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What To Look For In A Tree Service Company

You are thinking about hiring a tree service to cut down a large branch hanging from a tree in your front yard. The tree you like. Who does not like trees? The branch you hate. Not only is it a safety as hazard high winds could knock it into your living room window but it blocks the sunlight from getting into your house. What company do you go with and what do you look for?

We live in a sue happy society and I would make certain that due to the inherent risks any tree service I would hire have a general liability insurance policy and a workers compensation policy. The liability insurance policy should be at least $1,000,000. This is to protect you and them. If you need to make a claim (hopefully you will not but you never know) you know they are covered. If they mess up your neighbor's yard or cable wires you know they are covered for that as well. The work their employees are doing is dangerous as the heights they have to climb to cut branches can be tens of feet high. If a person falls the workers compensation policy kicks in. Without it, and with a good personal injury lawyer, they can come after you because the accident happened on your property.

Ask if the owner and his subsequent employees have been trained a licensed through the state apprenticeship program. The state of Washington it takes 4,000 hours and 144 hours of classroom time to get a "Power Line Clearance & Tree Trimming" apprenticeship license. You want to make certain the people cutting your branches have this. The course trains people in safety first but also teaches them about various tree types and how to cut them without damaging them. Again, considering how demanding and high risk this activity is you want people who are doing it for you to be fully trained to do it right.

Get three quotes from three different tree service companies. When you call a company like this they will send an estimator out to bid the job. Make sure you get them to put everything in writing and exactly what you are getting for the money you are spending. When this happens you can make accurate comparisons. Note this: the cheapest bids are not always the best way to go. And, extremely low bids may give you a clue that they do not have all the insurance they should. Tree service companies pay some of the highest insurance rates in the country and this businesses have to pass a lot of those costs on to their customers.

Look online for reviews about a tree service you are considering doing business with. If they have been around for several years they will have some sort of reputation. You need to find out what they reputation is. Is it good or is it bad? Have they produced substandard work? Have they overcharged or did not do what what agreed upon? Online reviews of a particular tree service will tell you this.

Follow these suggestions and you should be able to weed the bad tree cutting companies from the good ones.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3772799

Signature Tree Service Commercial

Curtis and his team show how Signature Tree Service are the right choice when if comes to taking care of your trees. See more at www.signaturetreeservice.com

Emergency Project! 150 foot Douglas Fir falls onto two story estate in Napa Valley!

Signature Tree Service responds quickly to a client who had her 150 foot Douglas Fir fall into her home on a Sunday afternoon!

Tips For Winter Tree And Shrub Care

Tips for winter care of trees and shrubs

With the garden season drawing to a close, it's awfully tempting to forget about your plants. But you should continue to water all woody plants - especially newly planted trees and shrubs and all evergreens. Helping your valuable garden trees and shrubs sail through winter starts with thorough watering in the fall.

Water your plants well until the ground freezes, and make sure you water enough through a dry fall. Your plants will need the equivalent of one inch of rain per week. (In a wet fall, you can relax.)

Evergreens and broadleaf evergreens (shrubs such as rhododendron and boxwood) don't lose their leaves, so they need a good store of moisture going into winter because they continue to transpire (give off water vapor) through the cold months.

Most winter damage to evergreens doesn't actually come from cold, but from the drying effects of late winter sun and wind. With the soil frozen hard, plant roots can't take up water to make up for moisture losses from transpiration and, as a result, dehydration can cause browning or burning of foliage.

Winterizing trees and shrubs: To wrap or not to wrap?

When considering winter care of trees and shrubs, don't go crazy with burlap wrap. It's extra work and doesn't look great.

After all, the whole point of evergreens is to give you something green to look at in the winter! Contrary to popular belief, most established evergreens hardy in your region don't need to be wrapped.

However, as with many things in gardening, there are exceptions. Some evergreens, such as dwarf Alberta spruce, are prone to winter-burn, so they should be covered, as should newly planted evergreens. (New plants haven't had time grow extensive roots that help them take up enough moisture to prevent excessive water losses.)

To make a windbreak around vulnerable plants, hammer four stakes into the ground and staple on a burlap covering. Never use plastic, or your plants could "cook" on sunny days. (Remember the greenhouse effect?)

