Plant Health Care Basics & Essentials: Tips for Great North Mississippi Landscapes

If you want your North Mississippi landscape to look great year-round, you can’t forget about your trees and shrubs.

These large, often-overlooked plants do much more than just occupy space. They bring color, shade, privacy, and personality to your home. Whether it’s a stately oak out front or a row of azaleas lining your walkway, healthy plants make a significant impact on curb appeal and property value.

But here’s the thing - trees and shrubs don’t always thrive on their own. Unlike forest plants that grow in rich, untouched soil, your home’s landscape has compacted ground, fewer nutrients, and more environmental stress.

That means your plants can struggle if they’re not getting the right care.

Table of Contents

• Plant Health Care Basics: Why Your Landscape Plants May Not Be OK On Their Own
• Aesthetics, Quality, Curb Appeal: What Healthy Trees & Shrubs Can Do For Your Home
• Controlling Weeds in Planting Beds: How Plant Health Care Makes It Easy
• Identifying, Treating & Preventing the Worst Plant Diseases in North Mississippi
• How to Protect Your Trees & Shrubs from Common Mississippi Pests
• Choosing the Right Plant Health Care Company for Your Home
• Lawn & Pest Solutions: Plant Health Confidence for North Mississippi Landscapes

That’s why plant health care is so important. Giving your trees and shrubs a little extra attention helps them grow stronger, look healthier, and avoid problems such as pests, diseases, and drought damage.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of plant health care in North Mississippi — from common issues to effective solutions — so your landscape keeps looking its best.

Plant Health Care Basics: Why Your Landscape Plants May Not Be OK On Their Own

You understand that your lawn needs fertilization. You understand that the soil can be depleted of nutrients and that yours may need a boost to ensure your grass can absorb oxygen and water, as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

However, when it comes to your trees and shrubs, most people tend to assume these landscape giants and staples are sufficient on their own. After all, it seems like they are fine in local North Mississippi forests and parks.

What’s different about your home landscape is that it lacks the soil nutrients typically found in a natural forest environment. The forest floor is full of decaying leaves and organic matter, which trees love. But your home environment is built up, which depletes these rich soils.

This is why plant fertilization can help your trees and shrubs perform their best. It helps provide your plants with the nutrients their soil might be lacking.

Several issues can make plant health care in North Mississippi worthwhile.

Soil Compaction Can Impact Your Tree and Shrub Health

The soil in a residential neighborhood is nothing like the rich, loamy soil in a forest floor that’s full of organic matter that is continually replenished through the breaking down of fallen leaves.

During the home-building process, your soil is manipulated, moved, dug up, and compacted to the point of depleting those key nutrients. And then the weight of rainfall and repeated mowing or foot traffic continues to compact the soil.

This compaction happens naturally over time. And it can negatively impact your plants in the following ways, which is why they need plant fertilization:

Absorption Issues

How would you feel if your body couldn’t properly absorb water, nutrients, or even oxygen? You probably wouldn’t feel very healthy, right? Soil that is too dense will create the same problems where water, air, or nutrients can’t reach tree and shrub roots, leading to poor health and appearance.

Drainage Problems

Soil compaction can also lead to issues with water drainage. This means you might see puddles of water sitting on top of the soil around your plants instead of soaking to your plant roots. This can cause flooding and erosion, weakening your trees.

Aesthetics Challenges

Since soil compaction limits nutrient absorption and creates drainage problems, it can also lead to worsened curb appeal. Your trees and shrubs may end up looking pretty bad as a result, including having a thin appearance, being off-color, or lacking blooms.

Environmental Issues Can Cause Physical Damage

There are many instances where North Mississippi conditions can cause issues with your trees and shrubs. But plant health care programs can make your trees stronger and help you avoid these issues, including:

Heat and Drought

Elevated temperatures and dry spells can stress your trees and shrubs, leading to drought damage that manifests as wilting, leaf scorch, and premature leaf drop, as your plants struggle to conserve moisture. This excess stress can lead to disease, pests, and even structural instability.

