Preparing Landscape for Summer

Landscaping

April showers…well, you know.As the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers, but your yard has to be in good shape as well. Winter has definitely left its mark on nature this past season, and there’s a lot that needs to be done to get your yard back into tip-top shape. We here at Dudley’s Dew Right would love to make sure your yard is looking its best for the warmer weather.

As the weather gets warmer, you’re going to want to spend more time outside. If you’re spending time outside, you’re going to want to make sure your yard looks inviting for all of your warm-weather activities. We’re here to help you! Here is a checklist to get your yard up to par for outdoor activities.

  • Inspect your trees and shrubs
    Water damage can occur when melting snow and rainfall occur at the same time. You’re going to want to pay attention to your trees at critical risk (trees that look sick or frail). Signs of damaged trees include hollow trunks, small holes in the trunk, decay (cankers, cracks, fungi or soft, crumbling bark), bark with shallow pits and dead twigs and branches). Sound tricky? Don’t worry, give us a call today and we’ll take care of it for you!
  • Prune your dead branches.
    Healthy trees require proper pruning. Pruning protects trees from unsafe branches damaged during the winter. Dudley’s is more than happy to help you prune and jazz up your trees. And, if need be, we’ve got all the resources to remove those trees that came damage your yard.
  • Plant some new trees.
    Spring is a great time to plant new trees. If you need help choosing and planting, we know some people who can help you out!
  • Add mulch to your landscaping.
    As prior blogs state, mulching is a great way to help retain and conserve soil moisture all while controlling those pesky weeds! Check out our mulching services HERE!
  • Fertilize those plants!
    Applying a slow-release fertilizer on your trees and shrubs before peak growing season has plenty of benefits. Not only does it replace nutrients, it also helps to improve resistance to disease damages, insects and stressful weather.

Getting your trees ready for summer weather seems complicated, but have no fear! Dudley’s Dew Right is here to save the day. Give us a call today to set up a meeting to make sure your yard is ready for all those warm weather activities!

Storm Proofing Your Yard

Thunderstorm

The thunder rolls…but you need to protect your yard!

It’s officially spring time in Nebraska. One of the only places on earth where it can blizzard on Sunday, and then be sunny and 75 degrees the next. Spring in Nebraska also means the beginning of storm season, and we all know there can be some pretty severe ones here.

But what does that mean for your yard and landscaping? Downpours can wreak havoc on your property, damaging what you’ve worked so hard to create. But, there are some ways of protecting your home and yard from the heavy rains of spring. The following tips are from LotPlans.com.

You need to first be able to control stormwater runoff…but how? When you don’t have enough vegetation or porous surfaces (like rocks or mulch), the rain will quickly run over yards and streets. This runoff can carry pesticides and dirt into your water system. According to LotPlans.com, “Urban stormwater runoff is the leading contributor of water resource pollution, along with causing residential flooding.”

There are several eco-friendly ways you can deter storm drainage, and Dudley’s Dew Right would LOVE to help you out!

• Swales – Basically, swales are depressions in landscapes (existing or excavated) which direct drainage. Because swales direct flow rather than stopping it, you’ll want to make sure you’re directing it to an area where the water will be safely released. If the area is prone to flooding, direct your swale to a dry well or a garden bed with excellent drainage and high water tolerance. To make the most of swales, line the lowest point with rocks and add deep-rooting plants to the slopes – it slows down the water as it flows.

• Rain gardens – Rain gardens make a great addition to any landscape. You’re going to want to choose plants with the highest wet-soil tolerance for the middle of your rain garden. Native plants is definitely the way to go, if you can. They require the least amount of water between showers and make your yard more low maintenance. Give us a call today to talk about your rain garden ideas.

• Rain spouts – The smallest changes can make some of the biggest differences – like a downspout diverter. This is perfect to prevent flooding next to walls and to get water to lower ground.

Other ways to help divert stormwater is with green roofs and drainage driveways. Though green roofs may not be common in Nebraska, they’re growing quickly on the coasts, and a study from Portland, Oregon, found the green cover increases roof longevity. And, ecoroofs provide a better insulation which helps reduce heating and cooling bills. Another big contributor to runoff is driveways. For best results, get rid of your asphalt or concrete driveway and give gravel, spaced paving or even grass driveways a try!

Give us a call today, and let us help you storm-proof your yard!

Spring's Right Around the Corner. Get Your Landscape Ready!

