Hurricanes and violent storms

“It is important that people who live in the East and Gulf coastal areas be prepared,” says Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association. “Even people in the Midwestern states should heed the warning. Right now, get your trees as ready as they can be to survive a major storm. Don’t wait until the storm is headed your way.”

One of the greatest dangers to life and property during hurricanes is posed by falling trees and limbs. “Larger trees in leaf will ‘catch’ more wind and be subjected to increased mechanical stresses. These stresses increase the chances of either branch or whole-tree failure,” explains Andersen. “Preparing trees for a high-wind event should be done well in advance of the storm season. However, it’s not too late to start preparing, now. To help ease these dangers, have a qualified tree care provider evaluate your trees. Doing this will help determine potential weaknesses and dangers.”

Examine your trees for the following danger signs:

• Wires in contact with tree branches. Trees may become energized when they are contacted by electric wires.
• Dead or partially attached limbs hung up in the higher branches that could fall and cause damage or injury.
• Cracked stems and branch unions that could cause catastrophic failure of a tree section.
• Hollow or decayed areas on the trunk or main limbs, or mushrooms growing from the bark that may indicate a decayed and weakened stem.
• Peeling bark or gaping wounds in the trunk could also indicate structural weakness.
• Fallen or uprooted trees putting pressure on other trees beneath them.
• Tight, V-shaped branch unions, which are much more prone to failure than open, U-shaped unions.
• Heaving soil at the tree base is a potential indicator of an unsound root system.

A tree is a living, growing, changing thing, and its integrity and stability could change over time. Don’t assume that a tree that has survived nine severe storms will necessarily survive a tenth. Simultaneously, not all large trees are dangerous. Contact your tree care expert for an onsite examination.

Find a professional

A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best care for your trees.

*Board Certified Master Arborist, Certified Treecare Safety Professional

The post How to Prepare Your Trees Before the Tropical Cyclone Season appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

One basic housekeeping chore that might help a struggling tree would be pruning. Pruning is an oft-needed maintenance treatment for good tree health and safety, but pruning without a good reason is not good tree care practice. Pruning just because your neighbor is doing it may not be beneficial for the tree, and could result in too much live tree tissue being removed. This can cause the tree to become stressed, and perhaps decline.

There should be a clearly defined objective when pruning your trees. A qualified arborist will work with you to set an objective for the pruning job. They will help you establish what you want to be accomplished when the work is done.

Pruning objectives usually include one or more of the following:

• reduce risk of damage to people or property
• manage tree health and direction of growth
• provide clearance for vehicles or roadways
• improve tree structure
• increase or improve aesthetics
• restore shape

“Once tree pruning objectives are established, the arborist can provide specific details on how your trees could be pruned to get the desired result,” says Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association. A simple pruning objective could be to limit the amount of live tissue being removed and focus mainly on removing dead or broken branches.

Removing too much live tissue can expose the tree to undue stress from lack of water and nutrient uptake as well as sunscald or other environmental stressors.

When pruning, a qualified arborist may consider if the tree:

• is healthy;
• is still growing rapidly or has matured and slowed its growth;
• has had its roots severed or damaged recently or in the past;
•  suffers from disease; and
•  is a species tolerant of heavy pruning?

“All that said, summer is a good time to evaluate a tree to plan future pruning that may be needed to meet certain tree health goals,” says Andersen.

The pruning process can be overwhelming to those not familiar with the pruning of shade and ornamental trees. A qualified tree care expert trained in tree and woody-plant health care can answer your questions, as well as help you with your tree-pruning goals. Make sure to ask for tree pruning to be done according to ANSI A300 standards, the generally accepted industry standards for tree care practices.

Find a professional

A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best trees and shrubs to plant for your existing landscape. Contact the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA), a public and professional resource on trees and arboriculture since 1938. TCIA has more than 2,300 member tree care firms and affiliated companies. All tree care company members recognize stringent safety and performance standards and are required to carry liability and workers’ compensation insurance, where applicable. It has the nation’s only Accreditation program that helps consumers find tree care companies that have been inspected and accredited based on: adherence to industry standards for quality and safety; maintenance of trained, professional staff; and dedication to ethics and quality in business practices. For more information, visit www.tcia.org.

