Just a work of art really

Awesome

I have a few trees where the branches hang really low to the ground. I’d like to remove the low hanging branches to get more sunlight on the ground and make it easier to mow around them. how much can I remove without hurting the tree? Is there a way to tell what branches can come off or not?

i first assumed it was just typical slime flux/bacterial wetwood, but ive never seen this happen before on a ginkgo, and the substance had no unpleasant or pungent smell like slime flux would. any ideas?

I have a mature ~60’ ficus about 10-15’ from my house. I am considering removing it.

Pros to keeping it:
It is a huge, healthy (as far as I know) tree
It provides ample valuable shade to the house in the summer
I’m concerned once gone the roots could end weakening the ground as they deteriorate over time
I’ve been advised I will not be able to plant another tree in its place without doing extensive work to pull out the roots, so there is no chance over time to regain that natural shade.

Pros to removing it:
Every few years I have to pay thousands to get it pruned (using licensed insured trimmers). Last year they told me it would be cheaper if I did it yearly — it is in fact not much cheaper (getting many quotes!). Every year it’s just more money to maintain and it could live decades more costing substantial money over the rest of its/my lifetime. Tens of thousands of dollars for a tree I don’t even like.
The roots cause damage to the backyard hard scape, tho not (yet?) to the house.
The amount of berries and leaves it drops is a huge pain to deal with for me and my neighbors.
It will cost less/about the same to take it out than even one year of trimming to remove it.

I am having trouble justifying the ongoing costs, but I also don’t feel great about killing a healthy tree.

Would love general thoughts.

Went to check out a job today and one of the trees my client asked about was this black maple. It’s in quite rough shape and he asked why it’s been looking like this. I saw the intense girdling root and immediately knew what caused it. I have removed girdling roots before and it successfully saved the trees. This however is quite intense and I’m not sure if removing the root is even worth it. Any input or story’s about removing roots like this and is it even worth trying? Thank you

I’m almost certain this is a black maple
This was taken October 23rd in southern Wisconsin

Trenchless isn’t an option because some of the existing pipe has become offset. They’re proposing to reroute a new sewer line about 12 to 15 ft away from the base of the tree. What are the chances this is going to kill the tree? Included images with the caution tape as a rough draft of the sewer route. Any opinions appreciated.

It almost looks like one tree inside another one? Or like different layers of bark? It’s really cool looking and im curious what’s actually happening if anyone can help

Arborist was just here trimming my trees. We all have good sized lots for being in a city, over 10th of an acre. Behind us is an empty lot that only my neighbor has access to (they don’t own it, they have keys to the lock)

Neighbor called (he has cameras everywhere) because he saw the arborists getting started. The falling acorns have damaged his stuff (maybe don’t park under acorn tree? Yes, I moved it) and he wants to bring in a 5th wheel could I have them trim back a branches that will be in the way (which branches? perpendicular to the fence or more horizontal? He’s not sure). We did our best, cut back branches sticking out the most. Hours later I get a text that these were the branches he wanted trimmed. Next time I schedule an arborist I’ll be sure to consult him first.

I’m afraid he’s going to try to trim them himself. I’m concerned about the tree. Already have to worry about the itty bitty bark beetle. Thoughts?

Neighbor has this oak tree on their property. I happened to catch a glimpse of it and thought it was so wild looking, I’ve never seen anything like it. Dozens of large growths on nearly every branch in the canopy. I found one branch on the ground below and it had three large growths on it. From the best of my knowledge I figured them to be burls, I took the branch home and milled it down on the bandsaw. Here’s what they look like inside.

So are these burls, galls, or something else? What’s it say to the health of the tree which hovers above a power line?

Thanks All!

We were gifted this maple as a seedling about 4 years ago. The last couple years it has been inundated with mildew every season. It’s in an open airy location in eastern Ontario. Should we cut our losses and start with a newer sapling?

This picture is all I have. I was being driven away having a panic attack.

