Leaves scorched by Idalia may still recover from damage
Kailey Tracy reports
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. – Several trees across parts of Pinellas County have recently lost their leaves thanks to Hurricane Idalia.
“If you have prolonged flooding, the water can suffocate the fine roots,” Matthew Hill, an urban forestry management specialist for Pinellas County, said. “So, those die, but also the excessive levels of salt pull moisture out of the soil and dry roots up.”
Hill said that’s exactly what happened during the storm.
Leaf scorch is impacting Pinellas County.
“It’s an issue that we observed in a higher frequency than in previous storms,” he said about Idalia.
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It’s called leaf scorch, and it’s caused by high salt exposure through flooding, salt spray and storm surge. The edges of leaves turn brown or fall altogether. It doesn’t mean the tree is dead, though.
Some leaves turned brown after being exposed to high salt levels.
“We know that for most people they would look at the leaf scorch and believe that their tree was dead and needed removal or needed to be pruned right away. So, we wanted to get messaging out that that’s not the course of action to take and, you know, save trees and also protect homeowners in making better decisions for trees that they own,” Hill shared.
Hill said some trees are more sensitive than others, but most will recover. He said water your tree regularly, don’t prune any branches or fertilize and be patient.
“Something to keep in mind is deciduous trees, which are going to be going into dormancy anyway around the end of October, may take longer to assess the damage to them. But most of our evergreen trees, like live oaks, it may take a growing season, but be patient and let the tree tell you what portions have died off and really hold off on doing any pruning,” Hill explained.
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“Have a certified arborist assess the overall health and condition of the tree and maybe do a risk assessment on that tree to make further management decisions,” he continued.
Hurricane Idalia is causing some trees to lose their leaves.
The Urban Forestry and Landscape Services division of the Public Works department is in the process of identifying the affected trees on county property that they’ll then monitor. Hill said so far, leaf scorched trees are most prevalent in Tarpon Springs, the beaches and Fort De Soto’s campground.
Hill said as they continue to document the trees affected, they may call the Florida Urban Forestry Strike Team to help. The strike team would also help monitor the trees and with their information local governments in the county may be able to apply for federal funding to replace trees if needed.
Hill said they’re also create a map that will overlay the areas that experienced flooding with the tree inventory and the county-maintained roads, so they can inspect those areas.
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