Sunscald

The bark of young trees is susceptible to sunscald. When our region experiences cold snaps, sunny days can dry out and burn the bark, causing permanent, visible damage. Water can also freeze under the bark at night and thaw in direct sunlight the next day, causing the bark to split.

Sunscald can weaken trees, making them more susceptible to pests and diseases. Young trees with thin bark are most susceptible to sunscald. Properly placed tree trunk wrap can help prevent sunscald. This also protects against frost cracks, which happen when dark bark heats up in the sun and then quickly cools off in the chill of night.

Animal Browsing

Hungry mice and rabbits love tender, young tree bark. Protect plants from deer with tree guards.

Mower Damage

Sometimes, human error can cause tree damage, too, such as a mower or string trimmer hitting a tree trunk. To repair this damage, carefully clean the wound by removing any loose bark and allowing the tree to heal naturally.

Aesthetics, Quality, Curb Appeal: What Healthy Trees & Shrubs Can Do For Your Home

Trees, plants, and shrubs are natural parts of your home landscape. And without them you’d be losing quite a few benefits.

Let’s talk about what benefits plants that are taken care of through plant health care programs offer and how properly maintained trees and shrubs can benefit your home landscape in North Mississippi.

Plants Boost Curb Appeal

A home without color can seem pretty drab. Adding sunny shades and beautiful blooms can convey a more pleasing aesthetic. Great-looking and well-maintained plants make people admire your home, elevating its value in their minds.

Trees and Shrubs Increase Property Value

Well-maintained trees and shrubs can improve a property’s appearance almost immediately, increasing its value. Landscape economists say good landscaping can add up to 28 percent to a home’s overall value. But without proper plant care, Trees.com reports that property values can decrease by up to 30 percent due to poor landscaping.

Trees and Shrubs Elevate Your Mood

The presence of trees and shrubs can trigger happy emotions. Looking at plants helps release dopamine in your brain, the chemical that makes you feel good. Spending time around trees has been shown to reduce anxiety and lower blood pressure. Plants have a positive impact on your emotional health, promoting calmness, well-being, and stress relief.

Plants Make Your Landscape More Interesting

Trees and shrubs add texture, color, and variety to your home landscape. Placed strategically, plants create structure and focal points. This elevates each season by offering interesting visuals.

Trees and Shrubs Offer Privacy

Plants can create natural screens, blocking noise or unfavorable views and enhancing backyard comfort and enjoyment.

Plants Can Save You Energy

When you plant trees properly, taking into account your home's location and sun direction, you can benefit from reduced air conditioning needs and lower energy costs. They do this by providing shade in the heat of summer and windbreaks during the cooler months.

Trees and Shrubs Improve Air Quality

Plants do this by absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, while releasing oxygen. These things clean the air around you.

Plants Help Stop Erosion

Trees and shrubs are a natural defense against erosion, helping keep soil in place and preventing it from washing or blowing away. This is because their roots anchor the soil and absorb water.

Controlling Weeds in Planting Beds: How Plant Health Care Makes It Easy

In North Mississippi, battling weeds in plant beds is an ongoing challenge. After all, no one likes to deal with weeds.

These intruders, such as crabgrass, dandelions, nutsedge, and thistle, can detract from your beloved perennials, shrubs, and trees by competing with them for nutrients and moisture. If left unchecked, they can quickly take over.

But with the right expertise, strategies, and products, you can control weeds in flower beds without compromising the health of your plants. Instead of worrying about solutions that overpromise, such as landscape fabrics, or that are backbreaking, like hand-pulling weeds, try these strategies to keep weeds under control.

Mulching

Not only does an annual dose of mulch suppress weeds in plant beds by smothering those emerging seeds and blocking them from receiving the sunlight they need to grow, but mulch also delivers other perks.

