Lafayette Tree Service Bringing Sexy Back Into Your Yards

Tag: lafayette tree care

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What Should You Do With A Fallen Tree?

 

Trees can fall due to adverse weather, damage or underlying disease or pest infestation. A fallen tree needs to be dealt with and removed to prevent wood rotting, spreading of tree diseases and pests as well as the negative aesthetic and safety effects. So what is the right thing to do with a fallen tree?

Analyze The Causes And Responsibility

If a tree has fallen in or near your property, it’s important to ascertain the cause of the fallen tree, as well as who is responsible for its removal. Municipalities can offer aid in removal of trees that fall due to widespread cause or natural disasters. If a tree from the street or a park on public property falls in your yard, it will likely be the responsibility of local authorities to remove it.

However, if a tree rots or becomes diseased on your own property, it will be your responsibility to remove it or pay for it to be removed. If the cause of the fallen tree is disease or pest infestation, it’s advisable to remove the tree rapidly to prevent cross-infection with other trees.

fallen tree, tree removal, dead tree

Can You Use The Tree?

When a tree falls, the wood is often able to be recycled and used for some purpose, including firewood, mulch, landscaping or lumber. It’s important for you or an arborist to analyze the type of tree and wood as this can inform you as to its potential purpose. If the wood is damaged, it can still be used or sold as firewood or mulch (as long as it isn’t diseased). Quality wood can be turned into furniture or outdoor furniture, and valuable wood like mature walnut, cherry, redwood can be taken to a mill and cut into lumber.

Plan The Removal

Once you know what you want to do with your fallen tree, you can plan the removal. The type and size of tree and the hardness of wood will influence how difficult this is. Most tree removals require chainsaw work and other heavy machinery, so it’s important that the operator has the knowledge and experience to use these tools, and proper insurance and coverage is in place. Otherwise, call an arborist for professional removal.

Keep Safety In Mind

Because the process of analyzing, sawing and removing a fallen tree can be so difficult, bringing in a skilled arborist for the job is recommended. This ensures that the work done on your fallen tree is safe and insured, and you can get the best use out of the fallen tree’s wood. A professional arborist can guide you through the process of identifying the tree’s type and condition as well as inspect it for disease or pests. Then they can safely cut and remove your fallen tree, recycling the wood for its best purpose.

While a fallen tree in or around your property can be a nuisance or a hazard, finding the right way to deal with a fallen tree can turn it into a positive. For expert advice to help you make the right decision, contact your local arborist for professional tree removal.

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3 Causes for Dry and Brittle Trees

Berkeley Tree Removal

Dry trees can often drop branches and break leave tips easily, becoming a hazard during storms and strong winds. Most homeowners would prefer to have lush green trees in their yards to provide shade, however it’s not uncommon to find dry and brittle trees in your yard. But what are the main causes of dryness in trees? While sufficient water is an important factor it’s not the only cause contributing to dry and brittle trees.

Drought Stress

One of the most obvious and common causes for dry trees in California is drought stress. Drought stress can cause tree branches to become weak and fall easily, and also causes leaves to go brown and drop from the tree. Signs of drought stress also include slowed growth, a thinning canopy, and dying twigs high in the branches. The signs of drought stress are not necessarily obvious, and once the characteristic signs begin to show themselves it maybe too late to rescue the tree. Drought stress can eventually destroy your trees, leading to the need for tree removal.

Drought stress can be avoided by limiting pruning during drought times, avoiding using fertilizer, and applying organic mulch around the root system instead. When watering trees during dry or hot seasons, soak the roots less often rather than watering shallowly more often. If you need to prune trees call a qualified arborist to provide expert service to protect your trees and keep them healthy.

Over-Fertilization

Trees that grow rapidly are not as strong as those with slow, steady growth. Avoiding fast growing tree types can help to avoid dry and brittle trees, especially if your garden is going through difficult conditions such as a drought. Trees can also grow too fast if they’re supplied with too much fertilizer.

