Tree Maintenance

[dreamingat30fps]

Anyone here know about big trees? Never had to deal with real trees until getting the house in NC and now I have a bunch of big trees. I had a couple tree companies come by and recommend what I needed done. Of course I have no idea if what they say is true or they are just selling me stuff.

Anyways my takeaway so far is topping trees is bad and some seem to have been topped in the past. They recommend trimming 2 big maple trees and 2 large oaks by mainly removing some of the lower growth that's closer to the ground and evening out the rest and removing some of the dead stuff in them.

Unfortunately the previous owner planted like 5 small maples of some kind along the driveway right under the big oak and maple. They are growing completely off to the side trying to get light. Recommendation from everyone was to chop them down.

Out back by the pool I have a HUGE ash tree. It's probably my favorite tree on the property. My concern is roots are getting close to the pool and it does make a mess of leaves over the pool. However everyone has recommended not messing with it and one said it was on it's way out and recommended removing it completely.

Anyways guess just looking for general advice on large tree maintenance, what actually should be done to them, how often etc.

[M_Six]

We had to remove a huge ash tree that gave our front yard a ton of shade. But the roots were tearing the electrical and cable/phone boxes out of the ground, so the electric company sort of forced me to remove it. They offered to do it for nothing, so I let them do it. I hated to lose that tree, but here in central IL, it was doomed anyway because of the ash borer beetle. It was already showing signs of dying.

Lesson here: ash tree roots can cause serious damage. If that tree is threatening the pool at all, think about taking it out before it's too late.

[Esteban]

I had to remove a 50 ft pine tree that my daughter and I planted more than 30 years ago. That tree meant a lot to us but it was showing severe signs of dying after I had a large and dangerous branch removed that was threatening our house. I was warned that removing the branch might damage the tree but it was a chance I had to take. We planted the tree when it was a very small sapling that she got from school during the Christmas season when she was 9 years old.

My advice would be to have a reputable arborist come and assess your situation. You will pay a fee but it will be worth it in the long run to get the arborist’s professional opinion.

[kscarrol]

If the trees appear healthy, and it sounds like they do as the tree company did not recommend removal, a bit of trimming/removing branches is good for the health of the tree. Having said that, I'd get a second opinion from another reputable company just to compare the two recommendations.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by M_Six

We had to remove a huge ash tree that gave our front yard a ton of shade. But the roots were tearing the electrical and cable/phone boxes out of the ground, so the electric company sort of forced me to remove it. They offered to do it for nothing, so I let them do it. I hated to lose that tree, but here in central IL, it was doomed anyway because of the ash borer beetle. It was already showing signs of dying.

Lesson here: ash tree roots can cause serious damage. If that tree is threatening the pool at all, think about taking it out before it's too late.

Unfortunately I don't think anyone is going to be offering to take this one down and I don't think it would be cheap either. Honestly I don't know why the previous owners put the pool next to the tree. The tree has obviously been there way before the pool. It does appear they did cut off a massive branch that seemed to head out over the pool, but I don't think they did it properly and left a really large stump coming out which seems to be rotting out at this point.

Originally Posted by Esteban

I had to remove a 50 ft pine tree that my daughter and I planted more than 30 years ago. That tree meant a lot to us but it was showing severe signs of dying after I had a large and dangerous branch removed that was threatening our house. I was warned that removing the branch might damage the tree but it was a chance I had to take. We planted the tree when it was a very small sapling that she got from school during the Christmas season when she was 9 years old.

My advice would be to have a reputable arborist come and assess your situation. You will pay a fee but it will be worth it in the long run to get the arborist’s professional opinion.

I have no sentimental attachment to it as we have only owned the property for 2 years. However I really like it. It's probably one of the biggest on the property at least in terms of width. There is only one oak that is bigger.

When I look up arborist’s around here all I get are the tree trimming companies which is who I've been dealing with thus far.

Originally Posted by kscarrol

If the trees appear healthy, and it sounds like they do as the tree company did not recommend removal, a bit of trimming/removing branches is good for the health of the tree. Having said that, I'd get a second opinion from another reputable company just to compare the two recommendations.

Well one guy said he could trim it but I would be taking a 50/50 chance doing so would kill it. Another guy said he would not trim it at all and that he recommends taking it down.

