As you get ready to tackle spring cleaning jobs, don’t forget your trees. Keeping trees and landscaping green takes constant commitment; and, as they say, timing is everything.

As we turn away from the harsh winter months and head toward the growing season, here are some tips from expert tree care professional Mark Chisholm to help keep your trees and plants healthy. Chisholm is a third-generation arborist with the Aspen Tree Expert Company in New Jersey and a two-time winner of the International Society of Arboriculture’s (ISA) International Tree Climbing Championship.

PREPARE TO PRUNE
The best time to prune trees and shrubs varies depending upon species and desired results. Pruning during the dormant season, when the trees have no leaves, is usually best. This is the time to prune young trees for future structure, remove live limbs that are too low or close to the house, and remove limbs that might have been … Read Full Post »

Why Hire A Certified Arborist?

The tree service industry is replete with all kinds of characters whose knowledge about trees ranges from laughable to fanatical. At the top tier of the industry stands the Certified Arborist. There are many tree services that have nothing to do with the International Society of Arboriculture and its certifications. Some of them even do a good job. The odds of getting high quality tree care go up when a Certified Arborist is employed. The certification shows a level of dedication to the industry that may be lacking otherwise.In order to test to become a Certified Arborist you need three verifiable years in the tree care industry and a Certified Arborist who is willing to sign off as your sponsor. A few caveats are in order here: There are many Certified Arborists whose knowledge of even the basics are lacking, i.e. they couldn’t even make a … Read Full Post »

In Texas, we have a green luxury that most of us take for granted. Whether in our front yards, neighborhoods, or local park, oak trees are considered to be majestic and beautiful trees that provide a lot of shade and greenery to our otherwise dull scenes. Especially in central Texas, besides the beauty of rolling hills, we have great oak trees to complement the entire scenery.

However, oak wilt is threatening that beautiful scenery quite rapidly. Oak wilt, also known as “sudden oak death,” is one of the most threatening tree diseases in Texas and continues to kill off live oak and red oak trees – including shumard oaks, Spanish oaks and blackjack oaks – spreading from one to the next. This disease is caused by a fungus called Ceratocystis fagacearum which takes over a tree’s water conducting system, thus causing the tree to die quickly. Oak wilt kills off a … Read Full Post »