September has arrived. And as the summer season draws to a close, our landscape and tree maintenance tasks are now shifting to fall clean up and getting ready for the winter months ahead. Nutrient amendments are often left out of fall tree care regimens, as many homeowners think that this change in season is a time when their trees are no longer active and in need of nutritional supplementation. In actuality though, as leaves begin to change color and drop, early fall signals a time when deciduous trees are redirecting their energy from producing top growth to sequestering nutrients in preparation for winter dormancy. This is a big job, and especially in an urban or commercial setting, trees need a lot of support in the fall months to get ready for the long cold season ahead.
Science-based research has shown that late summer and fall are the most optimal, if not critical, times for making soil nutrient applications. In this article, we will delve into some of the reasons why late summer and fall are the best times for soil nutrient amendments - and we will explain how scheduling late season Soil Health Program applications for your prized trees and landscape shrubs is so important to prepare them for the upcoming winter months.
Trees need to recharge at the end of summer
At the end of summer trees are tired. Since spring began, your trees have been on the go nonstop - using up tremendous amounts of nutrients and energy - as they have been working long and hard to continually grow, produce new leaves, and in many cases put on beautiful floral and fruiting displays. They also have been working hard to ward off the stresses of summer heat and drought, as well as shielding themselves from the ever-lurking pressures of pest and disease attacks.
So, at the end of a long growing season, a tree needs to not only rest – but recharge – and fall is a critical time for a tree to recover and replenish much needed soil nutrients as it begins to prepare for winter.
Trees are dealing with the conditions and pressures of residential environments
Trees planted in backyards by and large do not have the same soil resources as trees living in a natural forest environment where autumn leaves are allowed to fall, break down, and be recycled back into soil. By contrast, in most residential settings, fall leaves are usually raked up and discarded, which deprives trees of their own natural nutrient cycling inputs. Compounding that issue, many backyard trees often are in competition with cool season turfgrasses which consume a large share of soil resources in the fall and winter.
Taking this into account, Monster’s Soil Health Program mimics the natural cycles of the woods – making available valuable nutrient resources that are direly needed by your trees to get them through the winter season. Our yearly schedule of holistic applications mimics the natural cycles of autumn leaf drop, breakdown, and nutrient recycling - working with a tree’s soil biology to provide ongoing soil nutrition that is especially tailored to meet its needs. Making these resources available is essential to maintaining tree health throughout the year – especially in the fall – to keep trees well stocked with the soil resources they need to be sustained in the coming cold months.
Trees are still living through the winter
In late summer and fall, deciduous trees make preparations for winter dormancy. This is somewhat similar to a hibernation period, where in winter a tree’s metabolic activity slows down in order to avoid freezing and prevent winter injury. Prior to this time, trees must stock up a sufficient nutrient supply that will support them through the cold months – and though they may not be actively growing, dormant trees are still living. So, even though it may look barren and lifeless, a tree is still very much alive in its dormancy stage, and during this period it survives solely on a bulked stock of energy and nutrients that have been reserved prior to a long winter’s nap.
Preparing for spring growth
After a long winter hiatus, a tree’s awakening in the spring takes a tremendous amount of energy and nutrient reserves to jump start it out of dormancy. During this time, as the earliest leaves emerge and new shoots begin to sprout and grow, trees are still very much dependent on the nutrient cache that they stored in the late summer and fall. With this in mind, Monster’s late season Soil Health Program treatments prepare trees for their best spring start, facilitating the extra storage of those valuable nutrients that are so critical for spring budbreak. This puts trees and shrubs on a trajectory that ensures vigorous and healthy spring growth in the coming year.
Proactive protection against pest and disease threats
It’s also worth noting that early spring is a prime time for the emergence of numerous destructive pest insects, as well as the onset of many fungal disease issues. Trees are particularly attractive to many insect pests and fungal pathogens when new growth is young and tender. Applying Soil Health Program treatments in the fall proactively bolsters resistance to these pending attacks, giving trees a decisive edge to ward off springtime’s lurking health threats.
Promoting establishment of young trees
Monster’s Soil Health Program is especially beneficial to promote the establishment of newly planted trees, encouraging root development that continues throughout autumn and even into the early winter season. These fall treatments can protect your landscape investments, giving your new trees a game-changing boost to aid their establishment through the cooler months - and positioning them ahead for a great head start going into next spring and the following summer.
Can fall soil treatments harm trees in the winter?
Frequently there are common concerns that late season soil health treatments may harm trees in the coming winter, with fears that late season fertilization may delay dormancy and foster new growth that predisposes trees to freezing and winter injury. And while it’s true that many conventional fertilizers are formulated to directly stimulate rapid top growth in trees, Monster’s Soil Health Program takes a different holistic approach to nutrient supplementation - enhancing soil biology to naturally nourish trees rather than artificially stimulating growth with chemical inputs.
By working with biological mechanisms, Monster’s nutritional inputs are naturally tailored to fit the needs and timing of a tree’s seasonal cycles, whether they be supplementing spring growth or making fall provisions for winter. This approach meets a tree’s specific requirements at any given time - directing nutrients and energy where it’s needed on a seasonal basis – without misdirecting valuable resources to other areas where it is not needed or may be harmful.
In short, Monster’s fall Soil Health Program treatments will give your trees the winter support they to enjoy a well-deserved winter rest and wake up next year to look healthy, refreshed and gorgeous - from the first leaf out in spring to the last leaf drop next fall. With this year’s cold weather fast approaching, NOW IS THE BEST TIME to schedule your trees for our Soil Health Program treatments!