Vitamin D and Trees
All trees need nutrients to survive, the two main sources of nutrients for trees are the sun, and water in the earth. The sun supplies all living things with Vitamin D which is essential to health. Trees that don’t have enough Vitamin D will have a very hard time surviving winters, and producing more leaves in the spring. Vitamin D is responsible for developing a trees immune system, which is used to fight off diseases. Trees that don’t have enough vitamin d will have much higher chances of becoming diseased, and eventually breeding grounds for infestations.
This is because sick trees are easier to damage, and feast on. This leaves pests like termites, and beetles in much more advantageous positions for developing homes. The best way to manage a trees vitamin D intake is to have the tree properly pruned. Proper pruning will allow the tree to receive sunlight, where it normally was covered. By removing dead, sick, and weak tree branches you can allow sunlight to be absorbed into the healthy branches that produce leaves year round. Don’t let someone tell you that topping may take care of the problem. Tree topping may help your tree to absorb more sunlight however; it will indiscriminately create problems that didn’t exist in the tree beforehand.
