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 Whether taking down trees that are dead or dying
(or are in inconvenient locations) or trimming up trees that have
outgrown their usefulness, having professionals do the work is safer
for both your family and for your buildings and vehicles. Felling
trees is ranked among the top 10 most deadly jobs in the United
States.
This compilation of "Tree
cutting failures" is convincing that it may be best to leave it
to the professionals. Warning: this video contains graphic scenes of
amateur tree cutting failures. Viewer discretion advised.
From early spring thru late fall, professional tree companies rush
from job to job trying to keep up with the deluge of work. These
companies have specialized equipment for taking down trees and
limbs, and also for carting the refuse away when they are done.
Using expensive high-powered chain saws which are leagues above
home-owner saws in both power and bar size, tree professionals know
how to make cuts to take down trees and branches safely, avoiding
personal injury and damage to property.
Home owners attempting to reach high branches often resort to flimsy
ladders, balanced precariously, in danger of falling over or being
struck by falling limbs and often causing personal injury (and
giving concerned wives great anxiety). Using bucket trucks capable
of safely reaching 70 feet high, tree professionals can reach the
whole tree, trim out the high branches first before felling the main
trunk, making the whole job much quicker and safer than if done by
unskilled, unequipped amateurs.
Using a bucket
truck for tree removal.
Using large machines to grab heavy logs, tree professionals quickly
clean up a job site after taking down the tree. These machines, with
heavy duty grabbers on the front, pick up the debris and load it on
trucks to be taken away from the site, leaving your yard not only
free of the offending tree, but also of every stick of the debris
from bringing it down.
While the weather is nice, tree professionals are usually booked
solid, and work from dawn to dusk, often scheduling jobs as much as
a month out. Often jobs are begun and then finished some time later.
Pruning trees:
Why the dormant season matters.
Homeowners usually spot problems with their trees during the spring
and summer when they fail to leaf out, or show signs that their
trees are dying. This top-of-mind awareness causes the homeowner to
think of having their tree work done as soon as possible and leads
to calling the tree professional right away. But there may be
benefits to putting off the removal of those dead and dying trees.
Think instead of delaying your tree job until the middle of the
winter, and reap the benefits of your foresight.
1. While tree professionals are crazy busy in the high season, they
are dead slow in the middle of the winter. During the cold winter
months, tree professional companies are concerned about meeting
payrolls to keep valuable employees, make equipment payments, and
paying their own bills. During the middle of the winter, you are
likely to find that tree professionals are very available and more
responsive to your calls to do tree work.
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2. During the middle of the winter, the ground is
hard and frozen. This means that when the tree professionals drive
their heavy equipment across your yard, it is less likely to put
ruts in your yard, and do damage to your landscaping. A frozen yard
is far more resistant to being damaged by both equipment and crew on
the worksite moving in and out.
3. When a tree is felled by a professional crew, limbs are first cut
from the top of the tree and dropped onto the ground. These heavy
limbs fall to the ground with great weight and force, and if done
during the warmer months, usually dent and cause damage to your lawn
and the area beneath the tree. If the tree is being felled in
January when the ground is frozen, little or no damage is done to
your lawn by these falling logs. Even when the heavy trunk is
felled, it is less likely to cause lawn damage during the winter
than if felled when the grass is green and the soil supple.
4. Perhaps the most convincing reason to delay your tree job until
the cold of winter is the price. During the high season, tree
professionals price their jobs higher because of high demand and low
availability. Because there is little to no demand for off season
tree work, tree professionals are often likely to quote large
discounts for winter work.
Winter Tree
Trimming
So, as a homeowner who is concerned with price, minimizing damage,
and having high-availability, it may be good to determine now during
the warm months which trees need to be trimmed or come down and then
wait for the winter months to make the call to local tree
professionals.
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