I went to look at it closer today and noticed several holes in the trunk. Even saw some actual trunk looking beetles. I looked it up and they don't appear to be ash beetles that are killing all the ash trees, but rather some kind of bark beetle. However they say the bark beetles really only get into like firewood or dying trees. They seem to say that's its more rare for them to get into healthy trees.

Some pics for fun





Roots that seem to be going toward pool

[M_Six]

Same question we had about our ash tree. It was obviously there well before they built this house, so why did the utility companies plant their boxes so close to the base of the tree?

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I have no sentimental attachment to it as we have only owned the property for 2 years. However I really like it. It's probably one of the biggest on the property at least in terms of width. There is only one oak that is bigger.

When I look up arborist’s around here all I get are the tree trimming companies which is who I've been dealing with thus far.

Had an arborist come and look at our tree to confirm it wasn’t diseased or inhabited by pests and couldn’t be treated, then had my tree trimmer, who I’ve been using for more than 20 years, cut the tree down.

An arborist is a person who has a college degree in the field, such as an associate or bachelor's degree in arboriculture or a related field like botany, horticulture or forestry. A tree trimmer doesn't require any degree as far as I know, which makes the arborist more knowledgeable about trees. An arborist also trims trees, as you already know.

Arborist - a specialist in the cultivation and care of trees and shrubs, including tree surgery, the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of tree diseases and the control of pests.

BTW, that’s a beautiful tree you have.

[iminhell1]

You can take an online test and be an arborist.

If you call the local university they might be able to send someone. Never done it myself but heard it's a thing.


But tree trimming to some extent is BS. But some carries merit.
Dead stuff is pretty obviously a hazard. You can not predict when it will come out. It's always best to clear it out.
The living stuff, what I was taught is you want to clear what you can so branches don't droop. Now what you cut out is personal preference. but you don't want the tree to look like it has big holes of missing leaves. There is an art to it.
But much of it has to do with making trees grow tall. If you like the height it's at I see no reason to trim a bunch out so the tree can grow taller/faster.

The thing that sucks about residential stuff is that you have no idea what you may cut into. Nails from birdhouses. Cables, chains or any other sort of thing used to hang shit. It's a blast chipping teeth. LOL

If a tree is deemed dying or something, there's the off chance your homeowners will cover removal.

If your neighbors like the tree but you want it gone, get ready for a fight. If it's on your yard it's yours. But seen plenty of arguments.

[Esteban]

^ No, not some bullshit ‘online arborist.’ A real one who actually has credentials with the ISA enabling them to do field work, disease management, and overseeing tree work, and needs experience within the industry often in addition to utility work and climbing. That varies from state to state but where I'm from it's an absolute plus, whether you're doing residential work, or for cities, or in agriculture.

[CTinline-six]

Tree work is expensive... but damaged caused by them is even more expensive.

I have the luxury of living out in the country, and all of the trees close to the house I cut down. No more worrying during storms, the lawn gets full sun and water, no chance of roots damaging the septic system or foundation, and I still am surrounded by forest. I love trees, and planted several pines as a border around the yard, but trees that aren't managed properly can become a big issue.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by iminhell1

You can take an online test and be an arborist.

If you call the local university they might be able to send someone. Never done it myself but heard it's a thing.


But tree trimming to some extent is BS. But some carries merit.
Dead stuff is pretty obviously a hazard. You can not predict when it will come out. It's always best to clear it out.
The living stuff, what I was taught is you want to clear what you can so branches don't droop. Now what you cut out is personal preference. but you don't want the tree to look like it has big holes of missing leaves. There is an art to it.
But much of it has to do with making trees grow tall. If you like the height it's at I see no reason to trim a bunch out so the tree can grow taller/faster.

The thing that sucks about residential stuff is that you have no idea what you may cut into. Nails from birdhouses. Cables, chains or any other sort of thing used to hang shit. It's a blast chipping teeth. LOL

If a tree is deemed dying or something, there's the off chance your homeowners will cover removal.

If your neighbors like the tree but you want it gone, get ready for a fight. If it's on your yard it's yours. But seen plenty of arguments.

The recommendations from the tree cutters was basically trimming the big trees (except the ash) by mainly cutting the lower stuff. The maples do have branches that drop quite low. I have actually cut some off myself that were almost touching the ground. The oaks don't really have that issue. They also recommended taking out all the smaller maples that they planted right under one of the oaks and large maple along the driveway. It's almost like they though this was going to become a bush or something.

