arborist

We had an arborist come by today, to look at an oak tree we've been concerned about. It's been dropping branches and looking generally unhealthy. And it's right in between our house and the neighbor's house, so we didn't want to ignore it, especially heading into hurricane season.

I called Bartlett again, since I had liked them so much last time. I was even able to get the same guy. He looked at our oak tree and determined that it is showing its age, but not dying. Whew! He said the dropped branches are normal for a tree that age. Also he pointed out several "lesions" -- dark, mushy spots on the trunk -- which I hadn't even noticed because they were concealed under ivy. He said the lesions are indicative of a general lack of health in the root system, but we had caught it early and it can be fixed without much trouble.

All we have to do is treat the lesions with some stuff we can buy at the big box store, fertilize around the roots, and pull up the ivy that's on and around the tree. He also recommended we prune the tree to clear out the dead branches, which could be a hazard if they fall on someone. He said the branches in the interior of the tree are thinner than he'd like to see, but that when the roots become more healthy it will probably fill in.

While he was there I asked him to walk around and see if he noticed anything problematic in any of our other trees. He didn't, which was great. Also I showed him where the trunk had split off the maple in our front yard in the ice storm -- when was that, five years ago? Anyway he said that there is some decay in the base of the split, but there's nothing we could have done about it. And the sides are healing up well, so overall the maple looks pretty good.

I think we're going to fertilize and treat the lesions ourselves, and have Bartlett do the pruning. He gave me a quote on pruning up the oak, and also some light pruning on two other trees to get them off the roof. (He had a printer in his car! Is that not cool? I wish I had asked him how it's powered.)

The bad news is, the quote was expensive. More than twice what it cost to have a whole tree removed a couple of years ago. That tree removal was done by a guy I heard about through a friend, who works for a utility company and moonlights doing tree removal. I guess that's the difference between the "licensed arborist" rate and the "guy with a chain saw" rate. The guy with a chain saw is fine for felling trees that we know need to come out, but when we're talking about long-term tree health I want to go with the experts. And again, he did not charge me for the consultation even though he spent quite a bit of time here. So I don't begrudge the rate for the pruning.