Tree Care Library
Practical fact sheets from our ISA Certified Arborists on planting, pruning and everyday tree care, plus guides to the pests, diseases and weather damage we see most on Prairie trees. Click any topic below to open the fact sheet.
Tree Care Tips
Planting, watering, pruning and keeping your trees healthy for the long run.
- Benefits of Mulching – How a proper mulch ring holds moisture, protects roots and keeps mowers away from the trunk.
- Newly Planted Tree Maintenance – How to care for a new tree through its first few critical years.
- Tree Species for Planting – A guide to choosing the right tree species for your yard.
- Watering Trees – When and how to water so moisture actually reaches the roots.
- RootBoost – Our deep-root fertilization service: slow-release nutrients injected right into the root zone.
- Cable Bracing Trees – How cables and braces support weak unions and heavy limbs.
- Topping Trees – Why topping harms trees, and what proper pruning does instead.
- Why We Don’t Use Climbing Spikes When Pruning – The damage spikes cause, and why our arborists never use them on trees we’re keeping.
Tree Diseases
Fungal, bacterial and canker diseases we see most often on Prairie trees.
- Anthracnose – Fungal leaf disease causing brown blotches and early leaf drop after cool, wet springs.
- Apple Scab – Fungal disease that spots leaves and fruit and weakens apples and crabapples.
- Ash Anthracnose – Spring leaf blight that causes blotched, curled leaves and early leaf drop on ash.
- Black Knot – Fungal disease that forms hard, black swellings on branches.
- Boxelder Red Stain – What those pinkish-red streaks in boxelder wood mean for your tree.
- Bronze Leaf Disease of Poplar – Fungal disease that turns leaves a metallic bronze in late summer.
- Canker Disease of Poplar – Fungal cankers that kill bark and branches on stressed poplars.
- Cytospora Canker of Spruce – Lower branches dying off, often with white resin on the bark.
- Dutch Elm Disease – Deadly disease spread by elm bark beetles: the signs, and how to protect your elms.
- Fire Blight – Bacterial disease that blackens shoots and leaves them looking scorched.
- Fungus Canker Disease of Deciduous Trees & Shrubs – Sunken, dead patches on bark and branches caused by canker fungi.
- Leaf Spots / Shot Hole – Spots on leaves that can drop out, leaving small round holes.
- Needle Cast – Fungal disease that browns and sheds older needles.
- Oak Decline – Gradual dieback of oaks caused by a mix of stress, pests and disease.
- Powdery Mildew – White, powdery coating on leaves, most common in late summer.
- Sirococcus Shoot (Tip) Blight – Fungal disease that kills new shoot tips on conifers.
- Slime Flux – Smelly, oozing streaks running down the bark.
Insects & Pests
Insects, mites and wildlife that feed on leaves, bark and wood.
- Aphids – Small sap-sucking insects that leave sticky honeydew on leaves, cars and patios.
- Ash Flower Gall Mites – Tiny mites that cause clusters of brown galls to hang on ash trees.
- Birch Leafminer – Larvae that feed inside birch leaves, leaving brown blotches.
- Cankerworms – Inchworms that strip leaves in spring.
- Carpenterworms – Large caterpillars that bore tunnels into tree trunks.
- Cottony Ash Psyllid – Insect that curls and yellows ash leaves and can cause serious dieback.
- Elm Spanworm – Looper caterpillars that can defoliate elms and other hardwoods.
- Emerald Ash Borer – Invasive beetle that kills ash trees: the signs and your options.
- Forest Tent Caterpillars – Caterpillars that can strip whole trees in outbreak years.
- Leaf Miners – Insect larvae that tunnel inside leaves, leaving trails and blotches.
- Lecanium Scale – Bumpy, shell-like insects on twigs that suck sap and weaken trees.
- Pitch Mass Borer – Larvae that bore into the trunk, leaving large masses of pitch.
- Poplar Borer – Beetle larvae that tunnel into poplar and aspen trunks.
- Poplar Bud Gall Mites – Mites that turn buds into lumpy, cauliflower-like galls.
- Scale Insects on Trees & Ornamentals – Sap-feeding insects hidden under protective shells on bark and twigs.
- Spider Mites – Tiny mites that leave leaves and needles speckled and dull in hot, dry weather.
- Spruce Budworm – Caterpillars that feed on new needles in spring.
- Spruce Gall Adelgids – Small insects that form cone-like galls on branch tips.
- Ugly Nest Caterpillar – Caterpillars that web leaves into messy nests.
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – Woodpecker that drills neat rows of holes in bark to feed on sap.
Weather & Environmental Stress
Damage from winter, salt, soil and roots, not a pest or disease.
- Winter Stress on Trees – How cold snaps, freeze-thaw and dry winters affect trees.
- Winter Burn – Browning of evergreen needles from winter sun, wind and dry conditions.
- Sunscald – Winter sun damage that cracks and kills bark on south and west sides of trunks.
- Salt Damage to Trees – How road and sidewalk salt injures roots, leaves and needles.
- Natural Leaf Drop of Evergreens – Why evergreens shed older inner needles in fall, and when it’s normal.
- Iron Chlorosis – Yellow leaves with green veins, caused when trees can’t take up iron from the soil.
- Girdling Roots – Roots that wrap around the trunk and slowly choke the tree.
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