Winter Is a Great Time for an Assessment
One of the best times to conduct an assessment on your property is when the leaves are off the trees. Why? You can quickly and easily identify which trees are dead or damaged, declining, plagued by pests, disease or other problems.
Don’t miss this opportunity! A quick walk around your property will reveal what can be major problems. Here are some of the things we look for:
Pest Damage
In Maryland there are two insects that infest trees, the Emerald Ash Borer beetle (EAB) and the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). We’ve described the details surrounding EAB infestation in this blog post. The EAB and ALB create similar damage to trees, as they both burrow into the trunk and deprive nutrients and water from the upper parts of the tree. However, the EAB only attacks ash trees, while the ALB will go after many types of native trees.
We’ll look for pest damage in the trunk and beneath the bark. Identifying trees infested by these pests early can help prevent them from attacking your other trees.
Unsafe Branches
If you have trees near your home, vehicles, or other structures on your property, they need to be evaluated regularly for unsafe branches. Having one of these drop on your car or roof makes for a very bad day. One good storm could trigger thousands of dollars in damage, so we make sure to keep these a priority with pruning and maintenance.
Leaning Trees
As a rule of thumb, leaning trees are not a cause for alarm. As trees grow in groups, they learn away from each other to compete for sunlight. As the tree grows the trunk strengthens to support the lean. It’s when the lean becomes too extreme, is when we start to take notice. In the even that a tree has started to lean AFTER a storm or ongoing rainy weather, it may be the roots are weakened. We’ll take a closer look at these trees, and identify if any cracks, branch damage, or root damage suggesting the tree is likely to fall.
Dead and Dying Trees
When checking for dead and dying trees, we look for cavities in the trunk, splits, bark damage, and signs of rot in the root, branches and trunk. Diseases occur in trees and manifest themselves in decay and fungus. These indicators mean the tree is already compromised and weakened. The damage may likely be irreversible at this point, at which case the tree is now a hazard. Heavy winds, rain, or a storm may be all it takes to take the tree to the ground. If you have any dead or dying trees near your home, driveway, vehicles or other structures, you need to take a look at them. At this point it’s just a matter of when they should be removed.
If you have questions about the trees on your property, particularly those near your home, please call us today. We would be happy to provide a free tree evaluation so you can fully understand the risks posed to your home and property and what we can do to help reduce them.
Call us today to schedule your free evaluation and/or quote or submit a request form online!