More tips for winter care of woody plants: 

• If your plants get salt spray from the road, burlap may help, but wrap them with a double layer, not a single layer. To avoid having to cover your evergreens, don't plant them near a road that gets salted, or plant salt-tolerant species such as junipers.
• Protect broadleaf evergreens such as rhododendron, pieris and laurel from the drying effects of winter sun and wind with an anti-desiccant spray such as Wilt-Pruf, which coats foliage with a protective waxy film. You can also wrap with burlap, if you must.
• To help preserve moisture, cover the root area of evergreens and broadleaf evergreens with a three-inch thick layer of leaf or bark mulch.
• Protect upright evergreen junipers and cedars from breakage due to ice and snow by wrapping branches with heavy string or mesh covers sold for this purpose. Once fastened into place, you'll hardly see the string or mesh.
• Protect young trees by putting plastic tree guards around the bottom of their trunks to prevent damage from gnawers such as rabbits and mice. Make sure the tree guards go high enough - over the snow line. (Remove them in the spring because it looks better and avoids the problem of the guards trapping moisture against the bark in the summer and attracting insects.)
• If rabbits are a big problem in your area, put chicken wire cages around the plants they find most tasty.
• Prevent rabbit and rodent damage with a repellent spray that you apply on lower trunks, branches and stems. Such products generally have to be reapplied after wet weather.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/63375

Winter Tree Wrapping

Winter tree wrapping will help prevent bark splitting on exposed trees. Find out why this is important and what trees need to be winter tree wrapped.

Make the Most of Your Property With the Help of Professional Trimming and Tree Removal Services

In most cases, having trees around your home is a good thing. They provide shade, create a sense of privacy, and are a beautiful addition to your garden landscape. But when a tree becomes damaged or overgrown, it ceases to be an asset to your property and can even pose a danger to your home, your family, and your neighborhood. Find out some of the ways that damaged trees can work against you, and how a professional tree removal service can help restore your property to its optimal state.

One of the most common difficulties that can happen with trees in a domestic setting is that they become overgrown. This can result in a tree casting more shade than you want, obscuring a desired view, or dangling branches dangerously low to cars or property structures.

 Overgrown trees can also simply look scraggly or unkempt. Unwanted growth can take a tree from being an asset to being a liability. The good news is that pros are on call to whip even the most unruly trees back into shape. Judicious trimming can also be good for a tree's own health. Timely trimming prevents breakages before they happen, keeping your home and your trees healthy and happy.

In some sad cases, trees need to be removed for aesthetic or practical reasons. If a tree dies or is diseased, it not only becomes an eyesore, but can also pose a danger to your property and your family. A dead or sick tree is not as structurally sound as a healthy one, and so should be removed as soon as possible. Trees might also need to be removed if they are growing too close to power lines or if they are in the way of a construction project.

Tree cutting is dangerous, time consuming, and difficult. Homeowners should not attempt to take down trees on their own. Tree removal companies are well versed in how to take down trees safely and quickly so that your property is returned to a safe and beautiful state as soon as possible.

Once a tree is down, there is still the stump to consider. If you have a stump in your yard from a previous event, or if you're left with a stump after a tree has been removed, you should get it taken care of as soon as possible. Leftover tree stumps make your property look unkempt and also pose safety hazards to anyone who comes across them. People can trip over stumps and remaining tree roots, and stumps and root systems can make mowing and lawn care not only difficult, but also unsafe.

Tree stump removal should also be done by a professional because it requires specialized equipment and is time consuming and dangerous. But, when it's done, your property will be well on its way to looking as good as new.

If you have troublesome trees or sorry-looking stumps around your home, call your local tree trimming and stump removal company today. They'll be able to take on all your trimming, stump grinding, and tree removal needs so that your property can look and function its best.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7292719

Tree Planting Suggestions

Tree planting can be easy if you can avoid a few common mistakes that most of us make. If tree planting is done in a burrow too deep it will not allow the proper amount of oxygen get to the roots to ensure good growth. If the burrow is not wide enough the roots will be unable to expand enough to nourish and the tree will not be anchored properly. As a rule you should not transplant a tree any deeper than its original container soil. The holes width needs to be no less than 3 times the width of the container, the root ball, or the spread of the roots on a bare root tree.

If you purchase a tree wrapped in burlap or in a ball and cannot transplant it right away, you can store it in a shady place as long as you keep the root section moist, but it still needs to be planted as soon as possible. When you do get around to planting the tree always lift it by the ball and not by its trunk. If the tree is wrapped in natural burlap you can pull it back a third of the way off the ball; if the burlap is plastic or synthetic you will need to cut away all of the burlap. You will also need to remove all string or twine. Once the tree is placed in the excavation start adding your back-fill soil such as compost, topsoil, or peat moss, around the tree only to just under the root ball to allow settling. Be sure not to pack down the back-fill, this may prevent any water from reaching the roots and the roots will be unable to expand out as they should.

