Tips for healthier trees?

[CrowRiverRat83]

I'm looking for tips from anyone on ways to improve the health of the ash and maple trees on my property. This fall I plan on chopping up the leaves with the lawnmower and letting them lay. I heard from a guy to get some leaf compost from the local compost site and spread that around also. Sound like a good idea? Any more tips? Thanks.

[gunmunky]

I have 2 Birch, 2 Maple (started from 2" seedlings) and a Hackberry. They are all about 7 years old. Every spring and every fall I have been driving the tree fertilizer spikes (I get these at the big M home improvement store) around each tree and every fall and I water up until the first hard freeze. All my trees I think look very healthy. My maples are about 25-30 feet tall, the birch are 20-25 feet, and the hackberry is about 35 feet tall.

[harvey lee]

Your maples grew 25ft tall in 7 years? Thats some huge growth rated.

I know I planted some sugar maples at our old home we use to live at and they would grow approx 1ft per year.

What variety of Maple do you have? Autumn blaze maple?

[toughguy]

I have an autumn blaze that's growing about that pace. I have irrigation so it's watered every other day in the summer. It's kind of scary how fast it's growing. If they grow too fast they're more likely to snap in a storm. It's made some quick shade for me though.

For tips I would keep your trees trimmed. I look at mine each winter and remove any suckers, branches pointing the wrong direction, and low branches that I can't walk under. Tree spikes and regular watering help a ton too.

[Dotch]

Yeah, an Autumn Blaze or Freeman maple is part silver maple so it's bred to grow relatively quickly, especially if it receives special treatment. I gotta try those tree spikes on the hackberries I guess. I have some about 7 years old and they're 10' - 12' tall, started from 2' - 3' whips. One that the bunnies worked over early on is still about that tall. A 35' hackberry in such a short time span sounds incredible. I could remove a bunch of ash trees on the south side of the house if I could get the hackberries to pick up the pace. Not the easiest tree to get started but tougher than nails once they do. Not nearly the amount of stuff to pick up after either.

In parts of the state where rainfall has been sparse, watering this fall especially on evergreens will be crucial if the dry weather pattern persists. Won't hurt any tree for that matter, especially fruit trees.

[gunmunky]

I forgot to mention that I've been watering them from our pond. I think that also makes a difference how fast they've been growing.