LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — Hurricane Milton, an extreme winter freeze, and a severe drought have combined to place significant long-term stress on trees across the area, and an arborist is warning homeowners to start paying attention before the next hurricane season begins.
Buck Rollings, a certified arborist and owner of Omega Tree & Nursery, and Valerie Van Stronder, agriculture director at Woodland Farms in Land O' Lakes, have watched the effects of back-to-back extreme weather events take a toll on local trees and plants.
Watch report from Annette Gutierrez
Rollings said the trouble started with Hurricane Milton in 2024.
"Milton brought a ton of water and storm surge, and it affected our whole area, and we're still feeling it now," Rollings said.
"It was flooding like I'd never seen before," Van Stronder said.
The hurricane knocked down trees and left many areas oversaturated, fundamentally changing how trees were growing.
"You had trees that were super stressed. You had areas that were completely saturated and changed the way in which all the trees were growing," Rollings said.
An extreme freeze followed, causing widespread damage to plants and nursery stock.
"We lost a lot of stock, as did the whole state," Rollings said.
Then came a severe drought.
"These 3 things back-to-back that has really caused a lot of chaos," Van Stronder said.
Rollings said the cumulative stress has left many trees with weakened root systems, making them especially vulnerable when heavy rain arrives after a dry stretch.
"If we have a situation where we don't have any rain for a very long period of time, and you get, you know, 3 or 4 inches of rain at once, it's going to run right off just like concrete because it can't soak into the ground," Rollings said.
He said this raises the risk of trees toppling, particularly large pine trees, when winds pick up.
"The trees aren't anchored in, so it takes in water and then you worry about them falling over," Rollings said.
Rollings is encouraging homeowners to inspect their trees now, before storm season intensifies.
"Just because it's not raining doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking for things like dieback - is there brown in the top of the trees? What's going on at the roots at the root base -- do you see decay there? You know, are there a lot of ants and vectors around your tree, because that's an indicator that you have some stress on that tree," Rollings said.
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