Why Is Topping Your Trees Deadly?

Sometimes, due to improper planting or planning, the trees we once loved outgrow them selves and become a problem. It may seem easiest to just chop them at the top to shorten them back down to a reasonable size. However, doing so could put your trees at major risk for decline.

Why is tree topping bad for my trees?

• Improper pruning leaves the tree open for pests and decay to take over

• It triggers response growth, a trees natural reaction to grow a large amount of smaller weaker branches in place of what was lost. This can be very unsightly and dangerous in heavy storms

• The tree struggles to repair the large amount of leaves and branches lost, its main food source

Topping your trees can end up being much more costly than just removing them al together and replanting and specimen that fits your style.

If you have trees that have outgrown their space and need some recommendations on how to fix them, our Arborists in Monroe are always available at the link below!

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Is It Okay To Prune My Trees In Summer?

Summer time is gardening time! Which is why most of us don’t notice the dead tree limbs hanging over the house until its warm enough for us to want to take a walk around the garden again. This might encourage you to grab the loppers and get busy reshaping your trees, however, this isn’t the best practice for their health. Pruning trees outside of their dormant season can bring about more trouble than it is worth more often than not.

What are the risks to pruning my trees in summer?

• Reduced growth for next season

• Some specimen are more likely to become infested with insects or diseases when pruned during this time

In the meantime, however, small maintenance pruning is strongly encouraged to promote healthy growth on your trees for the next season!

If you have noticed dead or dying limbs or branches that pose a risk to you, your family or your home, its best to contact a tree care professional to have a tree risk assessment performed on your property. If you have any questions about tree pruning or would like to be connected with a certified arborist, click the link below to be connected!

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Spring Landscape Checklist

With spring just around the corner, it’s important that you do a full and thorough inspection of your landscape to identify any problems before the new growing season. We are staffed with highly trained certified arborist’s who can help you to identify issues with your trees that you might not have noticed. If you would like a certified arborist in Athens to inspect your trees, use the link at the bottom of this page to be connected! Otherwise, we have developed a checklist with tips on DIY landscape/tree inspections and tips to follow for this spring.

Check for any dead branches.

This is not limited to only trees, if you have shrubs or plants in your landscape with dead branches it is essential for the new growth to prune those back. If you notice any limbs on your trees with fungal looking material, holes, or signs of pests, it’s best to contact your local certified Arborist in Athens before trying to tackle pruning that one on your own. Large dead branches can be dangerous and are best left to professionals.

Check foliage.

Have you noticed any yellowing on the new leaves this spring? Or perhaps less foliage or flowering than last year? If you have an older, more mature tree, a simple deep root fertilization in Athens might just do the trick but it is important to identify if other environmental factors are affecting your trees.

Check around the base and trunk.

When checking the base be sure to lookout for any oozing, slimy material, as this could be something as small as slime flux that is easily treatable. It is important to identify any major structural issues such as large cracks or cavities, meaning your tree might have been struck by lightening and needs to be evaluated by a certified arborist immediately. Any signs of mushrooms or other fungal matter in the soil around the trunk is a sure sign there is some root rot going on and should be addressed immediately.

Tips for ultimate spring growth

There are a few key things you can do in the meantime to ensure your trees are in their healthiest state and receiving all the nutrients possible.

Mulch your trees.

Mulching around the base of your trees can prevent erosion, retain soil moisture for those hot summer days, as well as eliminate weeds and grass. Check out our other recent blogs for information on proper mulching techniques.

Fertilize, fertilize, fertilize.

Slow release deep root fertilization can help your trees so much! Any trees over 2 years old should be fertilized in the spring by a certified technician. Call our office to set up an appointment.

Plant new trees.

Being sure dormant season is still in session, this is a great time to plant some new specimen in your landscape. We have multiple blogs on our website for tips on our most recommended tree species to plant. You can also contact our office to receive more information by one of our certified arborist on recommended species for your specific landscape or area!

Give us a call today to have a certified Arborist inspect your trees for any issues!

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Is It Too Late To Prune My Trees In Georgia?

Tree pruning, among other tree maintenance techniques can determine the health, longevity and cosmetic look of your trees. Tree pruning, especially on larger specimen is best left to the professionals as improperly pruning your trees can do more damage than good.

Here are just a few key benefits tree pruning provides:

• Improves nutrient intake

• Adds value to your home

• Allows you to see and identify pests more easily

• Stimulates growth

• Prevents damage from branch droppings on your valuables

• Allows the tree to absorb more sunlight

• Saves money from costly dead tree removals down the road

Should I remove dead branches from my trees in summer?

Pruning heavily diseased or dead branches from your trees can be performed year round. Dead or dying wood on your trees can be an easy entryway into your tree for pests and diseases to enter and take over. If you are performing this at home, be sure to sanitize your shears or lopers after use to prevent the spread of any diseases from tree to tree on your property.

So when is the best time to trim my trees?

There are a lot of different factors that determine the best time of year for trimming your specimen. However, there are a few general rules to follow in regards to timing your tree trimming:

• Most trees in Georgia will benefit most from trimming in early December to late March.

• Young or newly planted trees should not be trimmed until they have completed a minimum of two growing seasons.

• Keep any dead or diseased branches removed throughout the year.

If you have trees on your property that could use a good trim, now is the time to reach out to one of our certified Arborist’s for a free estimate! Click the link below to be connected with a certified Arborist on our staff.

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How To Get Rid Of Above Ground Tree Roots

Large, beautiful trees sometimes come with a downside. Sometimes the roots of these large trees are forced upwards in order to find proper air and moisture. This usually occurs when the trees are planted in an area with heavily compacted or heavy clay soils. Above ground roots are not only an eye sore, they can begin to kill your grass, crack sidewalks and driveways, seep into your septic tank system while searching for water among many other problems.

