As residents of Tucson know, it’s a dry heat here for most of the summer. However, the arrival of mid- to late-summer brings the notorious monsoon with heavy rains and high winds that can cause serious damage. Roadways flood, roofs leak, and without the right preparation, your landscape design could suffer, as well. Summer monsoon officially starts on June 15, so keep reading to learn how to prepare your landscaping for the upcoming storms.
Staking Out Trees
If you’ve ever gone camping, you are probably familiar with staking out your tent in case of excess wind. Preparing your younger fast growing trees for the monsoon follows the same basic principle—trees that are staked out with guy wire are more stable than trees that are left to withstand the elements on their own. Small trees can be staked using two lodge pole stakes to stabilize them. Trees over a year old can benefit from guy wires. For maximum stability, trees should be staked out at three separate points that are out of range of the root system. If you are unsure of how to do this yourself, consult your Tucson landscapers to help you secure your trees during the monsoon. Because tree growth and long term stability can be inhibited by ties, you may want to have the ties and stakes adjusted or removed when the monsoon storms are over.
Trimming Trees
During monsoon thunderstorms, there are often gusts of wind with speeds of 30 miles per hour or more. At winds of 30 miles per hour, you can see large tree branches in motion. As the wind speed increases, the entire tree will move and structural damage can occur. Winds of around 50 miles per hour can uproot an entire tree. While it is impossible to control wind speed, you can control how your trees are prepared for the gusts. Trimming back branches and thinning out the tree tops will improve how much wind can pass through them. Decreasing this resistance may give your trees a better chance of surviving the monsoon and staying rooted in the ground.
Call Santa Rita Landscaping at (520) 623-0421 to find out how we can help you prepare your landscaping for the summer monsoon. We have been serving Tucson’s landscaping needs for 28 years.