An easy way to find a tree care service provider in your area is to use the “Find a Tree Care Company” program. You can use this service by doing a ZIP Code search on www.treecaretips.org.

*Board Certified Master Arborist, Certified Treecare Safety Professional

The post Tree Pruning with a Purpose appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

Climbing spikes are sharp steel spikes on the climber’s leg held by leather straps and padded supports. A tree worker should only use them to access trees being removed. When these spikes are used on living trees, it is traumatizing to the tree and creates unnecessary damage.

Each puncture from a climbing spike produces a certain amount of tree tissue death, though this varies from tree to tree. In most cases, isolated wounds will seal, but over time, groupings of spike holes can cause the entire area on the trunk to die back with no chance of recovery. This happens when a tree is repeatedly climbed for pruning while using spikes.

So why would climbers use spikes if they are harmful to the tree?

There are a few exceptional situations where using spikes is appropriate, such as:

• when the tree is being removed.
• when branches are more than throwline-distance apart and there are no other means of climbing the tree (for example: when there are no branches lower than 50 feet), with no access for an aerial-lift device or crane.
• if the tree is too close to power lines and cannot be accessed safely by other means.
• to reach an injured climber.

Professional tree care companies are aware of the dangers of spikes. The use of proper tree equipment such as ropes and climbing harnesses is crucial. This, coupled with their training and experience, contributes to the future health of the tree.

What homeowners searching for qualified tree care companies should look for:

• Good References: Ask for references, and check on the quality of their work. Don’t be rushed by a bargain and don’t pay in advance.
• Proof of Insurance: Ask for current certificates of liability and workers’ compensation insurance, if applicable. Be aware that if the tree care company you hire doesn’t have insurance you could be held responsible as a contractor.
• Solid Reputation: Verify professional affiliations the company might have, such as memberships in business and/or professional organizations such as the Tree Care Industry Association.
• Up-to-Date Knowledge: Ask if they follow ANSI Standards. A professional arborist will be aware of the current safety, pruning, fertilizing, and cabling standards.
• Contract: Insist on a signed contract as to cost, dates when work is to be performed, and exactly what is to be done. Insist that climbing spikes are used only if the tree is to be cut down.

Find a Professional

A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best treatments you’re your trees and shrubs. Contact the Tree Care Industry Association, a public and professional resource on trees and arboriculture since 1938. TCIA has more than 2,300 member tree care firms and affiliated companies who recognize stringent safety and performance standards and who are required to carry liability insurance. TCIA has the nation’s only Accreditation program that helps consumers find tree care companies that have been inspected and accredited based on adherence to industry standards for quality and safety; maintenance of trained, professional staff; and dedication to ethics and quality in business practices. An easy way to find a tree care service provider in your area is to use the “Locate Your Local TCIA Member Companies” program. You can use this service by doing a ZIP Code search on www.treecaretips.org.

*Board Certified Master Arborist, Certified Treecare Safety Professional

The post Don’t Use Climbing Spikes When Pruning Trees appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

“There are a number of growth features that increase a tree species’ susceptibility to breakage in ice storms,” says Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association. “Among them are included bark, decaying or dead branches, the increased surface area of lateral (side) branches, broad crowns or imbalanced crowns, and small branch size.”
Included bark results from in-grown bark in branch junctions. This is a weak connection and increases the likelihood of branch breakage under ice-loading conditions. “For example,” says Andersen, “Bradford pear branches are known to break during ice storms; this is because they commonly have included bark in branch junctions. In contrast, the Aristocrat pear has few branches with included bark and sustains less damage during ice storms.”

Reasons for Breaking

Decaying or dead branches are already weakened and have a high probability of breaking when loaded with ice. The surface area of lateral branches increases as the number of branches and the broadness of the crown increase. With an increased surface area, more ice can accumulate on lateral branches; the greater ice load results in a greater chance of branch failure.
Many broad-leafed tree species, when grown in the open, form broad crowns (decurrent branching), increasing their susceptibility to ice storms. Examples include Siberian elm, American elm, hackberry, green ash, and honey locust. Trees with imbalanced crowns are also more susceptible to ice damage. Generally, though, susceptibility can vary greatly depending on the time of year, geographic location and overall health of the tree.

