Talking Trees with Davey Tree
Your trees and landscapes require year-round care, and The Davey Tree Expert Company is here to help provide you with expert advice. Join our professional Davey arborists and gardening-expert host Doug Oster to learn all about caring for your properties. We'll talk about introduced pests, seasonal tree care, tree diseases, arborists' favorite trees, how to help your trees thrive and everything in between. Tune in every Thursday because here at the Talking Trees Podcast, we know trees are the answer.
Episodes
Brad McBride from Davey's West Cleveland office talks about why soil care is vital for tree health, how to check the health of your soil and what else can be done to improve it.
In this episode we cover:
- Making soil simple (0:35)
- How do you test soil? (1:57)
- Arbor Green PRO® (3:10)
- Two-step soil care program (5:13)
- Watering (6:33)
- Air spading services (7:42)
- Vertical mulching and mulch rings (9:59) (12:35) (14:34)
- Is...
R.J. Laverne , manager of education and training at the Davey Institute, talks about what he does as a tree appraiser, including occasionally working in a courtroom.
In this episode we cover:
- How to determine what a tree is worth (0:53)
- Why find the value of your tree? (1:43)
- Trees in real estate (4:55)
- Being an objective appraiser (7:08)
- What an appraiser looks for (8:34)
- How to quantify a tree's product (11:02)
- How often do t...
Madison Law from Davey's South Houston office talks about working in locations with extreme heat and her Davey experience.
In this episode we cover:
- How Madison works in extreme heat (1:15)
- What Madison does for Davey (2:53)
- Houston in the winter (4:01)
- How Houston trees handle extreme weather (5:30)
- Optimal time to plant in Southern states (6:31)
- Live Oaks & White Oaks (8:46)
- Trees Madison loves (10:13)
- How Madison became an...
Taylor Judd from Davey's East Denver office talks about important factors to consider when planting a new tree and his recommendations for the Colorado area.
In this episode we cover:
- Summer rain and heat stress in Colorado (0:50)
- Growing trees in Colorado (3:22)
- Should you add fertilizer when planting new trees? (4:54)
- Root flare (6:01)
- Handling a grade in your yard (6:57)
- Mulching new plantings (7:24)
- Colorado Tree Recommendat...
Zane Raudenbush, turf and herbicide specialist within the Davey Institute, talks about why fall is an optimal time to aerate your lawn and control your weeds.
In this episode we cover:
- Is fall the best time to aerate? (0:36)
- What to do with aerate by-product (4:09)
- How often to sharpen your lawn mower blade (5:21)
- Lawn mower blade safety (6:26)
- Optimal grass height (8:41)
- Davey's experience with weeds (10:34)
- Why fall is the bes...
Zane Raudenbush, turf and herbicide specialist within the Davey Institute, talks about why fall is prime lawn care season and what to do during the fall to keep your lawn healthy.
In this episode we cover:
- Why end of summer is best for lawn care(00:51)
- Which cool season grass is right for me? (2:58)
- How dry conditions impacted seeds planed in spring (5:52)
- Raking turf (7:46)
- Managing larger areas of turf (9:08)
- Using straw to protec...
Matt Fredmonsky, manager of corporate content at Davey, shares his knowledge about the history of Davey Tree, from John Davey's start in tree care to the employee acquisition.
In this episode we cover:
- John Davey (0:45)
- Davey's move to the U.S. (2:41)
- The Tree Doctor (4:00)
- Building Davey Tree (5:13)
- Davey's Employee Ownership (6:09)
- Benefits of Employee Ownership (7:48)
- Davey Tree in the 1980s (8:36)
- Davey Ar...
David Horvath from Davey’s Lake Bluff, office talks about the importance of having arborists inspect your trees before a storms, so you can keep your home safe.
In this episode we cover:
- First thing arborists look for during storm prep (00:58)
- What homeowners can do to help arborists during storm prep (1:46)
- What an arborists is looking for (2:56)
- Oak Decline (3:31)
- The best time of year for arborists to assess trees (4:53)
- What tim...
Luke Werner from Davey's North Pittsburgh office shares how you can learn how to identify the different types of trees in your yard.
In this episode we cover:
- Looking at the big picture (0:53)
- Conifer Trees (1:33)
- Deciduous trees (1:53)
- How Luke learned to ID trees (2:03)
- The shape of your tree (2:40)
- Leaves (3:55)
- Evergreen leaves (4:05)
- Deciduous leaves (4:48)
- MADcap buck (5:28)
- Simple leaves (6:32)
- Compound leaves (6:44)
- ...
Adam Baker, technical advisor with the Davey Institute discusses all things caterpillars, including their benefit and specific species like the hickory horn devil, bagworm and monarch. Adam also shares the silver lining of the spotted lanternfly invasion hitting the East Coast.