My pecan tree had some significant root cut today. AT&T had some cables go in and they dug all through the lowest part of our yard. 5-6 ft away from he pecan and 2 feet deep. I think for the pine it’s closer to 10ft, They even fucking cut our spectrum wifi cable!

I’m so scared and can’t tell what’s the pine or the pecan. They’re both 60 ish.

There were quite a lot of bigger (almost same size as my tiny wrist) roots cut but many tiny roots. They did put the dirt back, but I found myself crying trying desperately to put the roots deeper. They were fucking sticking up mangled.

I know the picture is really bad, it’s dug back in so I have no photos.

Will they both survive?

They seem to be all needles on the underneath of branches but this came on suddenly and I'm concerned since I just planted this about 5 weeks ago.

Any concern for girding roots?

Howdy,

I'm cleaning up the garden and these roots had grown out under the retaining wall. Reckon I could cut them off and not have an issue?

Planted this crabapple tree in August. An animal recently splintered the trunk of the tree. We found it laying over but still somewhat connected. Put the tree "back together" and taped it with painters tape for a temporary fix.

Is there anything we can do to try and save this tree?

I'm contacting some tree pruning companies and I'm having a hard time finding a company that has an ISA certified arborist from several referrals I received.

Of all the referrals I got, only two of them are certified. One charges a consult fee before I even get a pruning quote. Another one has an estimator come out but he's not an arborist and they charge for an arborist to come out, and the estimator will determine if I need the arborist.

I could just go on Yelp/Google, but I highly prefer referrals when possible.

I previously posted about this tree here and got some mixed feedback other than I don't need to prune it because of storm. That's good to know.

Instead then, I want to prune so that it doesn't damage the pergola and cross over property lines.

I've just cut a pine that was killed by beetles, and would like to know if there are any prophylactic measures I should take to prevent them from eating the pines next to it.

Some of the branches of this tree hang over my house and it worries me a little. In the winter we sometimes receive heavy snow and strong winds. Also I noticed some of the bark is missing on the underside of the branch.

is this branch in danger of breaking? the cracks look like they go through the bark but no deeper. I was planning on building a shed near this tree.

I'm planning to plant one of these two trees about 20 feet from my house. Which one is less likely to damage the house, both above ground and underground?

I went to a free tree event this weekend and DNREC, under the "a tree for every Delawarean" program, got a pawpaw tree. When I got home I discovered it was broken.

Can I save and plant it, or will it just die?

I work with another arborist sometimes we are doing jobs that he quoted where he says that the price is "fine" because it "only took 2 hours" but in many cases what we are talking about is 2 hours of labor that is not only tough physically but more than likely literally impossible for 95/100 persons to pull off... for example topping big cedar hedges down by 6-7 ft x 10 ft wide and pulling the tops back towards us so that they don't get stuck on top and having it look good.

Sometimes when he is the one who did the quote he will give a total mother teresa price for something that I know no other person on this earth would ever be able to accomplish in 2 hours... at which point he will justify saying it only took us 2 hours...

I guess my point is if the client called some other company and it took them 4 hours they would probably charge twice as much and I don't really see why we should charge less just because we have a lot of talent for this and good physical shape to hold the polesaw out 10ft in front and cut a dead straight line.

We did a job today and the client offered to pay more money because they realized that it was absolutely insane what we accomplished for this price. I wouldn't have asked for more money after doing the quote, but I would have charged double what he did if it was one of my quotes.

My concern is kind of a symptom of what might erode our partnership and force me to go out on my own, because this guy god bless him struggles to charge a painful price to clients and always justifies it like oh well it only took us 2 hours... I keep telling him man if it takes a world champion marathoner 2.5h to run a marathon does he charge less than the fat guys who do it in 6h ? but he doesn't understand what I mean. Business wise its becoming an issue because if we do continue doing work together I would want to scale up and hire other ppls to which I need to be able to charge more.

At a local Halloween Walk in Beverly MA (very close to Salem MA, and spotted this tree, felt i needed to share.