ADVERTISING - ADVERTORIAL: Education

A huge thank you to Shawn for sharing his wisdom through his articles last month. Shawn really does live out our core value of servants heart and it shows through his writing. I feel very blessed to have worked and learned side by side with him for so many years.

This month's articles start off with talking about what is good and healthy for the trees on your property vs. what you as a customer want them to look like, or how you want them to be. It is often that I’m balancing exactly this. I’ll give you an example of a conversation involving a gorgeous paper bark birch in a front yard:

Devon: “Thank you for inviting me here to take a look at your birch. I can tell you what I think about the tree, but I’d like to hear your main concerns first.”

Customer: “Well, I think the tree is just getting too tall and it needs to be shaped. I’m concerned that it will hit the house in these winds we have been having lately, and really … it’s just too big.”

Devon: “I agree, the tree is quite tall. I’d like to present an idea to you, if I may. Tall trees are typically happy trees. This particular tree of yours has grown in the wide open sunlight its entire life. It has grown well and has the proper structure necessary to sustain its height. While it is true that parts of the tree could hit your house if it were to fail, I can tell you that the likelihood of the tree doing so is quite low. If we were to remove the tops out of the tree to reduce the height, we would certainly be addressing your main concern but at a great cost to the tree. Removing the amount of foliage off the tree would most certainly elicit a stress response. Stressed trees can attract pests and have to spend more energy trying to regrow what we removed rather than fending off said pests. The stress response would also include a significant amount of reactionary growth at the site of the cut, which will eventually become a much larger problem down the road. I would encourage you to leave the height alone and allow us to remove any major deadwood in the tree while continuing to focus on the main structure of the tree. At the end of the day though, the tree is yours and I will help you to the best of my ability to achieve whatever goals you have for your tree.”

By spending a little time educating, it allows you as the “manager of the tree” to come to your own conclusion on what is best for your tree in your specific situation. Next week, I will go into detail on the “duty of care” we are bound to and what we can and can’t do to your tree as professional certified arborists.

As always, for further questions, quotes or consultations, give us a call today, 208-762-5800!

For more information on Grace Tree Service, check out our website at gracetreeservice.com.