Mulch cools your soil, keeps the soil temperature stable, and organic mulch, such as shredded bark, will even enrich the soil as it breaks down. Win, win, win.

When You Have To Pull Weeds By Hand, Do It Right

While hand-pulling weeds is by far the slowest and most tedious way to manage weeds in plant beds, doing it correctly can be effective, especially if you’re only doing it to grab those random single weeds that pop up on occasion.

When you pull weeds by hand, you must remove the entire root of the weed; otherwise, it will regrow. You can use a weeding tool to help do this right.

Pre-emergent Weed Control Products

Sometimes, killing weeds in flower beds means fighting them before they appear. For certain weeds, such as crabgrass, applying preemergent weed control at the right time is crucial to stopping these prevalent weeds before they emerge, when they are most easily controlled.

And since crabgrass is a prolific seeder, stopping it before it starts means you won’t have to deal with more and more weeds in your plant beds later.

Use Post-emergent Weed Control Products

Once weeds in plant beds emerge, postemergent weed control is the most effective way to battle them.

A professional will spot-spray this product, targeting weeds that respond to selective herbicides. This method allows for spraying weeds without damaging surrounding plants.

Compared to selective herbicides, nonselective herbicides will kill any plant they come into contact with, so use them only when clearing a plant bed and preparing it for planting.

Hire a Lawn Care Pro

Hiring a professional to eliminate weeds in plant beds is a great way to keep them clear of these invasive plants.

A company like Lawn & Pest Solutions will employ an integrated weed management approach to effectively target weeds, utilizing all necessary strategies, including optimal tools and timing, tailored to your specific weed types. This can be one of the best ways to keep your landscape beds weed-free.  

Identifying, Treating & Preventing the Worst Plant Diseases in North Mississippi

When your trees and shrubs are stressed and conditions are just right, diseases can strike.

The problem with these issues is that you may not even recognize that your plant isn’t looking that great until the disease has taken hold. Figuring out what’s wrong is tough. It might even feel like you’re conducting a scientific research project.

Let’s look at some common plant diseases, so you can better recognize if your trees need plant disease control.

Root Rot

Root rot in a plant disease that stems from decay. You may not see where the damage originates, which is in the roots, but you may notice yellowing or browning leaves, or trees and shrubs that fail to thrive. This can leave you wondering what’s going on.

The common reason this plant disease emerges is improper watering. Many people will see dying leaves and assume the plant is underwatered, so they water it heavily, which can actually exacerbate root rot. That’s where a professional eye can properly identify your disease and recommend effective plant disease control tactics.

Bacterial Leaf Spot

Seeing red or purple spots on your plant’s leaves? This disease could be bacterial leaf spot.

To avoid this spotty issue, properly watering your plants is important. Another tip: Avoid overhead watering and opt for drip irrigation instead.

This disease can also affect trees and shrubs that have been planted outside their proper hardiness zone.

Powdery Mildew

When powdery mildew strikes, you’ll first see isolated patches of whitish, powdery growth on the surfaces of your plant’s leaves.

Over time, if the conditions persist, this disease can become more severe and may eventually cover the entire leaf or plant.

You might see this in shaded areas where higher amounts of moisture are present. Moderate air temperatures and high humidity, particularly in the absence of good air circulation, create favorable conditions for this disease.

Properly watering your plants with drip irrigation and avoiding overhead irrigation can help prevent powdery mildew and the necessary plant disease control that may be required as a result. Early morning watering can also help your plant dry out thoroughly in between waterings.

Plant Health Care Programs Can Treat Diseases

Opting for plant health care programs is a great way to stay ahead of diseases and other potential issues that can negatively impact the future of your trees and shrubs.

Early control or prevention is key to avoiding prolonged damage. Lawn & Pest Solutions' technicians scout for diseases, as well as the cultural practices that people often overlook, which can inadvertently mimic diseases. Some of these issues can include mulching too heavily, damage from string trimmers around the base of trees, or improper planting techniques (such as planting too high or too low).