Prepare Your Landscape

Birds are chirping. Days are getting longer, the nights shorter. What does that mean? Spring is ALMOST HERE. And there’s a lot to do before your landscaping is ready for the warmer weather. These tips from Freshome can help simplify what you need to do.

1) Be familiar with your climate. Know your geographic location on Earth, as well as your yard. You need to choose plants that will be fitting for the amount of sun and shade the different parts of your lawn will receive during the day.

2) Research before you start. Start by planning out your strategy for landscaping in advance. You need to decide if you want to break it into phases, or if you want to hire a professional service, like us here at Dudley Dew Right’s, to help you plan. If you’re curious about what plants or flowers to use, ask your local nursery for advice.

3) Know your local pests. Sure, you have to think of a plan for watering and sunlight in your landscape. But, don’t forget your local pests, like wildlife, insects and stray animals which can cause a lot of trouble in your landscaping. Make sure to plan if you need fencing, wire mesh or if you need to plant natural repellents to deter and ward off local pests.

4) Know your calendar and plant at the right time. Planting new fruit trees and flowering shrubs is always exciting, but you must remember plants will thrive and survive better if you plant them at the suggested time of year. Check gardening websites and ask your local nursery what times are best for planting the plants of your choice.

5) Don’t forget about growth. Make sure to take into consideration how large your plants will grow in weeks, months, etc. You’ll want to double check the height and growth requirements on the pots of your plants before you actually plant them. Or, just give us a call and let us help you!

6) Be inspired. People draw their inspiration from all over: neighbors’ yards, travelling to another part of the neighborhood or other parts of town. Make sure to check out local gardens and home and garden publications for your own landscape improvement ideas and motivation.

7) Make a map. When you get an idea of the plants you’d like to include in your landscape, map it out! Make sure to estimate enough room for walking paths, as well as plant growth and future maintenance. You also want to make sure tall plants won’t obstruct the view lines from inside your home.

8) Don’t forget maintenance. Landscaping requires regular upkeep and care. Everything from pulling weeds to watering and pruning needs to be planned out, as well as an occasional replacement of dead plants. Make sure you choose plants that will fit your maintenance schedule.

9) Low and high maintenance plants are key. Make sure you pick plants that suit your home style. According to freshome.com, if your home has a rustic or desert tone, ornamental grasses that grow wild may be more suitable for your landscaping. In your home is more tropical, flowering plants and shrubs might be more suitable. Give us a call today to talk about plants for your area!

10) Contrast with the outside of your home. Landscaping should enhance the exterior of our home, so make sure to choose plants that compliment or contrast colors in your home. You also want to make sure the plants complement the architecture of your home as well. Plan landscaping to be in harmony with your home.

Give Dudley Dew Right a call now to set up a time to figure out your landscaping for spring! The time to get started will be here before you know it.

Mistakes to Avoid When Installing Mulch

Landscape

In just a few short months, it will be time to get outside and get our yards ready for summer. Have you considered mulching your yard? It is an instant way to enhance the look of your yard, but you want to make sure you do it correctly.

Here are a few tips to follow to avoid common mistakes, with help from EfficientLawns.com:

  • Don’t put fabric or plastic under your mulch. If you already have some down, make sure you remove it before adding a new layer of mulch. Since mulch is biodegradable, it is suppose to become compost in the soil. When you place these weed barriers down, the compost process is disrupted and, instead, end up with a thick layer of compost where weeds can easily germinate. This, in time, also causes mulch to build up and begin to choke out plants.
  • Don’t apply your mulch too thick. We’ve all heard that too much of a good thing is not a good thing. That definitely applies to mulch installation, as well. Three to four inches of mulch is perfect. If your mulch is too thick, than water can’t get to the soil. The purpose of mulch is to hold moisture for your plants, not prevent it. Thick mulch also encourages visits from unwanted insects and rodents, and also can produce mold. When you have the correct amount of mulch, healthy insects will love it, and it will not increase mold or mildew. Lastly, mulch doesn’t break down fast. That means, if you add more mulch every year, make sure to only top dress and watch the thickness. If your mulch is getting too thick, it’s okay to skip a year, or you can remove some of the old mulch before adding the new layer.
  • Select the right color of mulch for your home. Just because the house across the street looks good with natural mulch doesn’t mean your house will. Dudley’s Dew Right offers a variety of mulch colors, including black, coffee brown, natural, dark brown and red. Come see us to see what color of mulch will look perfect with your home.
  • Skip the wood chips. EfficientLawns.com says it best: Wood chips are not a mulch. They are more similar to stone. Wood chips don’t retain water or prevent weeds. If you like the look of wood chips, the website encourages a good weed barrier and to treat them like you would stone.
  • Don’t go cheap. Your mulch shouldn’t look like dirt. You want it to aid in the appearance of your landscape, not hinder it. Colored mulches are encouraged because they keep their bright colors longer and decay a little slower. This means you can apply them every other year, or just add a little bit to thin spots.
  • Don’t buy bagged mulch. Your best bet is to purchase your mulch by the yard, unless you’ve only got a small amount to apply. Give us a call today to talk about our mulching services. Dudley’s uses a 40 cubic yard Express Mulch Blower with a 500 foot hose to make mulch application easy. Our blower allows for a cleaner application, consistent and even mulch installation, minimal landscape disturbance, and reduces the time we spend on your property. Contact us to get a jumpstart on gardening season!

