As much as we all love nature and the rustic look of a lush, tree-filled yard, trees can present a hazard to property if left to grow unfettered. Trees are like grass. They need to be trimmed periodically. They also need to be maintained for their health and your safety. An overgrown tree is more susceptible to weather breakage and disease. A professional tree trimmer can go a long way to maintaining a healthy, safe outdoor environment.

The fact is that trees growing in the wild drop branches, split or fall all the time. It is perfectly natural. But as we have moved into the environment and surrounded ourselves with nature, we are walking a fine line between allowing nature to take its course and curtailing it for our own use. A large bough falling from a tree can destroy a home or a car, or worse, it can cause injury or even death. So tree trimming is an essential maintenance task that all homeowners should practice.

Tree trimming is a dangerous task and should only be undertaken by an expert. Your local tree expert will climb high into the boughs of the tree and selectively cut branches to remove rubbing and damaged branches. The tree will be revitalized and will continue to grow even healthier than before. This is especially important for trees growing in close proximity to homes and other structures. Keeping your trees strong and healthy can protect you from potential property damage or worse.

All trees growing near your home should be regularly inspected for disease. Your professional tree expert can check your trees for hollow or rotten trunks or other major problems that can create an imminent hazard. Once identified, the offending tree should be removed immediately. Tree cutting, like tree trimming, is highly specialized and dangerous work and should only be performed by a professional. Once the tree is cut to the ground level, a stump grinder can be used to remove the stump, allowing for a smooth yard to fill the space once occupied by the tree.

As an added bonus, and to make the destruction of the tree a bit more economical and environmental, the entire tree can be ground into mulch for use in your landscaping endeavors. Some trees can also be recycled as firewood, for those with working fireplaces or wood-burning stoves or furnaces. Other woods, like apple tree wood for example, make excellent additions to barbeque grills. Always try to make use of the tree you were forced to remove.

Our need to surround ourselves with elements of the natural world grows ever more important. In the future, the only place we might find living trees could be in our own front yards. Therefore, the need for tree maintenance is greater than ever. Keep your trees healthy and your environment safe. Keep your trees trimmed.

Mulching your landscape trees and shrubs can potentially kill if done improperly. A recent and serious trend has been over-mulching landscape plants also called mulch valcanoes. Not only is over-mulching a waste of mulch, (and a potentially costly one at that), it is rapidly becoming the number one cause of death to shrubs and trees.

One of the most common causes of stress by over-mulching is suffocation of plant roots. Repeated applications of mulch can contribute to a waterclogged soil and root zone by slowing soil water loss through evaporation. Roots must respire (breathe) and take in oxygen unlike leaves which give off oxygen. When oxygen levels in the soil drop below 10 percent, root growth declines. When too many roots decline and die, the plant will eventually succumb.

It is most important to remember that the problems caused from yearly over-mulching are not immediate, but progress slowly with time. The symptoms may take 3 – 5 years to express themselves and sometimes longer, depending on the species and sod type. Unfortunately, by the time the symptoms are recognized (off-color foliage, abnormally small leaves, poor twig growth, and die-back of older branches) it is generally too late to apply corrective measures. At this point, the plant has usually gone into an irreversible decline and will most likely die.

A second major cause of plant decline and death from overmulching comes from the piles of mulch being placed against the stems of trees and shrubs. The above ground stem and trunk tissue is very different from root tissues. Roots have evolved many mechanisms to survive in continually moist environments, the trunks of most woody species have not. Above ground stems must be able to freely exchange adequate amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide through lenticels. When mulch is piled onto the trunks, gas exchange decreases with phloem tissue eventually becoming stressed and later dying. When the phloem dies, roots are malnourished and weakened to the point where they suffer reduced water and nutrient uptake, which subsequently affects the health of the whole plant.

