Tree Surgeons are more than people who cut trees. They are skilled craftsmen with years of experience and a pride in the service they offer.
Most tree surgeons will offer a wide range of services to help you with any tree, shrub or hedge work that is needed. They should be able to offer good advice so your trees get the correct treatment, at the right time of year and in the most cost effective manner.
They should also be able to offer advice on managing your trees, shrubs and hedges. This advice should take into account how you like your garden to look and what is best for the plants. Don’t be surprised if the advice is to remove a tree or shrub and replace it with one that is more suitable for the position! You can spend a lot of time continually pruning a plant and still not have the result you would like. Remember each year you delay in making difficult decisions about replacing a tree or shrub, is a year of lost growth on the new plant!
When you have a tree that requires some attention, your first thought might be, can I do this myself or can my gardener do this? If it is a simple pruning job, the answer might be a clear yes. If the job is more than a simple prune or you are not sure how to achieve the result you would like without spoiling the tree, then I would suggest you need the services of a good tree surgeon.
Careful trimming of an overgrown conifer
After a lot of cutting, pruning and trimming in the garden, a substantial amount of waste is generated very quickly leaving you with a large pile to deal with. If your garden hasn’t got room for a bonfire, or burning would cause a nuisance to your neighbours, this waste must go off-site. This could mean several trips to the local tip, stuffing various bags full of the prunings and loading them into the car, then maybe even needing to clean the car afterwards. A well-equipped tree surgeon could either remove this as part of the job or even convert it into woodchip that could be left for you to use as mulch in the garden.
People often ask us to come and look at their trees with the thought that the tree needs reducing to let more light in. We often point out that even after the tree has been reduced it will cast a large shadow, but simply removing some low branches will allow more light under the canopy of the tree and solve the problem. This approach has great benefit as it is better for the tree, has less impact on the look of the garden and lastly will almost always be less costly than reducing the entire crown of the tree.
Reducing
Large Lime tree halfway through a crown reduction
This is where the entire crown (the bit with leaves) is cut back to leave the tree smaller.
Crown reduction can be effective:
- when a tree is further away, plus making its shadow smaller will allow more light to a given area
- or when a tree blocks the view, particularly from an upstairs window.
Other things to consider when deciding whether to call in a tree surgeon or do it yourself are:
- Trees take a long time to grow, so if pruned incorrectly they will take a long time to recover, if they ever do!
- DIY garden tools may not be up to the job, so you may not be able to achieve the quality of finish that a skilled tree surgeon would by using professional tools, and years of experience.
- Pruning and cutting tools, by their very nature, are dangerous, so if you’re not used to using them and you’re up a ladder, accidents can easily happen.
- AtTree surgeon through their skill, experience and equipment should bring added value to the job.