A good plant healthcare service provider should provide you with feedback at each visit, so you know how your plants are doing and are aware of any potential issues or treatments you may need.

How to Protect Your Trees & Shrubs from Common Mississippi Pests

Trees and shrubs, just like other living things, can be susceptible to plant pests.

If you notice your plants aren’t looking great, insects are likely the culprit, especially if they are suffering from a lack of care and heightened stress.

Keeping your trees healthy ensures they continue to deliver benefits and remain resilient against pest threats.

Let’s look at some of the most common insects that harm trees and shrubs in North Mississippi, so you can better identify their symptoms and learn about how tree and shrub pest control can help.

Aphids

Sometimes called “plant lice,” aphids are small, soft-bodied plant pests that use their mouths to pierce leaf, stem, and root tissue and suck out the sap.

These tree and shrub pests tend to especially love feeding on new plant growth.

Despite their small stature, a lot of aphids can cause quite a bit of visual damage to your plants, including yellowing leaves, leaf curling, and overall weakened foliage.

The pests also reproduce quickly. And, what’s more, you may notice a sticky substance beneath infected plants that turns black. This is honeydew that the aphids excrete, and that honeydew leads to a fungus called sooty mold, which covers things beneath your trees and shrubs, including other plants, and can stress them out or block sunlight to them.

Aphids are common in crape myrtles, oaks, maples, and a variety of ornamental shrubs.

Severe infestations may require dormant oils as landscape pest control to prevent long-term damage.

Scale

Scale are sap-sucking tree and shrub pests. They don’t move much on your plants, so they tend to blend into the bark or leaf tissue. And if you look closely, they may seem to appear as shell-like bumps rather than creepy-crawly insects.

There are two types of tree scale: soft and armored. Soft scale, such as magnolia scale, are ¼ to ½ long and are round with a waxy covering. These insects absorb a significant amount of sap and then excrete it as a sticky substance called honeydew.

Armored scale, such as pine needle scale, on the other hand, are a bit smaller at ⅛ to ¼ inch, and they have a waxy armor over their bodies giving them a harder exterior appearance.

With soft scale, the honeydew they excrete can be a nuisance. It can drip on patios, parked cars, walkways, and benches, becoming a sticky mess. It also attracts other pests, such as ants, flies, and wasps. And, any plants it lands on can become unsightly when a fungus called sooty mold feeds on this honeydew and grows, covering your plants in a black color.

While armored scale don’t produce honeydew, you might see these other signs and symptoms that both types of scale can cause:

• Branches covered with small bumps that are actually insects
• Yellowing or brownish leaves
• Premature leaf drop
• Twig or branch dieback
• Slower overall growth

Scale can be tough when it comes to tree and shrub pest control, which is why catching the problem early can help optimize the timing of treatment for best management.

Dormant oil can be a good treatment for soft and armored scale. Plant health care professionals will apply this when the nymphs are emerging from their eggs.

Spider Mites

These teeny tiny mites have 8 legs and resemble spiders, but you’d need a magnifying glass to see them.

Spider mites can be highly destructive plant pests in boxwoods, arborvitae and other evergreens. These insects have piercing mouths that suck out plant chlorophyll, resulting in white spots or a spotty appearance.

As they continue to feed, the needles will turn yellow and then brown. What’s more, evergreens with fine needles do not produce new growth once a branch, limb, or portion of the plant turns brown, which can be visually unappealing.

Spider mite damage also tends to weaken plants, making them more susceptible to disease and environmental stress.

Since these pests reproduce so quickly, infestations can escalate fast, requiring prompt action by a tree and shrub pest control professional.

Lace Bugs

These shrub pests are tiny—about ⅛ of an inch long—with wings, and they feed on the undersides of leaves, consuming essential plant fluids.