Management and prevention of ice-storm damage: Plan, then plant

Think about your future. When planting a new tree in your yard, you should have a clear understanding of the size that the tree is expected to grow. Will it grow too close to the house? The overhead wires? The sidewalk? Proper tree placement, away from structures, will reduce property damage. Trees should not be planted in locations where growth will interfere with above-ground utilities – branches that grow into power lines and fail during ice storms create power outages and safety hazards. Trees pruned regularly from a young age should be more resistant to ice storms as a result of the removal of structurally weak branches, the decreased surface area of lateral branches and decreased wind resistance. Professional arborists can install cables and braces to increase a tree’s tolerance to ice accumulation in situations where individual trees must be stabilized to prevent their failure.

After storm damage has occurred, hazardous trees and branches require immediate removal to ensure safety and prevent additional property damage. Trees that can be saved should have broken branches properly pruned to the branch collar. Do not leave stubs or use flush-cut pruning – which results in weakly attached branch sprouts growing back. Poor pruning practices such as these also invite future insect and disease problems. Cut back loose bark only to where it is solidly attached to the tree. A split fork often can be repaired through cabling and bracing.
Tree species resistant to ice damage can be planted to reduce tree and property damage from ice storms.

Find a professional

A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best trees and shrubs to plant for your existing landscape. Use the Find a Tree Care Company tool to search for a qualified arborist in your area.

The post Plant Ice Resistant Trees appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

“Certain pruning operations are easier to do in the winter, especially if the ground is frozen or the tree is not actively growing,” says Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist for the Tree Care Industry Association. “However, most trees can be pruned year-round, if pruned properly”.
There is much more to proper tree pruning than simply sawing off limbs. At the most basic level, pruning involves removing damaged, dead or structurally weak limbs to improve tree health and reduce damage caused by falling limbs. More advanced pruning methods improving the tree’s structure and long-term health. Pruning at the right time and in the right way is critical since it is possible to kill a tree by neglect or over-pruning. All pruning leaves cutting wounds on the tree. The best time to prune for tree health would be in early spring when wound closure is fastest due to new growth.

Pruning Standards

All pruning projects should follow industry standards for proper tree pruning. Written specifications are key to good pruning because they communicate what is to be done.
“Ask your tree care provider if they prune according to the American National Standards Institute standard for tree pruning, which is called ANSI A300,” says Andersen. “This standard recommends, and in some cases requires, that the use of certain tools, cutting techniques, and pruning methods be followed, and it sets the standard definitions for terms your arborist will use in your estimate. Properly written work estimates for tree pruning should be written in accordance with ANSI A300 standards.” Your tree care provider should offer you the written estimate of work and procedures to be agreed on before they begin work.
ANSI A300 sets some guidelines for writing pruning specifications that arborists might include on your written estimate:

• Identification of the type of branches to reduce or remove (such as dead, overextended, interfering, needing clearance) and location (such as over the house, under the wires)
• Number of branches to be removed or reduced (number, diameter, or percentage)
• Types of cuts to use (branch removal, reduction, heading or shearing)
• The amount of reduction (shear hedge 4”, reduce overhanging limb by two feet back to next closest branch union, etc)

Specifications protect both the client and the arborist by ensuring that everyone clearly understands the objectives and the scope of the work.

Find a professional

A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best and safest course of action for any work that needs to be done.

The post Tree Pruning to ANSI Standards– Winter and Whenever appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

You may not be aware that while trees add significantly to the beauty of our communities, they are also responsible for costly property damage and power outages. In fact, tree failure is by far the leading cause of outages nationwide. The tree that grows into electrical conductors presents a potential hazard to the community if it becomes energized or wipes out a power line. Therefore we see utility line clearance contractors in our neighborhoods trimming trees.

Some residents get irritated and feel that these trees are needlessly damaged. “The Tree Care Industry Association receives a lot of calls from homeowners complaining that their utility company ‘drastically’ cut trees near power lines,” says Tchukki Andersen, CTSP, BCMA, and staff arborist for the association.“While utilities are required by law to trim trees, sometimes severely, it is, nevertheless, important for them to follow tree care standards of practice,” adds Robert Rouse, TCIA’s chief program officer. TCIA is the Secretariat for the American National Standards Institute A300 Standard, a national standard that covers tree pruning operations, including line clearance.