In this episode we cover:
- Most common caterpillars during each season (1:08)
- Is the hickory horn devil harmful? (3:00)
- Which butterflies are harmful to pa...
Eric Countryman from Davey's East Pittsburgh office talks about fire blight and other bacterial diseases that can impact your trees.
In this episode we cover:
- What is fire blight (1:06)
- What fire blight looks like (1:39)
- When fire blight is most prevalent (2:13)
- Treating fire blight (2:55)
- How to prevent fire blight (4:35)
- How arborists handle fire blight (6:52)
- Off the beaten path trees to plant (8:22)
- Black knot disease (10:57...
Lou Meyer, business developer for Davey's mid-Atlantic region, talks about how Davey arborist deal with wood wastes and different ways to give wood a secondary life.
In this episode we cover:
- Where does wood waste go? (3:37)
- Composting wood (5:19)
- Unique ways to use wood waste (6:07)
- Can homeowners keep their wood waste? (6:34)
- Biochar (7:42)
- Ways to use wood chips (12:55)
- Potential concerns of wood chips(14:00)
- Secondary life f...
Chelsi Abbott, a technical advisor and education specialist at the Davey Institute, talks about the mycorrhizal network including how it works and how it connects to plants.
In this episode we cover:
- What is mycorrhizae fungi (1:14)
- The beneficial relationship between the fungi and trees (1:59)
- Seeing mycelium in real life (4:07)
- How mycorrhizae fungi finds plants (4:45)
- How big mycorrhizal networks can be (6:52)
- How to help mycorr...
Thomas Whitney, technical advisor from the Davey Institute, shares some of his knowledge on different types of pests and beneficial insects.
In this episode we cover:
- What defines a pest (0:47)
- Pest classifications (1:45)
- The worst pest for trees (2:30)
- Which pests homeowners notice the most (4:16)
- Types of leaf chewers (4:52)
- Types of woodborers (5:56)
- Emerald ash borer (6:30)
- Thomas' first encounter with EAB (6:3...
Dan Cohen, from Hartney Greymont, a Davey company, in Needham, shares some expert watering tips to keep your trees hydrated all summer.
In this episode we cover:
- What's the first thing you think of when watering trees? (00:51)
- Watering newly planted trees (1:28) (5:32)
- How rainfall has been this season (2:51)
- How arborists handle dry conditions (4:00)
- Using tree gator bags (7:15)
- Watering ornamental trees (8:50)
- Proper...
Matt Fredmonsky, manager of corporate content at Davey, talks about Growth Rings, a new book about Davey's history and growth from 1962 to 2020. Matt, also author of Growth Rings, talks about what it was like to write the book and why it's important to Davey.
In this episode we cover:
- What is Growth Rings (0:45)
- The writing process (2:24)
- Why Growth Rings was written (3:15)
- How Davey became employee owned (4:25)
- How the ...
Miles Stephens from Davey's South Pittsburgh office shares advice on how to maintain a healthy landscape as a dog owner.
In this episode we cover:
- Having a designated area for your dog (1:13)
- Maintaining your turf lawn with a dog (2:27)
- Plants harmful to dogs (3:22)
- Pet-friendly grass (6:21)
- Hardscaping your garden (7:03)
- Ways to provide shade for your dogs (8:43)
- Being a responsible dog owner (10:24)
- Seasonal tree trends (12:52)
- ...
Emily Mumford from Davey's South St Paul office shares tips on how to best care for trees in the summer.
In this episode we cover:
- What's the first thing an arborist looks for during a summer property check? (0:36)
- Tree pruning assessment (0:54)
- How often should you have an arborist visit your property? (1:30)
- Summer mulching (2:03)
- Specific types of mulch (3:09)
- St Paul's winter last year (6:43)
- St Paul&apos...
Brad McBride from Davey's West Cleveland office shares some input on what this "new" disease is, where it started, how to spot it and what can be done about it.
In this episode we cover:
- What is beech leaf disease (BLD)? (0:41)
- When and where was it discovered? (1:25)
- Signs of BLD and other diseases it may look like (2:27)
- Is BLD always fatal? (7:05)
- Future of BLD (9:01)
- #1 thing a homeowner can do to improve tree he...
Lou Meyer, business developer for Davey’s mid-Atlantic region, talks about wood borers, woodpeckers and when to be concerned about both.
In this episode we cover:
- Lou’s thoughts on woodpeckers (1:00)
- What you can do to protect your trees from woodpeckers (3:50)
- Sapsucker season and should you wrap your trees? (4:40)
- Pileated woodpeckers and why they peck (5:31)
- The different types of woodpeckers and should you be concerned a...
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