These bugs tend to attack azaleas and rhododendrons. They feed on the undersides of leaves, piercing them to suck out the nutrients. Their feeding causes yellow or bronze stippling on leaves, which can lead to leaf drop and weakened plants over time. You might also see silver, white, or yellow spots on the leaves making them look bleached.

Azaleas hold their leaves for 2 to 3 growing seasons, so once they show damage, that unsightly growth from lace bugs can be there for up to 3 years.

A plant health care professional can help battle lace bugs.

Bagworms

Landscape plant pests, such as bagworms, get their names from their behaviors.

This bug makes a bag with silk and pieces of plant foliage to form a nest where female moths can lay up to 1,000 eggs in each bag. They hatch in spring and hungry larvae are what feed on your trees and shrubs, particularly junipers, cedars, pines, and even deciduous trees like oaks and maples.

Heavy infestations can defoliate trees and even weaken them over time. Targeting caterpillar pest control toward small caterpillars can help.

Choosing the Right Plant Health Care Company for Your Home

Plant health care programs can give your plants the boost they need to thrive. This means they flower longer, look fuller, and grow greener. They also deliver the benefits you want for your home landscape.  

What is plant health care? This cost-effective program ensures you stay ahead of issues that can negatively impact your trees and shrubs. The services include:

Tree and Shrub Fertilization

In the forest, trees and shrubs naturally get nutrients from the soil. But, in your home landscape, this isn’t the case. That’s where plant fertilization can help.

Plants that receive the necessary nutrients to thrive can withstand environmental stress and continue to provide benefits such as shade, oxygen, and aesthetic appeal.

Insect and Disease Monitoring and Control

Your plants can decline rapidly when they are infested with an insect or disease. You might see spotty leaves or dead branches.

By properly inspecting, diagnosing, and treating these infestations as part of plant health care programs, you ensure you catch problems early and get your plants back to good health quickly.

Regular Inspections

Plant health care includes regular inspections that can range from quarterly to bi-monthly or even more frequently, depending on the level of service you choose.

Inspections by qualified professionals are crucial for monitoring the overall health of your plants, identifying potential issues early, and providing timely interventions.

How to Choose The Right Plant Health Care Company For You

Plant health care programs help improve tree and shrub health and appearance, but they also help you avoid having to replace plants when they become too damaged to survive, saving you money.

Finding a plant health care specialist can also help you decrease stress and obtain expert opinions and solutions promptly.

To find the right company for you, focus on these key factors:

Service Consistency

Companies that excel at caring for trees and shrubs will offer multiple plant health care programs, explain their processes and best practices, and ensure you receive quality services consistently. Their Google reviews should confirm these things.

Professionalism

You want a company that is trustworthy, dependable, and receives the proper training to deliver expert service for specific issues that impact North Mississippi plants.

Responsive Customer Service

You want to be able to ask your service provider questions and receive timely service. Check out the company’s communication policies and ask about how quickly they will respond to messages and inquiries.

Lawn & Pest Solutions: Plant Health Confidence for North Mississippi Landscapes

Maybe you’ve noticed your azaleas aren’t blooming like they used to. Or a once-vibrant tree is starting to look tired. It’s easy to second-guess what’s going wrong — is it the soil?

The weather? Bugs? Disease? You shouldn’t have to figure it out on your own.

That’s where Lawn & Pest Solutions steps in.

We believe plant health care shouldn’t feel like guesswork. You deserve answers, clear recommendations, and a team that knows what to look for. From the first time we walk your property, we bring experience and insight, not just a spray truck and a checklist.

Our approach is built around listening first. Every yard tells a different story, and we want to understand yours before offering a solution. Whether your goal is vibrant color, fewer pests, or simply peace of mind knowing your landscape is being taken care of, we’ll build a plan that fits your property and your expectations.

Most of all, we want you to enjoy your landscape again, not worry about it.

Because the best kind of yard isn’t just weed-free or pest-free. It’s stress-free.

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start seeing results, we’re here to help. Reach out today for a free quote, and let’s talk about what your trees and shrubs need to thrive.