A third mortality factor which is associated with the application of mulching next to stem tissue involves fungal and bacterial diseases. Most plant diseases require moisture to grow and reproduce. Trunk diseases are no exception and will usually gain entry into the stressed, decaying bark tissue caused by the homeowners unknowingly piling the mulch next to the tree trunk. Once established, even secondary fungal invaders such as Phytophthora and Armillaria species will eventually kill the inner bark, thereby starving the roots, and ultimately killing the plant. Many times, bark beetles and borers (which are also attracted to the stressed trees) will assist in the decline of the tree and allow other fungal pathogens entrance into the tree. This has been observed with clearwinged borers which normally attack higher on the stem.

Excess heat can also be generated when wet mulch layers placed up against the stem begin to decompose. Similar to composting where inner mulch layers may reach 120°i; to 140°i; F., the heat may kill young tree and shrub phloem, or, may prevent the natural hardening off process plants must go through to prepare themselves for winter.

The continuous use of the same type of mulch may also contribute to plant stress by ultimately changing the soil’s acidity level, commonly referred to as soil pH. Acid mulches like pine bark may have a pH of 3.5 to 4.5 and when applied year in and year out, may cause the soil to become too acid to grow many alkaline requiring plants. Due to the increased solubility of many micronutrients in acid soil, toxic levels of nucronutrients may lead to additional plant stress which in turn allows secondary pathogens and insects to invade. Conversely, hardwood bark mulch, which is initially acidic, may cause the soil to eventually become too basic or alkaline causing acid loving plants to quickly decline because of micronutrient deficiencies. Soil pH’s above 6.5 – 7.0 usually create micronutrient deficiencies of iron, manganese, and zinc for many common, acid-loving, landscape plants. Small changes in soil acidity can be avoided by periodically monitoring soil pH and rotating the type of mulch used.

Mulch should not be touching the trunk and trunk flare should be visible

Placing piles of mulch adjacent to tree trunks can also kill plants by providing cover and habitat for chewing rodents such as small mice, meadow voles, etc.. With lots of cover from predators, the rodents will usually live under the warm mulch in the winter and chew on the tender and nutritious inner bark to get at the sugars. This chewing off of the bark many times goes unnoticed until the following spring or summer when the tree doesn’t look good. If the chewing is extensive or goes around the whole tree, there is little that can be done to save the tree. Bridge grafting with strips of bark over the girdled area can be done but is time consuming and most arborists are not willing to go to those extremes.

Finally, many fresh or non-aged mulches may cause nitrogen deficiencies in young trees, shrubs, and flowers. Decomposing bacteria and fungi which ultimately break down mulch must have an ample supply of nitrogen to do their job. Most landscaping mulches are comprised of bark or wood which have high carbon to nitrogen ratios and have very little nitrogen available for the decomposing bacteria. Hence, the bacteria in the soil utilize the existing nitrogen to break down the mulch. This process may cause nitrogen deficiencies on new growth. Although nitrogen deficiencies may occur, they are usually considered temporary as the mulch will eventually release its nutrients into the soil and the decomposition will taper off.

Allelopathic mulches are mulches which contain toxic elements which will inhibit the growth of other plants. These toxic chemicals can be produced in the leaves, roots, trunk, or fruit of some plants and will slow the growth of some plants and in some cases, kill the competing plant. The classic case of allelopathy found in nature is the black walnut. This species along with other close relatives produce the toxic chemical juglone and juglonic acid which inhibits the growth of many trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Juglone is found in all parts of the plant including leaves, twigs, trunk and roots. Hence, fresh wood chips and sawdust should not be used as a mulch unless adequately composted and even then, small amounts of juglone can be detected. Besides Black Walnut, other allelopathic mulches include sawdust of Redwood and Red Cedar and the bark of Spruce, Larch and Douglas Fir. All of these materials may reduce root growth and deform or kill some trees and shrubs. Evergreen bark sometimes releases toxic volatile gases that can be especially harmful to plants including tomatoes and other vegetable crops as well. To neutralize the allelochems found in these toxic species, compost the mulch with nitrogen at two pounds of actual nitrogen per cubic yard of mulch.

