Importance Of Having a Quality, Certified Arborist

I spend a lot of time helping client’s understand the importance and value of a high quality, certified Arborist. We have a tendency to ignore or not pay close attention to our larger woody plants and trees.  They are always there and appear to reliably leaf out every Spring and change color in the fall.

However, they are living plants, just like our favorite perennials or ornamental plants, and need occasional care and monitoring. Especially with the droughts of recent summers and last year’s (and this Winter’s) excessive rainfall. The other critical issue is that trees take decades and centuries, in some cases, to obtain their size, and we don’t appreciate their place until we lose one and our gardens drastically change.

I work with a number of arborists, but prefer one for monitoring/pruning and plant healthcare. Having a top arborist means that I don’t have to worry about the health of the oldest and most significant part of client’s gardens.

Barrett Tree Service is an excellent company that goes to great effort to train and educate their employees, and you can be assured you are getting the best care.  I asked Alden Johnson, District Manager with multiple certifications, to provide insight into issues that he and his team are looking for this season.

Alden’s response:

Insects: 
I am expecting the trend of lower numbers of leaf-eating caterpillars like winter moth and gypsy moth to continue this year.  This is a welcome break for our shade trees.   One thing to really keep an eye out for on your evergreens and ornamentals this year is scale insects.  There are dozens of different scale insects that affect multiple landscape plants in New England.  Scale infestations are harder to detect, and challenging to treat, but can do real damage to plants if left uncontrolled.   I’m seeing a lot of Hemlock Elongate scale on Hemlocks(different than Wolly Adelgid) and Pine Needle scale on Pines this year.  An Arborist can identify these before they cause problems.

Diseases:
Fungal leaf diseases-  Fungus loves damp conditions.  I anticipate the wet weather last summer and this spring will lead to heavy fungal disease pressure this growing season. Keep an eye out for Leaf Spot, Scab, Rust, Anthracnose, etc. on your landscape plants.  Reach out to an arborist for an assessment, as the best opportunity to address fungal issues is early in the season before damage is visible.

Beech leaf disease- If you have any kind of Beech tree on your property, you need to have an arborist provide an assessment  This new disease, caused by microscopic nematodes, has moved into our area quickly over the last year and is doing real damage to our beautiful Beech trees. 

Summary
I expect “consistently inconsistent” weather patterns to continue to be a stressor to landscape trees.  If you recall we saw this last winter with an unseasonably mild winter and a flash freeze that damaged buds on ornamental trees- most notably flowering Cherries and Japanese Dogwoods.  The weather is out of our control but we can put our valuable trees in the best possible position by limiting disease and insect stress, pruning properly and ensuring they have healthy soil to grow in.  Limiting compaction and amending soil with compost, soil bio stimulants, proper irrigation and mulching are all great ways to help your trees thrive and survive environmental stress. 
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As Alden says, monitoring and managing issues before they become problems is the best practice. For anyone who has paid thousands to remove dead or damaged trees, the small regular investment to have a quality arborist care for your larger woody plants can save plants and money over time. You can never replace an old tree in your lifetime. Planting a tree may provide you benefits in time, but they are truly multi-generational plants and deserve good care.

Not all arborists are the same. I often use a different arborist to remove trees at a lower cost, but when it comes to pruning, monitoring and healthcare, you need an experienced and educated team. This will cost more than a number of arborists who might cost less but don’t have the depth of knowledge and experience necessary to perform this critical work properly.