unwelcome initiation for Pike Lake homeowners. The Asian invasive has decimated ash trees across Pike Lake 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.

Avoiding insect harm, 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 skip 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 Pike Lake.