If you have shallow rooted species and those species are growing on somewhat poorly drained soil, mulch depths should not exceed a 2 inch depth. For perpetually wet soils which need as much oxygen as possible, it may be more advisable to control weeds with a combination of a systemic post-emergent herbicide and pre-emergent herbicide such as Round-Up and Surflan herbicides.

On the other hand, if you have more deeply rooted species growing on well drained loams or sandy soils, your plants would benefit from a 2-4 inch depth of mulch. With coarser textured mulches you can go a bit deeper due to the better oxygen diffision through the mulch and ‘into the soil. Be more cautious with the finer, doubleshredded mulches on the market. A 2 inch layer may be all you need to keep weeds down and prevent unnecessary soil drying in the summer.

The best way to determine if you have a problem with excessive mulch piling in your landscape is to go out and simply dig through the mulch layer to see how thick it really is. A light raking of the existing mulch is all that is needed to break up any crusted or compacted mulch layers that can repel water and to give it that finished landscape appearance. As a rule-of-thumb, keep the mulch a minimum of 3 – 6 inches away from the trunks of young trees and shrubs and 8 – 12 inches away from mature tree trunks.

Conducting a visual inspection of the root flare is the best way for an arborist to check a tree or shrub for a possible root collar disorder. If no root flare or buttress roots are found, the chances are good that at least some of the root crown has been buried. When burial is suspected, the arborist must first carefully probe downward to determine the extent and depth of burial. If the root collar is buried, you must remove the soil or mulch below the surface of the Junction of the roots and the trunk collar (without damaging the roots or collar) to expose the root collar. This is necessary to allow the collar to dry out and begin respiration of essential oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Arborists may also take a small strip of bark and sapwood from the root collar following excavation to determine the presence of fungal pathogens such as Phytophthora or Armillaria species. The resulting exposed well must be left open unless the root collar disorder is so severe that the resultant tree decline or hazard potential warrants tree removal.

According to tree expert scientists, an amazing number of plants have improved rapidly in color and vigor within months of a root collar excavation. Observations also indicate far less winter injury in such plants because the healthy roots, once an excavation has been conducted, produce the growth regulators responsible for above ground winter hardiness.

Of course, pruning of any dead and or dying branches should be conducted to reduce the introduction and spread of disease in treated trees. A light fertilization with a low salt index, slowrelease, nitrogen fertilizer (at 1 – 2 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1000 square feet) may also be required of trees treated for root collar disorders to renew vitality and growth.

In summary, over-mulching and root collar burial is needlessly killing many landscape trees and shrubs by oxygen starvation of the roots, lack of gas exchange and death of inner bark, promoting stem and root diseases, prevention of hardening off via increased mulch temperatures and declining root vigor, rodent girdling, development of water repelling mulch layers, allelopathic mulches, potential short-term nitrogen deficiencies, and nutrient and acidity problems from sour mulch.

Fortunately, most of these problems can easily be prevented with periodic inspections.

Barts Tree Service just cleared a lot in Weston that had approximately 80 cedar trees on it. I did not have the heart to chip them all up so I saved them for fence posts or other projects. 

If anyone is interested in purchasing any give me a call 203.240.1302 or shoot me an email matt@barts.cc

The posts range in size from 6″ diameter to 14″ diameter and lengths of 8 feet to 14 feet. There are still about 30 or so left on site that are upto 20 feet long  so if anyone needs some real long ones let me know ASAP. Otherwise I will buck these down to 10′ length to hall out later this week or next. 

