I will only be available in October and November of 2025 and only for new work from existing customers.
SUMMARY: I will only be available in October and November of 2025 and only for new work from existing customers.
Effective August 15th, 2025 I will unable to schedule any new work until October 1st in order to finish up two large projects that I have been working on.
If I have spoken to you about an estimate or if you have an estimate from before August 15th, I will be able to schedule that work in September. Any customers who are already on my schedule for September will stay on my schedule.
I will take new work from existing customers in October and November, but I won’t be able to take any new customers until January 2026 unless it involves disaster recovery work from major storms.
I will be taking the entire month of December off as a needed break from and a celebration of 10 years of physical tree work.
When I return on January 12th, 2026 I will take new work and new customers as well as schedule with customers already on my list for the New Year.
Thank you for your patience and I hope this does not cause too many inconveniences for you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2023. Thank you all for your patience in working with my schedule late last year.
(Image: A pruned branch on a oak tree shows up years later after the tree is removed in a cross section of the wood. Note the dark area up and down from the cut area as well as the seashell shape behind the branch showing the branch increasing in size each year)
Due to the chance to finish a project this summer that I’ve been working towards for many years, I will not be scheduling any more work until November 2022.
If I have already talked with you about scheduling work or if I have you on my schedule, then that work will be completed by the end of June.
To my regular customers – I appreciate your patience and thank you for all the work you have given me in the past and I hope to be there for you again at the end of this year.
My schedule will be somewhat irregular to finish off this month due to upcoming training. I should be caught back up the first week of May.
(Photo) Builders planting trees in one area used steel rebar to stake in the new trees instead of wood stakes or no stakes. This created a dangerous situation for stump grinding a decade later when the wrong trees they planted have to be removed and the trees have started growing around the steel rebar.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my customers. Thank you again for trusting me to remove, prune, plant and care for your trees.
Image: Just as I walked up to ring the door of one my last jobs of the year, a large dead pine tree fell across the street leading up to that customer’s driveway. It had been held up long past its due date with thick wisteria vines. I cut it up and, with a couple neighbors, moved it out of the road.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my customers. It was another year of hard work for excellent customers and it has been my satisfaction to drive past trees that I’ve planted on more and more roads.
I currently offer spraying of small trees for two common problems in the area – Fungicide spraying for Cherry Leaf Spot and Horticultural Oil spraying for Maple Gloomy Scale – both are offered timed for best effectiveness, usually late February through early April depending on the variety of tree and weather for the year.
Cherry Leaf Spot is a problem most people notice when they see that their ornamental Cherry trees have completely lost their foliage by mid-to-late summer. With a few fallen leaves on hand, the problem can be diagnosed before planning treatment. It’s critical that spraying alone is not used for Cherry Leaf Spot, but that all fallen leaves are removed from the site each year as the fungus overwinters on the leaf litter. The fungicide I use prevents infection – it doesn’t kill the fungus. So timing is critical, but long-term resistance issues are considerably reduced.
Maple Gloomy Scale is a problem most people notice when they see that their Maple isn’t putting out leaves like it used to or that the tree’s bark has turned nearly black from the normal gray. The scale can be smothered fairly effectively with a Horticultural Oil as the scales release the next generation in late winter or early spring. Maple trees do best in a cooler, moist environment while Gloomy Scale reproduces rapidly in the hot environments where Maples are commonly planted now – street side, next to driveways and sidewalks, and in parking lots. Supplemental watering and removal of hard surfaces goes a long way to controlling this problem.
I do not currently offer any additional chemical pest control services and do not plan to offer anything requiring the use of restricted-use (RU) chemicals or tree injections.
To everyone that hired my services this past year – thank you. The next couple months will bring pruning and removals and a chance to see people again. Before Christmas, I spoke with a farmer who talked about the wet weather making it difficult for several of his crops. I saw some of that in the world of trees in 2018: sites that couldn’t be worked on for stretches because the lawns wouldn’t take even foot traffic, and a surprise of Anthracnose in Maple trees in late August/September due to the many damp and cloudy days. Sometimes it takes a little extra time or a little extra research, but problems can be solved.
A customer that I had worked for previously called me to come see if I could remove a large Maple tree that had fallen onto his roof during a recent snowstorm. The snow turned out to just be the last straw, as the trunk near the base was quite decayed and the tree had already developed a lean searching for sunlight over the driveway.
The tree as it landed on the house in the snow. (stitched image)
The tree as it landed on the house after the snow melted. (stitched image)
A number of factors allowed me to do this job. His home has a roof pitch of 3:12 in the back and 4:12 in the front and the drop off to the ground if just a few feet into soft ground on the rear and not much more in the front. The tree was also supported on the edge of the roof at a few points, so all the branches on the roof could be cleared off before removing the tree from the roof. There was still some snow on the roof when I started, so I brought a broom up with me to clear out a walkway ahead wherever I cleared branches.
The snow had to be swept as I moved to keep a sure footing.
Branch by branch.
Branch by branch, slow and steady.
As the limbs got thicker, the pieces got shorter.
Almost clear.
I used a handsaw, not a chainsaw, to keep an extra hand available for balance. Quality handsaws, like the Silky I used, cut fast.
The tree was secured with a rope to prevent it from sliding off the front of the roof. Sliding like this could have caused more damage to the roof and smaller branches could clip parts of the building under the roof line. A second rope was placed to take a little of the weight off the roof, but the acute angle minimized the help.
Installing ropes.
Ropes installed.
Once all the branches had been reduced to their contact points on the edge of the roof, the work started from the ground. The pressure was taken off to leave the main branch on the roof at last, getting down everything else to prevent damage to the fence. The main trunk had a second trunk of some size. I cut it off near the base of the tree and then cut off sections from that end, working the limb down in size. Eventually, I was able to carry off the branch from the roof.
Taking the limbs off the edge, from smallest to largest.
Down to 2 limbs. The smaller one was cut near the base then “walked down” with multiple cuts.
Starting the cut to walk down the smaller remaining limb.
Cutting off sections to walk down the limb.
Using a polesaw to remove one minor branch stuck by the chimney before pulling off the limb it’s attached to. After that, just the biggest limb (forefront) to remove.
Last limb supported by a 4×4.
To get enough weight off the final piece, a 4×4 was hammered in place, the end cut most of the way through by the roof, the trunk cut most of the way through closer to the stump end like the previous limb, and then the end on the roof was cut off and the piece resting on the 4×4 pulled forward.
All limbs off the roof. Removing ropes for cleanup.
Bucking the limbs for the customer.
Bucking the limbs for the customer.
Bucking the limbs for the customer. My helmet screen is up as it was interfering with what I could see in that situation, but I’m wearing safety glasses.
Finished and the customer offered to clean up the mess. It was a demanding job and he’s had me out a few times, so I took him up on his offer. (Thank you!)
Finished.
Finished. The tree did damage the roof in several spots, but it could have been much worse. I was able to remove it without causing any additional problems.
The customer requested the wood be bucked so he could split it and burn it, so that was the last part. Once finished, he graciously offered to blow off the roof and driveway for me so I was able to clean up my equipment and go.
