Tree Trimming

There are many reasons you may want to trim your trees. Starting at the youngest ages of a tree, it helps promote good growth habits such as eliminating competing tops. A trunk with multiple is more likely to have a major failure that could jeopardize the trunk. As arborists, we can see the shape a young tree will eventually take. In most urban settings trees will need to be pruned to avoid houses or encroaching into another tree. Also, most pruning should occur in a trees first 15 years of life. Younger trees heal faster, and experience less stress as they are trimmed. There is a large misperception in the public that when a tree is planted, it does not need pruning until 40-50 years later. We look forward to changing that practice.

For older, mature trees, deading is a common service that simply removes dead branches from a tree. Older trees experience much more shock when live branches are trimmed and take longer to heal and reach hormonal balance. However, we also understand that there are many reasons why a larger branch must be removed, for instance it creates a hazard, and we can assist with that.

A few other reasons to prune would be irregular branch growth patterns, intersecting branches, improving the aerodynamics of a tree (a common practice with pear trees) which helps reduce tree failure in a wind storm, or clearing the space around a structure.

Tree removal is a last resort option for a tree that has outgrown its space and creates too much of a hazard, has been infected by a disease and is beyond treatment, or has reached a rapid rate of decline in its old age.

And while it is not our prerogative to eliminate trees, we do believe that homeowners have control of their property and may want to remove a tree because of nuisances. A scenario in which we would be happy to help but would also encourage new plantings with trees that would not create similar issues or in a place where a tree is free to grow.