This is about a 1/4 of the cedar posts

Next load of posts for the pile

Avoid tree instability issues when having landscaping done or building a new house. All too often people bring in topsoil or fill and bury the trunk flare of existing trees which will result in a stem-girdling root which destabilizes the tree. You should always be able to see the sweeping radius from the tree trunk to the beginning of the root system. If the tree appears to grow straight out of the ground after backfilling then you have covered the trunk flare and are at risk for it to die. As much as I like to come out and remove dead trees for you lets not induce the death onto good trees we want to keep.

Removing the root, and the fill, dries the root crown and restores the tree to a safer condition.

Inspect trees under your responsibility every year. Tree inspections can be done at any time of year, leaf-on or leaf-off. To be thorough, inspect trees after leaf drop in fall, after leaf-out in spring, and routinely after severe storms.

Inspect trees carefully and systematically. Examine all parts of the tree, including the roots, root or trunk flare, main stem, branches, and branch unions. Be sure to examine all sides of the tree. Use a pair of binoculars to see branches high off the ground.

Consider the following factors when inspecting trees:

Tree Condition: Trees in poor condition may have many dead twigs, dead branches, or small, off-color leaves. Trees in good condition will have full crowns, vigorous branches, and healthy, full-sized leaves; however, green foliage in the crown does not ensure that a tree is safe. Tree trunks and branches can be quite defective and still support a lush green crown.
 

Tree Species: Certain tree species are prone to specific types of defects. For example, some species of maple and ash in the Northeast often form weak branch unions (page 5 ), and aspen is prone to breakage at a young age (50-70 years) due to a variety of factors, including decay and cankers.

Tree Age and Size: Trees are living organisms subject to constant stress. Pay particular attention to older trees, which may have accumulated multiple defects and extensive decay.

For more information on identifying hazardous trees in your yard goto Barts Tree Service hazardous tree information page and feel free to give us a call for a consult if you are in Danbury CT or the surrounding area.

Trees are essential to our world, offering a wide range of benefits to our environment. However, trees become hazardous liabilities if they fall and injure people or damage property. Proper constant maintenance will help prevent and identify when a tree becomes dangerous.  

 
What to look for
High-risk defects are signs a tree is failing. Look for seven important tree defects: dead wood, cracks, weak branch unions, decay, cankers, root problems, and poor tree form. These tree defects will be described in the next several sections. Remember: a tree with defects is not hazardous unless some portion of it is within striking distance of a target.

#1- Dead wood: Dead trees and branches are unpredictable and can break and fall at any time. Dead wood is often dry and brittle and cannot bend in the wind like a living tree or branch. A dead branch and treetop that is already broken off (”hanger” or “widow maker”) is especially dangerous.
Act immediately if . . .
• A broken branch or treetop is lodged in a tree.
• A tree is dead.
• A branch is dead and of sufficient size to cause injury. Typically this is a branch larger than 4 inches in diameter, but this can vary with branch height. Even smaller branches, falling from high in the tree, can cause serious personal injury.

Very dangerous dead branch hanging in tree otherwise known as a widow maker

Tree with dead branches in crown

#2- Cracks: A crack is a deep split through the bark, extending into the wood of the tree. Cracks are extremely dangerous because they indicate that the tree is already failing.
Act immediately if . . .
• A crack extends deeply into, or completely through the stem.
• Two or more cracks occur in the same general area of the stem.
• A crack is in contact with another defect.
• A branch of sufficient size to cause injury is cracked (typically larger than 4 inches in diameter).

 

#3- Weak Branch Unions: Weak branch unions are places where branches are not strongly attached to the tree. A weak union occurs when two or more branches grow so closely together that bark grows between the branches and inside the union. This ingrown bark, called “Included bark” does not have the structural strength of wood and the union can become very weak. The inside bark may also act as a wedge and force the branch union to split apart. Trees with a tendency to form upright branches, such as elm and maple, often produce weak branch unions.
Act immediately if . . .
• A weak branch union occurs on the main stem.
• A weak branch union is associated with a crack, cavity, or other defect.