Help Your Trees Thrive, Plant Them at the Right Time

Plant Your Trees at the Right Time

The question many people ask is, “When is the right time to plant trees?” In short, according to landscaping.com, if you live in an area with cold winters (like Nebraska), the ideal time to plant trees from a nursery is in late winter or early spring. If that doesn’t work for you, you should aim for fall. Never plant trees during the summer as the heat and lack of precipitation poses a great threat to young trees.

The weather also restricts your options in the winter. Cold temperatures cause the ground to freeze, which makes it difficult to dig the holes for your trees. There’s also the threat of heavy snow and blizzards in the winter, which has been apparent earlier this month. Heavy snow can cause damage to your trees, young and old. Unless you can water your young trees sufficiently, early-to-mid winter is not the best planting time.
Landscaping.com urges you to plant your trees during dormancy, when the tree’s growth has temporarily stopped. This is because, during dormancy, handling them is the least disruptive. Trees in the Northern Hemisphere typically fall dormant at some point in the fall and begin to “wake up” at some point in the spring.

When planting trees, you have to take into consideration if the tree is deciduous or evergreen. Deciduous trees lose their leaves every year, while their evergreen counterparts are, well, ever green. You can easily tell when deciduous trees go dormant, as they lose their leaves every fall, and when they begin to bud out as the weather gets warmer, that’s a sign they are leaving dormancy.

However, there is a little more leeway when planting evergreens. Evergreens may be planted earlier in the fall and later in the spring than deciduous trees. But, you’ll still want to avoid planting in the hot heat of the summer.

Remember the need for water

You know heat is a major enemy to your young trees, but the lack of water to their developing roots is another enemy! You may not think that winter is a “dry” season, but you should remember that the moisture from the snow isn’t able to reach the roots of the saplings until it melts and the ground thaws. This is why watering trees properly in the fall is very important, regardless of if you’ve decided to plant your young trees in the fall/late winter or early spring.

The team at Dudley’s Dew Right is here for you if you need our help! As spring begins to blossom, remember we offer a full service of landscaping needs. Contact us to get your spring landscaping plans into motion!

Winter Tree Care

Winter Tree Care

Baby it’s cold outside…but remember to care for your trees!

Snow has fallen, icy mist covers the branches of your gorgeous trees. The weight is too much for the limbs to handle. Snap! There go your branches. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you should stop caring for your trees. Here are a few tips from TreeHelp.com to assist you in cold weather tree care!

Besides snow and ice, the cold weather itself takes a toll on trees. Cold stress can take many different forms. Daytime heat and nighttime freezing can stress out mature trees. According to TreeHelp.com, temperature variations may lead to stresses between the outer and inner bark of the tree, causing cracks called frost cracking or southwest injury.

Unfortunately, not much can be done to prevent this frost cracking. In many cases, however, the tree is able to repair itself, but the cracked area remains vulnerable and repetitive cracking in the same place may cause major damage to the tree. If your young trees are at risk, TreeHelp.com recommends wrapping the bark as part of a fall maintenance procedure.

Another cold stress on trees is a sudden early frost on late growth. Tree growth late in the season is more vulnerable because it doesn’t have the same amount of time to adjust to the cold as established growth, according to TreeHealth.com. “Ice crystals can rupture the cell walls on the new tips of branches leading to die off the following season,” the site said.