Fertilizer can ‘fast track’ growth without the tree being able to support the new growth with adequate nutrients or water. While fertilizer seems like a great way to ‘feed’ trees, it’s better to take a slower, more natural approach, and have an arborist apply mulch. Avoid fertilizing trees that are already dry or brittle, under drought stress or suffering from insect infestations or disease.

Pest Infestations and Diseases

Various pest infestations and tree diseases can cause trees to become weak, leaves and branch tips to become brown, and bark to go dry and fall off. The symptoms vary depending on the particular disease or infestation affecting the tree. If you notice your tree undergoing any unusual changes or you see visible signs of disease or pests on your tree, it’s important to call your local arborist as soon as possible. They can diagnose the specific condition affecting your tree and treat it in order to save the tree and prevent the condition spreading.

Dry and brittle trees could signify an underlying condition affecting your trees. If you notice dry and brittle trees, it’s important to act fast to prevent tree death or damage to your garden or property. Call a professional arborist as soon as possible to help get your trees back to full health.

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Lafayette Tree Removal – Cedar Tree

Walnut Creek Tree Care

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4 Steps To Reviving A Topped Tree

Tree Care Pleasant Hill

A topped tree can be the result of unskillful or over zealous pruning. Topping a tree is when the topmost, healthy, leading branches are chopped off the tree to provide a quick and lazy pruning solution. While tree topping is best avoided in favor of careful and dedicated pruning by your local arborist, if you do have a topped tree, all is not lost. From this point it is critical to seek professional tree care and allow your tree time to heal and regrow if you want to see it thrive again.

Call A Local Arborist

A topped tree needs extra TLC, and your local arborist is the tree professional who can offer it. An arborist can help identify where your tree pruning went wrong, and identify a plan to nurse your topped tree back to health.

Topped trees are weak and unstable and prone to decline, but with the care of your local arborist you can identify the care and corrective pruning your tree needs to flourish again.

Give Your Tree Time

One of the most important things a topped tree needs is time. A topped tree has lost its prime energy and fuel producing leaf growth, and needs time and specialized care to regenerate this growth.

However, you may be happily surprised at how quickly your topped tree starts to put forth new growth. These fresh new branches are called water sprouts, and they need time to establish themselves. Avoid tampering with these sprouts until they have grown to the original height of the tree, as this is a sign the sprouts have established themselves.

Protect Strong Sprouts

The strongest of these initial sprouts are called the leaders. The leaders are the dominant branches that should be the tallest and free from any damage, cracks or pests. These leader branches will become the strong new branches of the tree, so it’s important to protect them and ensure their growth and health is promoted.

Trim Sprouts

In the initial stages of your topped trees healing, there is limited resources and energy to support the new growth, so the strongest and healthiest branches need to be prioritized. Contact an arborist to come and identify the strongest and weakest branches and appropriately prune the weakest branches in order to allow the strongest branches to flourish.

 

The short sprouts that are stronger and look like they could catch up to the new leader should be left to provide additional volume to the new growth. The new leader sprouts need to be monitored in order to support their healthy growth and to ensure the regeneration of the topped tree. This careful pruning process needs to be repeated over the next 4-6 years in order to facilitate the growth of the new branches. Contact a professional arborist to expertly trim the new branches in order to train them and cultivate new growth without limiting the regeneration of your topped tree.

 

A topped tree can be successfully repaired and returned to it’s former glory, but it does take some extra time, care and attention from you and your local arborist to bring your tree back to full health.

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How To Care For Your Christmas Tree (And Your Trees At Christmas!)

Tree Service Walnut Creek

Are you planning on bringing home a real Christmas tree this year for an exciting addition to your holiday celebrations? Providing proper care for your fresh cut Christmas tree ensures that it lasts throughout the holiday season and continues to bring joy to your friends, family and guests. When you cut and pick up your tree, more than half of it’s weight is water, so with special tree care and management you can promote the longevity and beauty of your tree. At the same time, as we come into winter, it’s important to also keep in mind the trees in your own backyard, and how they should be best cared for during the holiday season.