This crack is a high hazard situation caused by codominant trunk growth

#4- Decay: Decaying trees are prone to failure, but the presence of decay alone does not necessarily mean failure. Still, advanced decay (soft, crumbly wood with a cavity) is serious. Evidence of fungal activity including mushrooms and conks are indicators of advanced decay. Decay is very common on the majority of large maple trees we have in Connecticut because of their large size and structure. A tree usually decays from the inside out, forming a cavity, but sound wood is added to the outside of the tree as it grows. Trees with sound outer wood shells are relatively safe. Still, evaluating the safety of a decaying tree is usually best left to trained arborists.
Act immediately if . . .
• Advanced decay is associated with cracks, weak branch unions, or other defects.
• A large branch is decayed.
• The thickness of sound wood is less than 1 inch for every 6 inches of diameter, at any point on the stem.

Tree with conk decay fungus

Trunk rot

#5- Canker: A canker is a localized area on a stem or branch of a tree, where bark is sunken or missing. Cankers are caused by wounding or disease. The presence of a large canker increases the chance of the stem or branch breaking near the canker.
Act immediately if…
• A canker affects more than half of the tree’s circumference.
• A canker is physically connected to a crack, weak branch union or cavity. 

This large canker most likely caused from an impact with the trunk can seriously weaken the trunk.

#6- Roots: Trees with root problems may blow over in windstorms or even fall from the weight of the tree’s leaves in summer. Root problems can be caused by severing or paving-over roots; raising or lowering the soil depth over roots; traffic over the roots; or root decay. Dieback, dead wood in the crown and off-color or smaller than normal leaves are symptoms associated with root problems. These above ground symptoms may serve as your best warning.
Act immediately if. . .
• A tree is leaning with recent root exposure, soil move-ment, or soil mounding near the base of the tree.
• More than half of the roots under the tree’s crown have been cut or crushed.
• Advanced decay is present in the root flares or buttress roots.

#7- Poor tree form: Trees with strange shapes are interesting to look at, but may be structurally defective. Poor tree form often results from many years of damage from storms, unusual growing conditions, improper pruning, topping, and other damage.
Act immediately if . . .
• A tree leans excessively.
• A large branch is out of proportion with the rest of the crown.

A high-risk situation increases as your tree defects increase!
Finding multiple defects in a tree should be your red flag when evaluating its potential to fail. Multiple defects that are touching or are close to one another should be carefully examined. If more than one serious defect occurs on the tree’s main stem, you should assume that the tree poses a very high level of risk and corrective actions should be taken.
If a high-risk situation exists, there are four recommended options for correcting the problem:
• move the target
• prune the tree
• convert the tree to a wildlife tree or
• remove the tree
Moving the target is often an inexpensive, effective, and simple treatment for correcting a high-risk tree. Easily moved items like play sets and swings, vehicles, and picnic tables can be placed out of the reach of the hazardous tree with little effort and expense. If the target cannot be moved and a high-risk situation exists, consider blocking access to the target area until the hazard can be eliminated. 

Barts Tree Service is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation and you should be as well.

They help promote tree pruning and tree removal best practices across the industry as well as educate people on the correct trees to plant for the Connecticut region and there specific application. Unfortunately this is all too often why Barts Tree Service is called out to remove a hazardous tree that’s in perfectly good health. It’s just the wrong tree in the wrong location and over the years has grown to close to a dwelling or is far too large to be safe in its current location.

It’s as little as $10 and new members will receive 10 trees of there choice. You can’t go wrong for that!

Your contribution/membership to the Arbor Day Foundation will go to: 

• Replanting our national forests
• Rain Forest Rescue
• Arboriculture best practices
• Community improvements
• Education

Members will receive The Tree Book, with planting and care information, Arbor Day bimonthly newsletter, membership card, and discounts on more than 100 varieties of trees. New members will also receive 10 free trees specific to their region.

Go visit www.arborday.org