The Halloween Tree Poem...

Happy Halloween!

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