In order to avoid this situation, TreeHelp.com urges you to avoid pruning until after your trees have gone into dormancy for the fall. “Pruning too soon might encourage new growth and increase the risk of frost damage,” said the site. TreeHelp.com also says to avoid using fertilizers with amounts of quick-release nitrogen. However, trees can definitely benefit from proper fall fertilization. Give Dudley Dew Right a call to help you with your winter fertilization needs!

The second cold weather tree problem is winter drought. This occurs when trees lose more water than they can absorb from frozen ground, and occurs more often in early spring when the ground is still frozen and the spring sun starts warming the rest of the tree. Windy conditions, especially present in Nebraska, may worsen the problem.

According to TreeHelp.com, there is no sure fire way to help with winter drought, but you may be able to control the problem by spreading a thick layer of mulch around the base of your trees in late fall. Again, give us at Dudley’s a call, and we’ll be glad to help you.

Branch breakage is another common winter tree health problem. Due to the cold weather, branches are more vulnerable to breakage in the winter. In deciduous trees, according to TreeHealth.com, the wood hardens and becomes a little more brittle and susceptible to wind damage. This problem, mixed with ice and snow, can affect deciduous and evergreens alike.

How do you care for this problem? Good fall tree maintainence is the solution, and Dudley’s is more than willing to be there for you when it comes time to prune your trees. Another solution for very small trees and shrubs is to cover the entire tree with a tent-like housing. For larger evergreens, consider using rope to tie and reinforce branches before the heavy snow and ice falls.

Rodents are another winter tree problem. Trees may become targets for rodents looking for food. Deer, mice and rabbits are the main culprits, according to TreeHelp.com. Mice and rabbits chew bark and girdle trees. Squirrels may also become a winter tree problem.

To guard against these rodents, TreeHelp.com states the following:

For mice, leave a space between the mulch and trunk of the tree and check frequently. If they continue to be a problem, think about setting out bait, following package directions carefully. Rabbits, on the other hand, can be deterred by wire mesh enclosures, and commercial paint-on repellents may also be available. Contact us today for options!

Healthy Trees, Healthy Yard

Take Care of Your Trees

Are your trees looking sick or wilted? Diagnosing the problem might be difficult, but luckily, ArborDay.org provides a great guide to keeping your trees healthy and figuring out the problem.

To sum up the Tree Health Guide, the first step is to contact a Cooperative Extension Service to diagnose your problem.

Current tree health issues include drought, disease, pests, invasive species and improper planting.

Signs of drought may include leaf wilting, leaf scorch, stem dieback and/or increased susceptibility to pests and diseases. Make sure you start by choosing the species that will grow well in your conditions and follow the basic tree watering guidelines.

Some of the most common tree diseases include Dogwood Anthracnose, Dutch Elm Disease, Eastern Filbert Blight, Oak Wilt, Pine Wilt, Sudden Oak Death and Thousand Cankers Disease. To learn more about these tree diseases (and the following pests), click HERE.

When it comes to pests, some of the main culprits include Asian Longhomed Beetles, Bark Beetles, Emerald Ash Borers, Hemlock Woolly Adelgids, Japanese Beetles and Periodical Cicadas.

Invasive species – plants, animals or pathogens foreign to your region are likely to make your trees unhealthy. Visit the National Invasive Species Information Center to find invasive species in your area.

Improper planting is another cause of unhealthy trees. According to ArborDay.org, one common mistake is planting the root flare too deep. Root flare is the point where the trunk begins to spread out as it meets the roots, and will cause a slow decline, eventually killing the tree.

If you’re looking for help with treatment of your unhealthy trees, give Dudley’s Dew Right a call today! We’d love to be able to help you out!

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to Dudley’s Dew-Right Tree Care blog! The first thing you should know about us is that we are a family owned business that takes pride in helping the rural residents of Nebraska with their tree and mulch needs.

We are proud to offer an array of tree and mulch services to the public. Dew-Right Tree Care provides many services including (but not limited to): tree removal, trimming services, snow removal, pasture clearing, job clean up, debris removal, and mulch blower installation.

With this blog, Dew-Right Tree Care aims to inform the public of how to take care of their land. We will write about how to keep your land clean and healthy, what to do in case of a storm, how to pick the right mulch for your land, and many other subjects. We will answer these questions and more, so stay tuned!