How To Care for Trees

Help, our tree is wobbling and ambling towards falling over and is looking like the Tower of Pisa.  What can we do?

Sometimes trees uproot without warning, but in this case, there is a distress signal saying it is going to topple over. We all know that mature trees are an important property asset, beauty, shade, and value and it is important to keep an eye on trees to avoid shouting out the logger terminology of “timber!”

Trees should be inspected during the spring and fall and always after a storm. Move around the tree(s) and look at your beauties from top to bottom, looking for changes in branches, roots, bark and foliage. Do you see any peeling bark, splitting or cuts in the tree limbs, brown wood, brown leaves? Any of these could be signs for a sick tree that can uproot.

Leaning trees, (a little leaning is normal as not all trees grow straight) is a sign of weight distribution issues or severe root issues and an arborist should be called in immediately to see if the tree can be saved. If you see heaving soil and exposed roots there is a problem that needs immediate attention. An arborist will more than likely prune the branches to dispense and spread out the weight and probably brace the tree with stakes and cable lines to realign the tree.

Trees should only have one trunk. Multiple trunk trees have extremely weak areas at these trunk points and they are more than likely to split and crack distribute. Again, an arborist can stabilize the tree if there are trunk cracks to extend the life of the tree, but the existing damage cannot be cured.