Maintenance

Custom-Tailored Schedules & Pricing

We determine pruning frequency for your property according to your needs and your budget. Once we establish a schedule, you can expect us to visit at the agreed-upon time and interval. You will not need to call and remind us. Clients invested in caring for their trees through regular maintenance are our priority.

Over time, regular pruning maintenance saves you money because we will spot health and structural issues before they become a serious problem. In addition, your trees will never get overgrown or unkempt.

Plant Maintenance Categories

We like to break up maintenance pruning into three distinct categories: small trees, young shade trees, and mature trees. Each category has different frequency needs for maintenance pruning. 

Small Trees

Depending on your needs and the plants involved, small tree pruning might occur anywhere from 2 times a year to once every 2 years.  Benefits include:

• Prevent foundation plantings from becoming overgrown and/or touching buildings.
• Maintain the health of your privacy screening and control its size.
• Remove dead branches immediately.
• Control growth without the shock of irregular pruning cycles.

The growth habits of each particular plant and your own specific needs dictate the pruning actions we take, but the above provides an idea of what pruning involves for small trees.

Young Trees

Young shade trees need frequent structural pruning to ensure proper long-term structure while avoiding larger pruning cuts, taxing the tree more in order to seal those wounds. We refer to this as train pruning of young trees.

We train trees to grow more vertically over time because a more vertical tree emulates the form most often found in the forest. A vertical forest-grown tree has smaller lateral branches and a straight (or almost straight) central trunk (leader). If you contact us to set up regular maintenance pruning on your property, this would be one of the first things we would discuss. 

Structural pruning frequency is dictated most importantly by the tree species you have. Some species grow more aggressively, so pruning them every two years is appropriate. Slower-growing trees, like oak trees, can be pruned every 3 or 4 years. For some trees, regular pruning (almost every year) is key to avoid well-documented structural issues. 

Structural Pruning Goals for Young Trees

• Establish a dominant central trunk
• Remove diseased or damaged branches
• Create proper branch spacing
• Shorten lower branches that compete with central trunk
• Establish an acceptable ‘skirt height’ (height of lowest branches)
• Shorten temporary branches to control their size (diameter)
• Establish permanent branches in upper canopy
• Check for root flare/proper planting depth

Mature Trees

Mature trees are the most involved in terms of pruning, but likely do not need the frequent attention that younger trees do.  Oftentimes, yard placement and tree health most determine how often these trees need attention. A healthy oak in the middle of the backyard with little root disturbance (compaction, construction, etc.) can go 5-10 years without pruning. If you have a river birch next to your house, we should come out every 3 years to keep it off the roof. 

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Regular Care Produces the Best Results

Scheduling us to visit your property at regular intervals is the best way to catch disease issues or structural deficiencies, or successfully train young trees for long-term structural stability of the tree. Contact us with the form below to set up an appointment if you would like to discuss a maintenance contract for your tree care.