et another month this summer has begun with rain, and the excess moisture may be creating some problems for some home owner’s trees – particularly new plantings. Sheryl Nunnikhoven with Dutch Meadows Garden Center in Pella says that new trees in your yard may need a little extra exposure to air and sunlight.

“If you’ve had new plantings this year – we’ve had several people come in with plants that have drowned – the best thing that you can do is just pull the mulch back away from the area of the plant and let it get more air and more sunshine, and hopefully it will dry out,” said Nunnikhoven. “Otherwise, if it keeps raining and the water can’t get away, there’s not really a lot that we can do for it; so just try and get it a little extra air.”

Additionally, some of the thunderstorms this summer have included strong winds, which have broken branches on trees. Nunnikhoven says the best remedy for snapped branches is a simple one.

“The best thing to do for a broken branch is just try and remove it, and get a clean cut close to the tree; not inside the branch bark ridge, but outside of that,” adds Nunnikhoven. “Really, I don’t encourage people to use pruning paints or latex paints, that really doesn’t help anything.”

She adds that a dilute bleach solution can be sprayed on the fresh cut to help prevent fungus, but otherwise the tree will begin its normal healing process and should repair itself fine if a clean cut was made where the branch was broken.

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