Trees do fine in the forest. Shouldn’t they do just as well in my yard if I leave them alone?
Unfortunately, your yard is not a forest. Important differences are…
- Trees in the forest regularly discard dying and decayed limbs. No one is usually there, so no one is harmed. You do not want this to happen in your yard.
- In nature, prairie land has no trees and the forest has no grass! Turf roots rob tree feeder roots of nutrients and water. This is why trees produce more dangerous or dead limbs in urban areas, and such limbs must be removed regularly.
- In a yard, sod and plants compete for nutrition. They need help. Urban soils are regularly compacted by human activities, lawn irrigation and top soil additions. Compacted soils (such as near construction sites) need to be aerated to allow for adequate oxygen, nutrient and water exchange.
- Yard trees need to be regularly trained and pruned. Trees always develop more limbs when they grow without trees surrounding and competing with them. So many heavy limbs make it very easy for a tree to be damaged in a storm.
- Tree canopies also need to be raised for safety concerns such as driveway visibility.
