Resources

We’re continuing with our series on the effects of grass on trees: Most of us only associate clean air with trees. Grass also cleans our air and is often overlooked.  If you’re looking for guidance on how your lawn might be affecting your trees, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Energy Savings

Energy savings are a major reason why municipalities and utilities promote planting of trees. Trees provide shade in addition to cooling the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. Likewise, grass areas also provide cooling due to evapotranspiration. It has been found that, “the front lawns of 8 average houses have the same cooling effect as 24 (3-4 ton capacity) home central air conditioning units.

A visual observation of most neighborhoods will indicate that trees are often placed too far from buildings to achieve maximum shade benefits. When trees do not shade buildings, the general cooling effect is similar to that of an equivalent area of turfgrass.

Air Quality Benefits

Turf and trees are great assets to our communities because of their ability to entrap pollutants and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Research has shown that turfgrasses remove “atmospheric pollutants such as carbon dioxide, ozone, hydrogen fluoride, and perosyzacetyle nitrate from the air.”

Grasses remove about 6 tons of CO2 per acre per year from the atmosphere…” Turfgrasses also reduce airborne dust particulates and “offer one of the most cost-efficient methods to control…wind erosion of soil.”

Using Top Tree LLCTop Tree LLC is your best choice for any tree stump removal needs in the Tri-Cities.  All of our technicians are highly trained and properly certified.  We are happy to answer any questions you have now or in the future.

We’re continuing with our series on the effects of grass on trees: Most of us only associate clean air with trees. Grass also cleans our air and is often overlooked. If you’re looking for guidance on how your lawn might be affecting your trees, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Low Water Use Varieties
There are varieties of trees, which are low water use, such as those of the Mesquite family. Similarly, there are low water use varieties of turfgrasses such as Bermudagrass, Zoysia, and Buffalograss which is native to the Northwest. In research done by the University of California Riverside, differing amounts of water were applied to common Bermudagrass. “Even with as little water as 50% of reference ET, the conclusion was that “common Bermudagrass quality was good throughout all treatments.” 4 Including consideration for irrigation distribution non-uniformity, this is within the target levels of water use promoted by conservation committees and public utilities.

Instead of restricting all types of turf, a balanced approach to water conservation includes recognizing the differences in both grass and tree varieties and their respective water needs. For a breakdown of these benefits and their assigned dollar values, please refer to the full article “Trees are Sacred, Grass is Bad, Why?”.

Using Top Tree LLC
Top Tree LLC is your best choice for any tree stump removal needs in the Tri-Cities. All of our technicians are highly trained and properly certified. We are happy to answer any questions you have now or in the future.

We’re continuing with our series on the effects of grass on trees: Most of us only associate clean air with trees. Grass also cleans our air and is often overlooked. If you’re looking for guidance on how your lawn might be affecting your trees, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Many environmental functions are related to leaf-surface area (e.g., reductions in air temperature, air pollution removal, volatile organic emissions, carbon dioxide sequestration)…”

The greater the leaf area of the trees and grasses, generally, the greater will be the environmental benefits and the greater will be the amount of water required to sustain healthy growth of that plant.

It is also important to note that much of the water needed for healthy urban tree growth originates from irrigation of grass or other plant material. The inference is that the benefits provided by shade trees have little water cost since the plant material under the trees is considered to be the sole consumer of the irrigation water. This is incorrect since the removal of grass or other plant material will require separate
irrigation cycles to maintain healthy shade trees.

Using Top Tree LLC
Top Tree LLC is your best choice for any tree stump removal needs in the Tri-Cities. All of our technicians are highly trained and properly certified. We are happy to answer any questions you have now or in the future.