Weed Control for Trees

Trees are good for the environment.

They absorb harmful Carbon Dioxide and release Oxygen for use all to breathe. They absorb toxins from the air and provide a habitat for wildlife, provide shade and also require lots of water that is often good for keeping an area dryer, a bit like Willow Trees in a wet hollow in a garden.

Young trees are therefore very important and should be given every opportunity to develop and establish once planted. Allowing weeds to grow around their base once planted will only allow the weeds and weed grasses to compete for any available water.

This is why in the main, you will see in what we call a tree plantations a circle of mulching material about 30 cm in diameter around the base of the newly planted tree to prevent any weed growth. The material may be a porous plastic that naturally bio degrades, a coir fibrous material and also a felt material or simply wood chips laid in a circle. You may also see bare soil or treated vegetation that has died back but not yet burnt off in the sunshine.

Contrary to most people’s perception, it is safe to apply the majority of total herbicides or weed killers to the bark of a young tree without harm to the actual tree. A total translocated weed killer (kills everything it touches down to the roots of the weed or weed grasses) may be applied in the growing season, maybe once or twice a year to keep any weeds at bay around the base of the tree. Any available water will be available to the young sapling and the young tree as a result will thrive so much better than another tree where no weed control has been performed. There are lots of trials about the long-term benefits of mulching and weed control around young trees in a plantation or stand along such as in a golf course fairway or road verge.

Winter time is a good time to control weeds and weed grasses around the base of trees, especially if the base of these trees are usually strimmed. Strimming really damages the bark base of a tree causiing more unecessary stress and strain on the young or new tree. Strimming also takes up a serious amount of time and effort every few months when one or two simple weed control tree rings, sprayed at a width of 30 cm diameter will do the job for you. One person armed with a knapsack sprayer can treat around 5,000 tree rings in a single man day if they are in simple rows and a few metres apart on good terrain. It is not uncommon for The Weed Free Team to spray 60,000 to 90,000 trees on a country estate, once in January/February and again in around May/June.

Tree rings can be replaced by a weed free strip on both sides of the tree such as in fruit farms or vineyards.

Do you have a tree weed control problem? Contact The Weed Free Team