Arborist-Guided Tree Fertilization
Tree Fertilization in Denver, CO
A struggling tree does not automatically need fertilizer.
Yellow leaves, weak growth, or a thinning canopy can have several possible causes, including water stress, insects, disease, root problems, site conditions, and other environmental stresses.
Tree Pros evaluates the tree before recommending fertilization. Our recommendations are guided by ISA Certified Arborists and Board Certified Master Arborist leadership, with the goal of understanding what the tree actually needs before treating it.
Start With the Tree
Not Every Unhealthy Tree Needs Fertilizer
It is easy to see a struggling tree and assume it needs more nutrients.
Similar symptoms can result from very different problems.
A tree may be responding to drought, irrigation changes, compacted soil, restricted roots, insects, disease, previous damage, construction impacts, or other conditions.
That is why Tree Pros starts with an evaluation rather than automatically recommending fertilizer.
What Are You Seeing?
Changes in Growth or Appearance Are Worth Understanding
These symptoms do not prove a tree needs fertilizer. They are reasons to look more closely at the tree and its growing conditions.
Slow or Weak Growth
Growth that appears weaker than expected may be related to nutrition, but water availability, roots, tree species, age, site conditions, and other stresses should also be considered.
Yellow or Pale Leaves
Leaf discoloration can have several possible causes. Color alone should not be used to diagnose a nutrient problem.
Thinning Canopy
A canopy that becomes noticeably thinner may indicate tree stress, but insects, disease, drought, roots, previous damage, and other problems can produce similar symptoms.
Reduced Vigor
A tree that appears less vigorous than it did in previous years may be responding to one or several environmental or health stresses.
Poor Growing Conditions
Compacted soil, restricted rooting areas, development, and other urban site conditions can affect how a tree grows and uses available resources.
General Tree Decline
When a tree simply does not look healthy, the first step should be understanding why rather than choosing a treatment based on one symptom.
Do Not Fertilize the Guess
Fertilizer Cannot Fix Every Cause of Tree Decline
Fertilization addresses a specific part of tree care.
- It does not repair a broken branch.
- It does not eliminate an insect simply because the canopy is thinning.
- It does not automatically solve disease.
- It does not reverse root damage.
- It does not replace appropriate watering.
- And it cannot correct every difficult growing condition around an established tree.
Tree Pros looks at the tree and the surrounding conditions before deciding whether fertilization belongs in the recommendation.
If something else is causing the problem, we would rather identify that than sell a treatment the tree does not need.
Soil moisture and root health also affect whether a tree can take up nutrients, so it can help to understand how much water a tree needs. If you are unsure whether fertilization is appropriate, read about what an arborist evaluates before deciding.
Tree Health on the Front Range
Denver Trees Often Grow in Challenging Conditions
A tree growing in a Denver yard is not growing under the same conditions it would experience in an undisturbed natural environment.
Residential and urban trees may deal with limited rooting areas, compacted or disturbed soils, irrigation patterns, dry periods, heat, nearby pavement, construction impacts, heavy snow, wind, and other stresses.
Those conditions can influence how a tree grows and responds over time.
They also make it important to understand the site before assuming that poor growth is simply a fertilizer problem.
Dry Conditions
Water availability can strongly influence tree health. A tree experiencing moisture stress may show changes in growth or canopy condition that should not automatically be interpreted as a nutrient deficiency.
Compacted or Disturbed Soil
Urban soils can be very different from undisturbed soils. Compaction and development can affect root conditions and overall tree performance.
Restricted Rooting Areas
Sidewalks, driveways, buildings, landscaping, and other improvements can limit the space available to roots and influence growing conditions.
Multiple Stress Factors
Trees are often dealing with more than one issue at a time. Fertilization should be considered in the context of the entire tree and site.
One Part of a Bigger Picture
Fertilization May Be One Part of Plant Health Care
Tree health is rarely about one input.
Plant Health Care looks at the tree as a whole.
That may include tree condition, environmental stress, insects, disease, pruning needs, nutrition, growing conditions, and changes over time.
When fertilization is appropriate, it should fit into that larger understanding of the tree rather than becoming the automatic response to every symptom.
Care Based on the Evaluation
The Recommendation Should Be Based on the Tree
Fertilization may be considered when the evaluation indicates that nutrition or growing conditions are relevant to the tree's health and that fertilization is an appropriate part of the care plan.
Before recommending it, Tree Pros considers factors such as:
Factors Tree Pros considers
Realistic Tree Care
Fertilization Should Have a Reason
- The purpose of fertilization is not to make every tree grow as quickly as possible.
- A recommendation should have a clear objective based on the tree's condition.
- When appropriate, fertilization may be one part of supporting tree health and growth.
- It should not be described as a guaranteed cure for decline.
- It should not be used to hide symptoms of an unidentified insect or disease problem.
- It should not replace appropriate pruning when structural work is needed.
