What the homeowner can and must do to prevent possible damage in your yard and on your home and buildings
Study your yard and see if there is anything that you can do before you call an expert, be it your landscape company or an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)-certified arborist. It is important that you seek out an ISA-certified arborist when dealing with your trees. In your landscape you may find dead or broken limbs and even plants that need only a trim with hand clippers or a pull out of the landscape.
Homeowner, do you ever walk around your yard and take inventory of your landscape? How many large trees are there? How close to the house are they? Are they leaning? Which direction? Do they have any limbs that are growing on the bottom of the larger limbs and are too heavy to remain? If so, it is time to call an ISA-certified arborist to critique your trees. It is not as expensive as damage to your property during a storm. And you may save your trees to strong winds and storm surge. Save, save, save our trees is the top priority all over AIPCA, and it begins with your yard, too.
Cleaning up around your yard you may find other small items that you can take care of and you may discover that it is fun to learn what is really in your yard! So, get out your gloves and work clothes and learn your yard.
What are other plants and containers in your yard that need attention during hurricane season? Do you have nice pots on your patio that would need protection if a storm were coming? A plan of action you could develop to care for moveable objects ahead of time would alleviate the cost if you lost them to a storm. Some objects can turn into projectiles and cause damage to other places, maybe even your neighbors’. Plan, plan, plan helps you be calm during the storm knowing that you have done your best to protect your yard!
For Your Information: Gage Tree Care and The Tree Surgeons are frequently used local arborists recognized as ISA-certified or seek out an ISA-certified arborist.
Credit: ifas.ufl.edu Search “storms/hurricanes tree protection.” Vicki Cox, Nassau County Master Gardener