Right now I'm leaning towards only doing the maples and leaving the oaks alone. Especially the big one since they would have to climb that one as there is no access to it by truck. Also if I have to take down the ash at some point I'd rather save some $$ for that.

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Tree work is expensive... but damaged caused by them is even more expensive.

I have the luxury of living out in the country, and all of the trees close to the house I cut down. No more worrying during storms, the lawn gets full sun and water, no chance of roots damaging the septic system or foundation, and I still am surrounded by forest. I love trees, and planted several pines as a border around the yard, but trees that aren't managed properly can become a big issue.

Yeah we have about 2 acres of forest behind the house and that connects to more forest just not on our property. On one side we also have a good maybe 100' or more of forest separating that neighbor. I can't really see them except for a little in the winter when the leaves drop. The only real neighbor is on the other side, which is too close IMO, but it's actually the son of the previous owner of our house who lives there. So I guess they built pretty close together not thinking or worrying about ever having to sell it.

Still we have at least 4 pretty large trees close to the house and the ash tree next to the pool. That's part of what drew us to this house was all the trees. The previous owner clearly loved trees and planting, we constantly find new stuff growing around the property that were clearly planted at some point by the previous owner. The issue is they also liked to plant shit waaaaay to close together so now some stuff is struggling to compete with everything else.

[RickFLM4]

We have 2 good sized live oaks here in FL and I get them trimmed every 3 years or so. The main guy (I've been through 3 of them) is an arborist and he directs the workers on what to cut. You want a good arborist to make recommendations because they know WTF they are talking about and how / what you cut impacts the tree's health and how it grows out from there. Lawn guys should never cut trees other than cheap palms.

The tree in the pics does seem to need to be trimmed at the bottom. The canopy seems far too low. I think tree trimming should also involve thinning out the growth from the inside out. I would not top a tree - if it does not fit in a space it should be moved or removed.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Yeah we have about 2 acres of forest behind the house and that connects to more forest just not on our property. On one side we also have a good maybe 100' or more of forest separating that neighbor. I can't really see them except for a little in the winter when the leaves drop. The only real neighbor is on the other side, which is too close IMO, but it's actually the son of the previous owner of our house who lives there. So I guess they built pretty close together not thinking or worrying about ever having to sell it.

Still we have at least 4 pretty large trees close to the house and the ash tree next to the pool. That's part of what drew us to this house was all the trees. The previous owner clearly loved trees and planting, we constantly find new stuff growing around the property that were clearly planted at some point by the previous owner. The issue is they also liked to plant shit waaaaay to close together so now some stuff is struggling to compete with everything else.

Yeah that's the issue, a lot of times developers/builders when they do the landscaping they pick plants/trees that look nice, but have no business being that close together or close to the house. I had a small tree they planted in the landscape out front of my house, and within 5 years the thing was taking over everything and the branches were rubbing on the side of the house.

[Toddbmw]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

The recommendations from the tree cutters was basically trimming the big trees (except the ash) by mainly cutting the lower stuff. The maples do have branches that drop quite low. I have actually cut some off myself that were almost touching the ground. The oaks don't really have that issue. They also recommended taking out all the smaller maples that they planted right under one of the oaks and large maple along the driveway. It's almost like they though this was going to become a bush or something.

The maple trees want more sunlight, but the oak trees are too tall. In the end, "the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe, and saw."

[sygazelle]

It's possible that your town has and arborist that is a city employee. If so, asked them to visit you and get their advice.

[dmatre]

I don’t know where in NC you are, but if near Charlotte try Bartlett Tree Experts.

We used them when two ornamental trees were decimated by Japanese Beetles. About 75% of each tree was stripped bare. They were able to save both trees, then treated them annually to prevent a reoccurrence.

They do complete assessments, and then the pruning/thinning/removal as well. Not the cheapest, but they did an excellent job for us.

[kscarrol]

Another vote for Bartlett. That’s who we used for years back in New Orleans for our annual pruning/shaping/maintenance.

[M-technik-3]

I am very fortunate both of my younger sisters are arborists both state and national certifed plus they own a large tree company in my area. Many towns have an Arborist they deal with so you could contact your town hall.