Trees provide many benefits to any yard. They look fantastic, provide shade, and help to keep your property’s ecosystem healthy. However, while trees provide a beautiful landscape, they do require their fair share of maintenance. Knowing how to properly care for your trees can be challenging, and when not performed properly, it can affect the health of your trees and the safety of your property. Keep reading to learn more about the tree services that a professional landscaping company can provide to help keep your trees strong and healthy!
Types of Tree Services
While trees provide many benefits to your landscaping and your property, caring for your trees requires consistent upkeep and monitoring. Sometimes, trees need to be removed to eliminate threats to the safety of your home and family, as well as to prevent them from harming other trees. When necessary, these services ensure that your trees remain strong, healthy and do not pose any potential hazards.
Tree Removal
While necessary, tree removal is a very dangerous process. There is always the potential of injury and property damage, which means that it should not be taken lightly. Not all dying or sick trees require removal, but those that are no longer structurally sound are much more likely to break or fall. This can result in personal injury and damage to your property.
Determining whether a tree needs removal is very important. Some tree species are prone to breakage or disease, and pests. The location of your trees is important, as well. Those close to power lines, roofs, water, and your property line should be more closely monitored. Typically, if more than half of a tree is damaged or more than 25% of the trunk is cracked, this can also be a sign that it may be time to have it removed.
Tree Trimming and Limb removal
Tree trimming and pruning are essential to keeping healthy trees. Tree limbs are trimmed for many reasons – most of which relate to their health and their appearance. Trimming refers to the cutting back of healthy branches, while pruning is the removal of dead and diseased branches. Removing both healthy and unhealthy branches is essential to making room for new growth and preventing the spread of disease.
Another great reason to prune your trees is due to safety concerns. Pruned trees are stronger and much healthier as there are no dead or diseased branches, while removing limbs that hang over roads, property lines, and power lines can prevent safety concerns. Opening up the canopy of the tree allows better airflow and filtration throughout the entire tree, which helps it to grow properly. A strong tree is able to withstand the elements much better than a weaker one. Trimming and limb removal requires a strong knowledge of how to complete the process, as well as the proper tools to ensure that those removing branches are safe and the tree does not undergo too much stress.
Tree Moving and Replanting
Moving trees from one location of your property to another is a great way to change your landscape without spending a great deal of money on new and mature trees. This is a job that is very involved. Preparation is the most important step of this process. Removing and replanting a tree requires many different steps.
The roots of trees typically grow well past the surrounding soil, and this requires them to be pruned. This can only be completed after the leaves have fallen in the fall or right before budding in the spring. Without pruning the roots before moving, the tree can die from root loss. After pruning, the next step is to dig the tree. This is when the soil surrounding and below the tree’s roots are removed to create a bulb. This helps to successfully transport and replant the tree.
Planting the tree in its new location requires digging a new hole, facing the tree in the right direction, and ensuring that it is watered properly. This entire process requires a great deal of time, energy, and manpower – trees are not light, and neither is soil! Tree replanting is a great choice for those who want to put trees in certain locations on their property but would rather move the ones that they already have rather than purchase new trees. This is also a great option for those who have trees that may be too close to specific areas of their yards, such as near their homes or property line. Rather than removing potentially hazardous trees, you can replant them in safer locations on your property.
Reasons For Needing Tree Services
Trees are complex and require the right services and maintenance to ensure that they grow, stay strong, and do not pose any threat to the safety of your family or your property. There are plenty of services that you will need for your trees throughout their lifetime. Some of these are obvious, while others you may not have considered in the past. Take a look at the reasons for tree services below and determine which of them may be a reason for you to give your local tree expert a call.
Storm Damage
Storms and inclement weather can pose many risks to your trees. The main forms of danger include lightning, branch failure, blow-over, root failure, stem failure, and crown twist. Any one of these forms of damage can cause bodily harm and damage to your home and property. While damage is usually minor, affecting only smaller branches and twigs, trees that are not properly cared for and maintained may become sick or weak. These are the kinds of trees that can pose a serious threat in the wake of a storm.
Tree Disease
Just like humans, trees are vulnerable to certain diseases and infections. These diseases can travel from tree to tree and affect other types of plants along the way. The most common type of disease that affects trees and foliage is fungal. Some of these can be lethal, but most just look bad. Raking and destroying leaves is one of the most effective ways to control fungal infections in your trees.
Rust is a fungal disease that can affect the leaves of many hardwood species. This is noticeable during the later summer months and will reveal itself through small yellow spots on the leaf’s upper surface. This disease does not only affect the tree’s leaves but also its growth. Other common foliage diseases include powdery mildew, tar spots, and leaf blisters.
Tree disease can also affect the tree’s stems, which act as the vascular system of the tree. Like foliar diseases, many of these are caused by fungus. However, stem diseases can have much more damaging effects, which is why it is so important to have your trees regularly maintained to ensure early detection and proper care. Stem diseases typically leave tree stems disfigured, weaken the tree’s structure, and cause wilt or decay.
Insect Control
There are hundreds of insect species that can damage stems, branches, roots, leaves, and even the flowers and fruits of trees. Not all insects are damaging to trees, but they can carry other predators and parasites that cause real harm to your trees. A professional tree expert can help to identify damaging insects and pests while maintaining the health and strength of your trees. Diseases caused by pests and insects can damage the appearance of the tree and risk its health while also spreading to others.
Required Tools
Because there are many different services that should be completed to ensure that your trees remain strong and healthy, you are going to need a wide variety of tools if you plan on completing these projects on your own. The tools necessary to complete tree maintenance and services include, but are not limited to:
Why Hire a Professional
DIY tree maintenance may sound like a manageable job, but it can actually result in many different forms of injury that can range from minor to fatal. Removing, replanting, and even trimming trees can pose many different threats to your safety and the safety of your home. Some of the most common injuries include:
Because the opportunity for injury and accidents is so prevalent in tree care, these are home projects that are usually best completed by a professional who has experienced employees and the proper gear and tools. A great way to ensure that you are safe from these injuries is to hire a professional that can safely take care of your trees without any damage to a person or your property. Professionals have the right tools and knowledge to ensure that all projects are completed without any injuries, accidents, or property damage.