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How to Prepare Trees and Shrubs for Texas Summer

Anyone who knows Texas or has lived in it knows how brutal the summer weather can be. The scorching hot and humid summers will take a toll on plants. Because of these conditions, homeowners often don’t know what to do to help their trees and bushes survive the Texas summer. This blog will outline some easy tips on how to prepare trees and shrubs for Texas summertime.

Adjust Irrigation Schedule

One foolproof and simple way to take precaution against the heat is to adjust your yard’s irrigation schedule. The heat will dry out the plants if left alone. In order to prevent such issues, you can simply increase irrigation watering, as water evaporates faster in the heat when your plants and trees need it the most. Adjusting your irrigation timers’ watering schedule will give your plants a better chance of surviving the Texas summer heat.

Apply Tree and Shrub Fertilizer

The Texas heat will put stress on your trees and shrubs, depriving them of nutrients and minerals needed to survive. When facing these shocking temperatures, plants need more nutrients than usual to protect themselves. Before summer, you can apply a nutrient-filled fertilizer to your trees and shrubs to give them some added protection from the heat. The summer sun can be damaging to landscapes, and giving your plants some much-needed nutrients is a beneficial measure to help prevent heat damage from becoming too extreme.

Prune

It’s best to prune your trees and shrubs prior to summer. Pruning in late spring will allow your plants enough time to recover before the summer heat hits. Your plants will benefit from increased light and airflow.

Add Mulch

As the heat gets worse over the summer, water gets evaporated faster, and soils can dry up. However, one easy way to prevent this problem is by adding mulch to garden beds around trees and bushes. Mulch will help reduce evaporation, hold moisture, and insulate plant roots from extreme heat. Shredded hardwood mulch is typically the best choice of mulch for Texas landscape beds.

Check Tree Bubblers

In addition to adjusting your irrigation timer to increase watering to help trees deal with the summer heat, you should also verify that your trees’ bubblers are working properly. To ensure trees are irrigated properly, it’s a good idea to check and adjust each individual tree bubbler to make sure all trees receive enough water.

Check Drip Irrigation

Most shrubs are watered by a drip irrigation system. Your shrub beds will have a network of dripline tubing routed throughout the planting areas with individual emitters that water the plants. Prior to the summer, you should check the proper operation of the drip irrigation system. To do this, activate the zone on your control panel and check that water is dripping out of the emitters.

Check for Pests

Having any sort of pest in your landscape is bad news, so it’s always a good idea to check for pests like aphids. But it is especially important to check for pests before the summer because the landscape is already prone to damage from the heat and will struggle to fight off pest problems. Checking for pests like Aphids and treating them as needed before the summer heat hits will ensure that your trees and bushes stay in good health over the summer.

Pull Weeds

Unwanted weeds can pose several problems for landscaping plants, so it is especially important to pull them and clean planting beds before summer. In the summer, most plants will need more water, including weeds. When weeds are present, your plants will compete with them for water and nutrients. Because of this, it is essential to pull them before the summertime heat and find a way to prevent grass and weeds in planting beds in the future.