“When one is evaluating the quality of line clearance tree trimming, it’s important to consider that the utility’s primary objective is to prevent outages caused by trees as well as electrical hazards,” explains Rouse. Minimally, the tree should be left in a healthy state, with at least some aesthetic value. If this cannot be accomplished, the utility may opt to remove the tree rather than create an eyesore and future problem.

Why the gaping hole in the canopy? First, the utility company specifies a certain amount of clearance around its wires, depending upon the voltage, the tree’s growth rate and other characteristics, and the pruning cycle (how frequently it will be pruned). Furthermore, scientific research has proven that it is better if the trimming crew removes whole limbs with a small number of large cuts. Finally, utilities have found that removal of entire limbs helps to train the future growth of the tree away from the wires, keeping maintenance costs to a minimum while helping to ensure that the tree needn’t receive the same drastic pruning in the future.

What should consumers do?

When you or your utility hire a TCIA member company, you are assured that the company has access to the most recent information on tree care practices. Homeowners who would like a professional arborist to assess their trees should contact a certified tree care specialist.

Want to contact a professional to have your trees assessed? Visit our website

The post Who Butchered My Tree? appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

Does a tree’s limbs or trunk crossing the property line give you the right to prune it?
Yes? No? Both Yes and No? It all depends on where you live. Check with your town, city, county and state municipalities for regulations about trees and property lines. In some areas, you are entitled to prune the parts of a tree overhanging your yard as long as the work does not damage the tree.
But why don’t you first ask your neighbor if he, she or they mind if you go ahead and have it pruned? They might actually appreciate it.

Should I just cut it straight up over the property line?
While that might seem to be a good way to shear a boundary hedge, large trees rarely respond well to inter-nodal (random) pruning cuts on their branches. This type of indiscriminate pruning invites diseases and insect pests that could eventually kill the tree entirely. Then you’re at risk of not only non-compliance to a municipal ordinance (see above), but to the ill-feelings this action will certainly develop in your neighbor.

How about if I just have my lawn person cut the tree back?
If you have your heart set on cutting back your neighbor’s overhanging tree branches, your best bet would be to have a qualified tree care provider perform the work. Tree care providers who are members of professional associations, are insured and who have certified personnel performing the work will know the local laws regarding which types of trees can be cut, and to what extent. Plus, they have the right equipment and training to perform the work correctly and safely. Finally, if your neighbor does have concerns, having it done by a professional might put them more at ease.

Steps to take

1. Find out who actually owns the tree and where the property line is. Can you be certain that, just because it appears to be on your side of the fence, the fence is on the actual property line? How many times has that fence line been moved? If the tree is large and mature or particularly valuable, you would benefit from having the property surveyed to make certain of ownership.
2. Have a qualified tree care provider write up work specifications on exactly how the tree should be cut back. It is usually a bit more complex than simply stating, “cut limbs back to property line.” The work order must reference the ANSI A300 tree pruning standards to assure the procedures being proposed take into consideration the tree’s future health. Oh, and check to see that your tree care provider has a copy of their current liability insurance policy on hand. Check their references as well – why not?
3. This is probably the most important step when dealing with trees on a property line: If at all possible, get the tree owner’s written consent to the work being prescribed. Cutting a neighbor’s trees without that neighbor’s knowledge or consent will only lead to un-neighborly disputes that might lead you to court. If the pruning makes a drastic difference in the tree’s appearance or health or your tree care provider needs to access your neighbor’s property, the tree owner must be made aware of this action and sign off on it. Ignoring this step, or telling your tree care professional to “go ahead, it’s OK,” is actually not OK.

Hire a tree care professional

The best advice is to hire a tree care professional with the experience, expertise and equipment to assess and safely prune, remove or otherwise care for your or your neighbors’ trees. Search for a tree care provider in your area.

The post Before You Cut Your Neighbor’s Tree appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

One basic housekeeping chore that might help a struggling tree would be pruning. Pruning is an oft-needed maintenance treatment for good tree health and safety, but pruning without a good reason is not good tree care practice. Pruning just because your neighbor is doing it may not be beneficial for the tree, and could result in too much live tree tissue being removed. This can cause the tree to become stressed, and perhaps decline. In the fall, limit the amount of live tissue being removed and focus mainly on removing dead or broken branches.