At The Tree Lot or Farm
If you want to ensure your tree lasts right through the holiday, it’s important to begin with careful selection when you are buying your tree. Give you tree a quick shake to check that the tree doesn’t drop too many needles, and inspect the tree for brown areas and dryness. Wrap your tree in plastic or a net for the drive home to preserve and protect the branches.

Setting Up Your Tree
Of course, everyone wants to decorate the tree as soon as you bring it home, but it’s important to prepare and set up your tree so it stays fresh and healthy. If your tree was freshly cut when you bought it, you can bring it home and place it immediately in a bucket of water. If your tree was bought pre-cut, it’s necessary to cut an additional inch off the bottom of the trunk before placing in water. Cutting your tree trunk flat is more effective for water absorption than drilling holes.

Water, Water, Water
Arborists and tree experts agree that the most important part of Christmas tree care is ensuring your tree has enough water. You should provide one quart of water for every inch of tree trunk diameter and check the water level everyday. It’s quite normal for a tree to absorb a large amount of water one day and just a little the next. Keeping your tree adequately watered is key to preventing it drying out and dropping needles by the end of December. The temperature of the water is not important and nothing needs to be added to the water either to maintain tree health.

Tree Care at Christmas
It’s also important to care for the other trees in your garden in the cooler holiday season. Call your local arborist for some expert help or advice for the trees and shrubs in your yard, to ensure they stay in perfect health throughout December. Having your local arbborist deliver fresh mulch can help to protect the roots and keep your trees healthy through winter. If there doesn’t seem to be a lot of rainfall during winter, make sure you water your trees and shrubs deeply a few times a week to prevent them drying out.

Taking good care of your Christmas tree during the holiday season helps to ensure the festive cheer this special addition brings can last even longer. It’s also ideal to use this opportunity to take care of the trees in your yard as well, and with professional advice from a qualified arborist you can support and nourish your garden to thrive in the new year.

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Berkeley Tree Pruning – Lafayette Tree Care

Tree Removal Lafayette

Berkeley Tree Pruning company, Llamas Tree Service, showcases this Cedar tree that looks sexy even two years after the last pruning.

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5 Ways To Save Time And Money on Lawn Care

Alamo Tree Removal

If you have a grass lawn at your home in California, chances are it’s looking a little worse for wear after the hot, dry summer we’ve had. With winter around the corner, you may need to give your lawn a little TLC to bring it back to life. But lawn care can be a time consuming and money wasting affair, particularly when environmental conditions are no longer supporting healthy lawn growth. So what can you do to reduce the time and money you spend on lawn care while still keeping your garden looking beautiful? Here we look at 5 ways to save money and time on lawn care, so you can spend more time enjoying your garden, and less time fixing it.

  1. Use Smart Watering Techniques

Knowing how to water your garden properly can not only help maintain the health of your lawn and trees, it can also help to save time and precious water sources. Water your lawn less frequently, but water deeply, allowing water to soak deep into the soil and directly feed the roots.

Tree death and tree removal during hot, dry weather can leave lawns exposed and disposed to more rapid damage. As the lawn is often an open and exposed patch of ground, it’s highly prone to evaporation. That’s why it’s important to water at a time when there isn’t much sun, such as very early in the morning or late in the afternoon, to prevent evaporative water loss.

  1. Mulch Your Lawn

Mulching your lawn, flower beds and tree roots is essential for maintaining moisture and nutrient levels in the soil, and also helps you save time feeding and watering your garden. Tree stump removal and tree stump grinding often leaves behind quality mulch that can be used in your garden. Mulch can be delivered by your local arborist, or you can use the clippings from tree trimmings or grass cuttings.

