Smith's Tree and Horticulture

16/10/2020

I’m here in Campbell California and we’re looking at a Flowering Pear Tree heavily infested with fire blight, a bacterial infection. You'll recognize because at the tips of the branches, it looks like they're dying and turning black. The leaves hang on the tree and they are also black, very unsightly and it progresses often times till the tree is not worth saving.

But hold on, we recommend trying to save your pear trees especially if they're a well-established part of your landscape. First of all, we recommend really improving the soil condition and your irrigation system should be very well-managed and that helps a lot with any tree that has a disease issue. Secondly, we want to inject this tree with a suppressive antibiotic annually, if you have questions about potential fire blight with your pears, give me a call. I'm Zachary Smith, Smith’s Tree and Horticultural Service.

10/10/2020

"Can My Tree Catch the Flu?" a fun bit of information from the sudden oak death task force. (Smiths can help with your sudden oak death needs around the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas!)

"Can my tree catch the flu" is an interactive showcase that helps increase youth awareness of the Sudden Oak Death (SOD) disease that has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California. To provide an analogy to how a tree catches this disease, participants are introduced to a familiar situation, catching the flu. Through a progressive series of inquiry-based, experiential learning activities, participants learn about diseased trees, as well as how their own behavior can impact the health of the forest environment. In the process, there is also the message that their personal habits can help them to stay healthy. The activities are interactive and engaging for the learner.
The showcase has been delivered at the 2009 Marin County Peer Summit, 2010 Marin County Farm Day, and the 2010 conference of NAE4HA (National Association of Extension 4-H Agents). The showcase is designed to be facilitated by teens as well as adults. For the Environmental Stewardship Pilot Project with the Conservation Corps North Bay, teen leader Freddie Genazzi of the Nicasio 4-H Club made a presentation of the showcase as part of the adult project leaders' training.
The showcase was presented at the 2010 National CYFAR Conference held in May in San Francisco; the proceeding for the showcase is available on the national CYFERNET website, and also at: Proceeding - Can_My_Tree_Catch_the_Flu- The showcase was also presented at the 2010 National Association of Extension 4-H Agents conference in Phoenix.
For additional information on this project, please contact Janice Alexander, Sudden Oak Death Outreach Coordinator, or Jane Chin Young, 4-H Youth Development Advisor, at: (415) 473-4204.

"Can My Tree Catch the Flu?" is an interactive showcase that helps increase youth awareness of the Sudden Oak Death (SOD) disease that has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California. To provide an analogy to how a tree catches this disease, participants are introduced to a familiar...

09/10/2020

Even though trees are made of hard wood, they are very fragile. All the living tissue is just under the bark, and on young trees and thin barked trees, is very easy to mortally wound them with the lawn mower and the w**d wacker. Here on the left picture we see some w**d wacker protection in the form of corrugated plastic sheathing. The tree on the right is deeply wounded by the lawn mower. What we can see there is there's no tree well, No space around the tree where no grass is allowed to grow. This forces the lawn mower and w**d wacker operator to come right up against the trunk of the tree, wounding the tree and introducing decay.

07/10/2020

23/09/2020

Post #1...
Friends don't let friends
Have their tree topped.