So the question remains…

How can I get rid of these above ground roots without killing my tree?

There are a TON of factors that go into root pruning including:

• Location of the tree

• Health

• Time of year

• Age

And these are just a few factors that will determine how well your tree will take a root pruning. However, there is never a guarantee that pruning back roots wont harm or kill your tree eventually. It is best to have a certified Arborist in Grayson come out to your home and evaluate the health risk of your trees before getting started on root pruning in Grayson.

A few tips for root pruning your trees if you decide to try a DIY on a smaller project:

• Never remove more than 20% of the roots as this will almost guarantee a decline.

• Wait 2-3 years between root prunings for the tree to recover.

• Spring/Winter are the best time of year to perform root pruning.

• Never prune roots that are over 2 inches wide.

After performing a root pruning DIY, be sure to keep an eye on your tree for any yellow leaves, leaf drop, bark peel, fungus, etc. If you notice any sign of disease or tree decline in Grayson, give us a call immediately for an Arborist evaluation on your trees!

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How To Get Rid Of Ticks In Your Yard

Tick season is usually a year round problem in the Southeast. The number of tick diseases such as Lyme disease has tripled in the past 15 years.

So how can we control the tick problem in our yards?

There are some environmental changes we can make to our landscapes to make it a less desirable place to live.

Cleaning out your yard debris

This is first and foremost when dealing with a tick problem. Start by cutting your grass short and frequently since ticks tend to like tall grass with more moisture content.

In the fall, its best to remove all the leaves in your yard because they provide the ideal environment for ticks to thrive. By trimming these back, they allow enough sunlight to enter and dry out the area, preventing the ticks from having a warm, moist place to live.

Spray your lawn

This might sound like an obvious thing to do but spraying your landscape in Statham with the proper insecticide will help eliminate the problem.

This is especially important if you have inside animals that go out side to play and bring the junk back into the house with them. There are professional grade insecticides available for purchase online.

Get rid of the other pests

Having other pests in your yard such as rodents or wildlife doubles your chances of getting a tick infestation because these animal are hosts to the ticks. Call your local pest and rodent team to help eliminate the rodent issue to cut back on ticks in your yard in Statham.

Trim back trees

More often than not, the ticks like to live up in the bushy parts of the trees, especially in heavily wooded areas.

If your trees have overgrown and need tree trimming in Statham, call North American Tree Service for a free estimate on tree trimming and tree pruning to help lower the tick population in your yard.

If you still have questions, feel free to reach out to us at North American Tree Service, we are fully staffed with certified arborist’s in Statham ready to assist you with your next tree trimming or tree removal project!

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What Are The Most Common Tree Pests?

The suns out and so are all the critters! You may have seen them foraging through the bark on your trees or crawling up and down the branches. We have put together a list of the most commonly seen tree insects listed below:

Tent Caterpillars

If you have noticed large webbings full of caterpillars and some leaf defoliation, your trees have been infested with the common Eastern Tent Caterpillar species. They are most commonly found on cherry, maple, plum and peach trees and sometimes other unnamed species. Where these caterpillars wont necessarily kill your tree they can be an eyesore. Call your Certified Abrorists in Monroe to help with the tree caterpillar problems!

Emerald Ash Borer

This insects is a deadly one, killing millions of ash trees each year. This jewel beetle can be hard to identify until the problem turns for the worst. After the initial infestation, it can take less than two years for the tree to die. Call your local arborist in Monroe immediately if you suspect ash boring insects have gotten to your trees!

Aphids

Aphids will eat all the sap out of the leaves on your trees leaving behind sticky substances. Aphids can cause your trees growth to stunt and yellowing of the leaves. Turning over your leaves to inspect regularly can identify and prevent this problem

Spruce Budworm

If you have noticed a large amount of dead branches on your spruce and fir trees, they may have a budworm infestation. Spruce budworms are known as one of the most destructive and deadly insects because of their potential to defoliate and kill in record time. Prevention of this spruce budworm include proper pruning regularly. Call your certified Abrorist for a free estimate on tree pruning in monroe.

If you have questions about insects on your trees in Monroe, Ga. Call North American Tree Service to get a free estimate on your trees by a certified arborist today!

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Top 3 Biggest Mistakes Homeowners Make When Trimming Their Trees

Tree trimming might seem like an easy do it your self project to clean up your landscape and promote tree health. However, if improper pruning occurs, it could eventually be deadly to your trees. That’s why it is important to do your research or hire a professional tree service in Statham to assist you with all of your tree care needs! We have put together a list of the more common mistakes we run across when our customers decide to take some lopers to their trees.

Cutting through the branch collar

A branch collar is the visibly swollen area of trunk tissue that attaches the limb to the trunk of the tree. If you make the mistake of cutting through this, it will cause a lot of sap loss from the tree and the wound will take much longer to heal. The safest bet is to leave a inch stub on the branch, just after the branch collar.

Using dirty lopers/shears

Trees are very highly susceptible to disease spread, pests and fungi as well. It is important that you sanitize your shears, even when going from tree to tree to prevent the spread of tree diseases you might not have known were even present to begin with.

Trimming at the wrong time of the year

Its spring and your trees have started to blossom, however, maybe not in the most appealing way. Maybe you have some branches longer than others or one limb is full of beautiful blooms where the others are scarce. This is still not the right time to prune your trees back and can have serious repercussions. If you prune a tree back in summer, and cause sap to come out of the tree it can attract various insects, causing your tree to become diseased.

The best practice when it comes to tree care is to trust the tree care professionals in Statham to care for your trees the proper way to prevent damage, disease or decline. If you have trees in your landscape that could use a good pruning regimen, give us a call for a free estimate by one of our certified Arborist’s in Staham!

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