Container trees can also be stored for a short time but because they are container trees they have a tendency to heat up faster and dry out quicker. The methods for planting are basically the same as for the burlap tree or ball tree. All plastic or metal containers need to be removed completely; if the container is made of fiber it is best to remove the sides but you can leave the bottom. Check the roots after removing from the container; if they seem to be root-bound use your fingers to loosen the roots and spread them out. If the tree has very woody compacted roots you may need to use a spade on the bottom section of roots to open it up. Then you can gently fan-out the roots before planting; doing this will prevent the roots from 'girdling' around the tree which can kill the tree. Once you have the tree in place use your back-fill to the level the tree was while in the container and do not compress.

Planting a bare root tree is a little different mainly because there is no soil encircling the roots. Time is the most important factor between purchasing and planting this type of tree; it needs to be planted as quickly as possible. Before you purchase a bare-root check the roots carefully to be sure they are moist and they have many lengths of delicate root hairs; this is a sign of a healthy tree. Be sure to keep the roots until moist you plant it. Prune any damaged roots but still leave as much of the root structure as you can. When you plant a bare-root you will need to build a cone-shaped mound of soil in the center of the cavity; this will allow you to spread the roots out when you plant. Make sure your mound is high enough so the trunks flare and crown of the roots is two inches above the soil; this will help the tree settle naturally.

As soon as you have planted your tree it will need to be watered. During the tree's first growing season, it will need to be watered on a weekly basis particularly if there is no rain and more times during the summer heat. If you over-water it may lead to oxygen deprivation. If you are not sure if the tree needs water, dig around the edge of the cavity about 6-8 inches down, if the soil feels crumbly or floury it needs more water. Soil that contains enough moisture forms into a ball if you squeeze it. Moisture should reach down to about 12 to 18 inches in order to encourage root growth; for this reason a deep soaking is much better than a light watering.

Your newly planted tree can be covered with mulch to help retain moisture and improve upon water and air penetration. Mulch depth should be at least 3 inches but not more than 4 inches. Any type of porous landscape fabric can be used since it allows water and air to penetrate freely. Plastic sheeting should never be used as mulch since it will not allow air and water to flow properly.

Even though most trees survive just fine without any fertilizer when you plant them, most plants do suffer some root-loss and stress with moving from nursery growing conditions and its final planting in the landscape. To make restitution for any root loss and to help eliminate shock from transplanting give your tree a fertilizer that has the proper formulation for your particular tree. Sometimes a bio-stimulant will help promote the development of roots and the general health of the tree. These are just a few suggestions that will help you with future tree planting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6522670

Learning a Bit More About Tree Removal

If you have a wide number of trees in your property that you would like to get rid of, this is something that should always be approached very carefully, since there are a number of dangers to effective tree removal that you should be aware of. It takes a fair bit of skill to learn to fell a tree according to a way that makes it fall in a direction where it is not able to cause any damage to things in the area. Furthermore, if the tree is dead and happens to be in a location where it could cause massive property damage to structures such as your very own home, you will definitely want to go out of your way to make sure that you have the very best tree removal specialists around.

Hiring a company to take out that tree for you

The reality is that there are actually quite a few companies out there that would easily be able to assist you in your efforts to hack down a tree and make sure it is taken away and removed from your property. This is especially the case if you are currently living in an area where there exists a lot of vegetation and large trees. All you have to do is go online and make a search to see if there are tree removal companies working within the general area that you are currently living at.

However, before you pick one, make sure that you find a good tree removal company that has a lot of experience and has been around in the business for a very long time. You do not want any mistakes to be made, especially when you are going to be felling very large trees that weigh a lot. Make sure to check the overall reputation of the company and things should turn out to be just fine. Once a way to successfully fell the tree has been determined, you will then pay a fee to the company and they will send someone down to hack it down.

The work involved

Bringing down a tree sometimes amounts to a lot more then just paying some guy to walk up to your dead tree with a chain saw and cut it down. There is certainly a fine art involved in making sure that the tree falls in a specific direction where it will not have the capacity to damage anything in the nearby area. This is why you really need to ensure that you have some skilled tree fellers to do this sort of work for you, just to stay on the safe side - and you certainly do not want to be doing it all yourself.

Conclusion

As you can see, it is clear that there are easy ways to have trees taken down and removed from your property. What you will need to do is hire the right tree felling company to do the job and then make sure they do it well.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rodney_M_Melvin

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Eucalyptus Removal over house in Benicia, California

Signature Tree Service removes two large and hazardous Eucalyptus over house in Benicia, California