In fact, industry tree pruning standards (ANSI A300) say no more than 25 percent of a tree’s foliage should be removed in a single growing season. If the tree is of a species that cannot tolerate a lot of pruning, even less should be removed.

When determining how much pruning your tree can tolerate, a qualified arborist may consider if the tree:

• is healthy
• is still growing rapidly or has matured and slowed its growth
• had its roots severed or damaged recently or in the past
• suffers from disease
• is a species tolerant of heavy pruning

“All that said, fall is a good time to evaluate a tree to plan future pruning that may be needed to meet certain tree health goals,” says Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association.

A qualified arborist will work with you to set an objective for the pruning job (i.e., what you want accomplished when the work is done).

Pruning objectives usually include one or more of the following:

• reduce risk of damage to people or property
• manage tree health and direction of growth
• provide clearance for vehicles or roadways
• improve tree structure
• increase or improve aesthetics
• restore shape

“Once tree pruning objectives are established, the arborist can provide specific details on how your trees could be pruned to get the desired result,” says Andersen.

The pruning process can be overwhelming to those not familiar with the pruning of shade and ornamental trees. A qualified tree care expert trained in tree and woody plant health care can answer your questions, as well as help you with your tree-pruning goals. Make sure to ask for tree pruning to be done according to ANSI A300 standards, the generally accepted industry standards for tree care practices.

Find a professional

A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best trees and shrubs to plant for your existing landscape. An easy way to find a tree care service provider in your area is to use the Find a Tree Care Company program.

The post Tree Pruning with a Purpose appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

• Ask your arborist or tree care company if they prune according to the American National Standards Institute standard for tree pruning, which is called ANSI A300.
  This standard recommends, and in some cases requires, that the use of certain tools, cutting techniques, and pruning methods be followed, and sets the standard definitions for terms the arborist will use in your estimate. Properly written work estimates for tree pruning should be written in accordance with ANSI A300 standards.
• Remember that poor pruning can cause damage that lasts for the life of the tree.
• Assess your trees after a storm to see if there is pruning needed.

DON’T:

• Prune without a good reason
• Remove any more than 25 percent of foliage during a growing season.
• Prune a newly planted tree for the first year, unless you are removing dead or broken branches.
• Prune within 10 feet of a utility conductor – leave it to the pros.
• Try to tackle a pruning job that requires a chain saw and ladder work – leave it to the pros.
• Leave branch stubs, or cut off the branch collar (not make a flush cut).
• Climb the tree with climbing spikes
• Use wound paint
• Strip out inner foliage and branches (also called lion-tailing)

Use TCIA’s search tool to hire a professional arborist or tree care company.

Pruning Infographic

The post Tree Pruning Dos and Don’ts appeared first on Tree Care Tips.

• Water Your Tree: Until your tree is thoroughly established (typically one to two years), water it once or twice a week. You want your tree to form deep roots to help it resist drought and wind, so a long slow trickle of water is more effective than a quick spritz. Don’t forget to let the ground dry out between waterings.
• Pruning: Trees should be pruned after planting to remove broken, damaged, diseased or dead branches. Prune also to develop a good branch structure once the tree has become established in its new home, usually 1-3 years after planting. Never remove more than 25 percent of total foliage in one year.
• Eliminate Dangers: Keep lawn mowers and string trimmers away from tree to avoid wounding the trunk. Reduce herbicide use near tree and in surrounding lawn.
• Fertilization: Never fertilize stressed trees. Fertilizer is not tree food. It should be applied only after first year – and only if absolutely necessary. When used, fertilizer should be applied at the perimeter edge of the planting site. Also, do not plant flowers under the tree.
• Stability: Consider staking and/or protecting the trunk of the tree if there is a real potential for wind damage or lawn mower injury. Remove the guy wires (string, rope, wire or other used with supports) when the staking is no longer needed or the tree could be injured or even killed from girdling by the wire.
• Mulching: Organic mulches can be used to conserve moisture, regulate soil temperature, discourage weed and vegetation growth, and replenish vital nutrients. Routine mulching will also improve root growth and contribute to the overall health of the tree.

To help ensure your tree stays healthy and happy, consider starting an annual tree inspection program while the tree is young to head off problems early.

Need help evaluating the health of your tree? Contact an arborist or a tree care professional.

The post Daily Tree Planting Care appeared first on Tree Care Tips.