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Seasonal Advice - August |
Deciduous Trees – August in Jacksonville doesn't give deciduous trees much of a break from July — we're still running highs in the upper 80s to mid-90s, with heat index values pushing past 100°F on the worst afternoons. The difference this month is rain: we're moving into a wetter, stormier pattern, with regular afternoon thunderstorms and August sitting squarely in peak hurricane season. So the priorities shift slightly — heat management stays, but water and fungal risk move to the front of the list. Keep pruning light. Maintenance trims are fine, but hold off on hard structural work or defoliation until temperatures ease in September. Trees are still spending most of their energy just coping with the heat. Watch your watering routine closely now that afternoon storms are more consistent. It's tempting to ease up once the sky starts doing the work for you, but a quick downpour often wets the surface without fully soaking the root mass — check the soil before assuming a tree is watered. On non-rain days, stick to deep morning and evening watering and avoid the midday sun. With the wetter pattern comes higher fungal risk, especially after a stretch of stagnant, humid air between storms. Make sure pots are draining well, clear standing water from saucers and benches, and keep an eye out for black spot or powdery mildew on maples and other thin-leafed varieties. Good airflow between trees on the bench helps more than people expect. Shade cloth should still be up for anything showing scorch or leaf stress. Fertilizing can stay light — nothing heavy until the heat truly breaks. Last thing: with named storms more likely this time of year, keep an eye on the forecast and have a plan for securing or moving benched trees if a tropical system tracks anywhere near us. Conifers and Broadleaf Evergreen Trees – Conifers generally handle Jacksonville's August heat better than most, but the shift into our wetter, stormier pattern is the bigger factor to plan around this month. Junipers and pines can stay in full sun, while broadleaf evergreens like Boxwood and Holly will still appreciate afternoon shade if it's available. Additionally, keep an eye on the soil of your boxwoods. If they get too wet, they do not handle it well, especially if your boxwood is overdue for a repot. JBP decandling should be already done for most of us — keep watching water needs on recently decandled trees, since they've got less foliage to regulate through the heat. Hold fertilizer until secondary candles have hardened off. With regular afternoon storms now part of the pattern, fungal pressure is the main thing to stay ahead of. Humidity lingering between storms is prime conditions for needle blight and other fungal issues on conifers — keep Cleary's or a propaconazole-based fungicide in rotation as a preventive, and Daconil on hand for foliar spray if you catch early signs. Wire checks stay on the weekly list — growth doesn't pause for heat, and August humidity can actually push growth along faster than you'd expect. Check anything wired this spring closely. Remember, the smaller the wire, the quicker it bites! Watering: deep, early morning and evening, avoiding peak heat. If a storm rolls through, don't assume it did the full job — check soil moisture before skipping a watering. Tropical Trees – Tropicals continue to be the group best suited to this weather, and growth should still be strong through August. If you've got repots or heavier structural work still on your list, this is close to the last good window — push anything major past mid-month and you're cutting it close on recovery time before growth naturally slows in fall. Fertilizing stays at full strength for established trees. Anything repotted this summer should still be held off fertilizer until you've confirmed new root growth, generally 3–4 weeks post-repot. Watering demands remain high, especially for trees in small pots or full sun. With afternoon storms now a regular occurrence, our tropicals should be pretty happy, but again, make sure to check. Keep watching for wilting even in moist soil; that's a transpiration problem, not a watering one, and the fix is shade, not more water. Pest pressure is still in full swing. Stay on your Imidacloprid cycle and keep checking weekly for scale, spider mites, and Planthopper Nymphs. With humidity climbing between storms, water early in the day so foliage has time to dry before evening — that's your best defense against fungal issues on top of pest pressure. Miscellaneous – Storm Season Bench Prep We're now in the thick of hurricane season, and this is a good month to make sure your bench setup can handle a fast-moving tropical system, not just a regular afternoon thunderstorm. It's worth thinking through this now, before you're doing it in a rush with 24 hours' notice. Walk your benches and think about wind first. Anything top-heavy, recently repotted, or in a lightweight pot is at real risk of tipping in sustained wind, even without a direct hit. Have a plan for where those trees go if you need to move them fast — a garage, a low spot against the house, or anywhere out of direct wind. Don't wait until a storm is 48 hours out to figure out you don't have enough space. Wire and stakes matter here too. Anything wired or staked for structure should be checked for how well it's actually secured — a wired tree that gets knocked over can suffer real damage to trunk and branches, not just the wire itself. If a tree isn't wired down to something stable, consider whether it should be for the next few months. For trees you can't move, grouping them low and close together helps — a cluster of pots is more wind-resistant than trees spread out individually, and they can shield each other somewhat from direct wind. Also worth doing now: make sure drainage holes aren't clogged and screens are secure. A system that handles our regular afternoon storms fine can get overwhelmed fast with several inches of rain in a short window, and a pot that can't drain properly during a tropical system is asking for root rot on top of everything else. Bottom line: a little prep now means you're not scrambling to protect years of work with a storm on the way. |
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