July 3, 2003

 

Who Can You Trust to Work on Your Trees?

Ronald C. Smith, Horticulturist and Turfgrass Specialist
NDSU Extension Service

With increasing frequency, I am getting inquiries about tree care. In some cases, the questions and solutions are within the average homeowner's skills, assuming they follow directions. In many instances people are asking about taking down mature cottonwood trees, cutting roots off of silver maple trees because they get in the way of mowing, and questioning bogus advice they received from so-called tree experts.

I encourage you to seek the advice and services of a certified arborist. When you hire someone or a company to care for your trees, you are entrusting to them the result of years, decades or even centuries of tree growth. You believe you have a problem that this individual or company can solve, and you are willing to pay for the time, knowledge, equipment, ingenuity, experience and courage it takes to solve that problem.

First, educate yourself. Get dependable, research-based information from a source like the NDSU Extension Service. Try to understand how trees grow and what natural defenses they have. An arborist who knows what he or she is doing will try to work with those natural defenses.

Second, don't hire on price alone. Be sure you are getting quality. A certified arborist should be licensed, insured and bonded; and should not hesitate to give you a list of references.

Finally, if at all possible, be there to be sure the work is done correctly. Some "tree experts" will claim to have 20 or more years of experience. There is a world of difference between 20 years of genuine experience and one year repeated 20 times. This is why it is important to check out the work of the company or individual you are intending to hire.

While salesmanship is a part of any business, anything beyond what is really needed is more than likely to be harmful to the tree and will lower your checkbook balance faster than needed. Be open-minded but not gullible; be sold on quality, not quantity.

Be on the lookout for these old gimmicks:

• The arborist finds out what you think should be done, and then recommends it as a "good practice" no matter how harmful it may be to the tree.
• The arborist advocates outmoded practices such as "topping," flush-cutting and painting pruning scars.
• The arborist encourages you to let him provide TLC for old trees that have outlived their beauty, usefulness and safety. They often appeal to the emotional attachment they see people have with particular trees.
• The company or arborist uses flashy phone-book ads with false or meaningless information.
• The company or arborist claims to have credentials, liability and worker's compensation insurance, but doesn't.
• The arborist gives you a "reduced" price that doesn’t include cleanup, assuring you that the "city will haul off all the logs and branches."

At the very least:

• Demand the basics of good pruning: collar cuts, pruning to laterals, directional pruning, no climbing spurs except where tree removals and aerial rescue are necessary, no flush cuts or stubs and no topping. A good arborist understands these things and can discuss them with you in a way that makes sense.
• Check on the insurance, both liability and employee coverage. Without insurance, you can be held responsible for an injury on your property or damage related to the work carried out.
• Determine your city or municipality rules and procedures for debris disposal. Contractors are responsible for disposing of debris from their work. If you allow a company or arborist to leave the wastes behind, you are responsible for the costs of disposing of them.

Within a few minutes of arrival, a person with a chainsaw can do an amazing amount of work -- for better or for worse. If a car gets into an accident, it can be repaired or replaced with good insurance. If mistakes are made on mature trees, the positive effects they had on the property in cash value and aesthetics are lost, and cannot be replaced for another lifetime.

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Source: Ron Smith, (701) 231-8161, ronsmith@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu