Autumn brings a variety of property care tasks for the homeowner and landscaper alike. One common task is as synonymous with the season as pumpkin spice, football, and Thanksgiving–leaf clean-up. Raking, blowing, and general clean-up of fallen leaves is the best way to keep your property looking great, but did you know that leaf clean-up may actually stress some trees?
In a natural environment, fallen leaves remain near where they fell and break down over time, creating a natural mulch that releases nutrients and carbon back into the soil. When we remove leaves year after year, the soil eventually suffers from a nutrient and carbon deficit, adversely influencing the health of the trees. Unfortunately, leaving piles of leaves on your property, especially on turfgrasses, is both unsightly and unhealthy for your lawn.
So, what can you do? Peter Schmidt, Certified Arborist for our Belknap Tree and Plant division, has a solution.
“We can replace the carbon removed by taking away leaf litter by introducing bio-stimulants, which are essentially microbial food resources. At 
Belknap Landscape, we use bio-stimulants consisting of fish hydrolysate, humic acid, seaweed extracts, and mycorrhizae injected directly into the soil. Reintroducing these elements promotes total tree health through good soil biology and reestablishing the carbon cycle. Without good soil biology, concerns such as insect and disease problems can take hold.
Bio-stimulants also help trees struggling with construction damage, lack of water, and environmental stresses. We commonly use these materials in conjunction with root zone cultivation and vertical mulching, reestablishing favorable growing conditions at the root zone.
Furthermore, because these bio-stimulants are organic, and our method of introducing them is through soil injections, concerns that generally arise with runoff or setbacks are mitigated.”
Bio-stimulants paired with vertical mulching have proven to be an exceptional tool to keep the trees we service healthy, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg for the Belknap Tree and Plant division. If you’re a Belknap Landscape or Carroll County Landscape client, ask your account or sales professional how Belknap Tree and Plant can keep all aspects of your property healthy.