  1. Choose Low Maintenance Grass Varieties

95% of American lawns have bluegrass for their lawn, which is a particularly thirsty variety that requires a lot of water and care. Slow growth, drought resistant grasses are lower maintenance and make lawn car easier, and these include varieties such as Zoysia, Buffalo, Bermuda, St Augustine and Bahia grass.

  1. Try A Grass Free ‘Lawn’

If you really want to reduce the cost and maintenance time for your lawn, perhaps the best option is to forego the grass altogether and opt for a grass free landscaping solution. Placing some drought resistant trees and plants in your garden and replacing grass ground cover with stones, pebbles, succulents, ‘hardscapes’ or artificial grass can help to foster a lower maintenance garden that is just as beautiful and easy to enjoy.

  1. Check Regularly For Pests and Damage

Lawns can quickly suffer under the effects of pests, and so should be checked regularly for signs of damage. Professional lawn services can help you quickly identify lawn issues and provide a solution if you need it. Quick treatment can save lawns, trees and plants in your garden and save you expense and trouble in the long run.

If excessive time and money investments for lawn care are getting you down, think about utilizing these 5 ways to reduce cost and time spent on lawn care in your home garden.

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Sunol Tree Pruning

Danville Tree Pruning

Sunol CA large sycamore tree reducing weight from target areas and pruning away from home.

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Lafayette Pine Tree Removal

Berkeley Tree Pruning

Lafayette Pine Tree Removal

 

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What’s The Difference Between a Landscaper and an Arborist?

Concord Tree Pruning

Many homeowners may not put much thought into the differences between landscapers and arborists. They both do work in the garden and make your yard look beautiful, so it’s the same job right? Actually landscaping and arboriculture are two very different and distinct fields of work. Hiring the wrong professional for the job could lead you to having issues with your yard or trees, or even worse, cause damage or injury to people, property, or your yard. By understanding the unique capabilities and expertise of both landscapers and arborists, you can choose the right professional for the work you need done in your yard.

Difference in Scope of Practice

The difference between in the expertise offered by both landscapers and arborists lies in their scope of practice. Landscapers are mostly involved in designing and installing landscapes, installing hardscapes, lawn care, installation and maintenance of lawn irrigation, mulching, garden bed care and maintenance and sometimes pruning shrubs and small plants.

On the other hand, arborists are primarily concerned with the details of tree and plant care, such as caring for mature trees, tree removal, pruning, cabling, stump grinding, checking for pests and diseases, along with other areas of practice.

Skills and Training

It’s important to distinguish between these different scopes of practice for both landscapers and arborists, because it indicates what skills and training they have each undergone, and their areas of specialty. The skills and background of landscapers makes them knowledgable in how to make your yard look its best, specializing in lawn care services, lawn treatment, and yard maintenance, to help keep your garden looking beautiful and in good shape.

On the other hand, if your trees and plants are looking dead, dying or sick, or you need help with tree pruning or tree removal, a certified arborist should be the first person you call every time. Arborists have an in-depth knowledge of tree care theory and techniques to help keep your trees healthy and your environment safe.

Use Of Specialized Tools

One of the many reasons why it is important to call a certified arborist for tree care is because of the need to use specialized tools in the correct manner to effectively prune or remove trees. Certified arborists are properly trained in tool use, and are accustomed to using equipment such as chippers or chainsaws. However, in inexperienced hands this equipment can be extremely dangerous.

Landscapers may not be accustomed to using this kind of specialized equipment, nor may they be experienced in working on difficult projects such as pruning or removing tall or large trees. This is where the skills and training of a qualified arborist are indispensable.

Benefits of Collaboration

For the best results in your yard or garden, there’s no doubt that both landscapers and arborists should work together to produce truly beautiful landscapes and outstanding results for your trees and plants.

If your garden needs a redesign or overhaul, contact a landscaper. If your trees or plants need work, call an arborist. But for truly beautiful, healthy and safe yards, get a landscaper and an arborist to work together to bring the best of both worlds to your garden.