- And it should not be recommended simply because a tree is mature.
The question is not "Can we fertilize this tree?"
The better question is "Would fertilization meaningfully address what this tree needs?"
Match the Care to the Problem
A Thin or Discolored Canopy Does Not Tell Us Which Treatment to Use
Tree health symptoms often overlap.
Yellowing foliage may have more than one cause.
Branch dieback may involve insects, disease, environmental stress, roots, or previous damage.
A thinning canopy may reflect several problems working together.
That is why Tree Pros does not choose fertilization, insect control, or disease treatment based on one symptom alone.
We evaluate the tree first and recommend the service that fits what we find.
What to Expect
How Tree Fertilization Works With Tree Pros
Tell Us What You Are Seeing
Let us know about weak growth, discoloration, thinning foliage, decline, or other changes you have noticed.
We Evaluate the Tree
We consider the tree's condition, species, visible symptoms, site, growing environment, and other relevant stresses.
We Consider the Cause
The goal is to determine whether fertilization is appropriate or whether another problem better explains what is happening.
You Get a Clear Recommendation
We explain what we find and whether fertilization, Plant Health Care, insect or disease management, pruning, monitoring, or another approach makes sense.
Recommended Care Is Completed
If fertilization or other tree care is recommended and approved, Tree Pros completes the proposed work and explains relevant next steps.
Experience You Can Verify
Tree Health Recommendations Guided by Certified Arborists
Tree health decisions should begin with the tree, not a treatment menu.
Tree Pros founder Paul Goin began professional tree care in Golden, Colorado, in 1981.
He became an ISA Certified Arborist in 1988 and founded Tree Pros in Denver in 2003.
Paul earned the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist credential in 2015 and graduated from the American Society of Consulting Arborists Academy in 2018.
He also holds ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, ASCA Tree and Plant Appraisal Qualification, and a Colorado Department of Agriculture Qualified Supervisor credential.
Tree Pros has three ISA Certified Arborists on staff, and every crew leader is an ISA Certified Arborist.
That experience helps us look beyond a symptom and decide whether fertilization is actually appropriate for the tree.
- Professional tree care experience dating to 1981
- Tree Pros founded in Denver in 2003
- 3 ISA Certified Arborists
- Every crew leader ISA Certified
- Board Certified Master Arborist leadership
- ISA TRAQ
- ASCA Academy Graduate
- ASCA TPAQ
- Colorado Department of Agriculture Qualified Supervisor
Customer Reviews
What Customers Say About Tree Pros
"Paul is knowledgeable and helpful - we had him come out to assess our trees health as well as help with an issue we were having with rust on one of our trees - highly recommend!"
Deirdre Frank
Google Review
"I've got a tree with damage that is dying. I contacted Paul at Tree Pros and he gave me quite a lot of advice that I'm hoping will have an impact in saving the tree. I appreciated his detailed advice (it's great when a person can get this kind of info from an expert) and I have my fingers crossed!"
Ryan Patterson
Google Review
"Tree Pros recently checked my trees and gave me excellent advice on those that were struggling a bit, and which ones that were doing just fine. The young man knew what he was talking about...I will use again in the future. Highly recommended!"
Bart Carpenter
Google Review
"This company is very good! I have rental properties and hire a lot of different contractors and Tree pros is among the top on the list. The Owner/estimator Paul runs a good organization. The scheduler is good to work with and the crews ran By Anthony and Mike are great! They do really good work, are friendly and clean up well. I highly recommend them for Trimming, pruning, shaping, fertilizing and removal and whatever else the do!"
Patrick McLain
Google Review
"Great. Knowledgeable. Friendly. Looking forward to our project!"
Tamara Brady
Google Review
Related Tree Health Services
The Right Care Depends on What Is Affecting the Tree
Plant Health Care
Whole-tree care that looks at symptoms, site conditions, and likely causes.
Learn MoreCertified Arborist Services
Arborist evaluations that identify what is actually affecting your tree.
Learn MoreTree Disease Treatment
Diagnosis-based care when disease rather than nutrition is the real problem.
Learn MoreTree Insect Control
Insect management based on the pest, the tree, and the timing.
Learn MoreTree Trimming & Pruning
Selective pruning as part of a larger tree care plan.
Learn MoreTree Removal
Careful removal when a tree cannot reasonably be preserved.
Learn MoreServing the Denver Metro
Tree Fertilization Across the Denver Metro
Tree Pros provides arborist-guided tree fertilization and Plant Health Care throughout Denver and surrounding communities.
Tree Fertilization Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Tree Fertilization in Denver
Does Your Tree Look Stressed?
Find Out What It Needs Before Fertilizing It
Tell us what you are seeing. Tree Pros will evaluate the tree, consider the conditions affecting it, and help you determine whether fertilization or another type of tree care makes sense.
Serving Denver since 2003. ISA Certified Arborists. BCMA Led. Call 303-791-3740.