Trees add beauty and a feeling of established elegance to any home. However, poorly maintained trees can die before their time, create personal safety hazards for your family and even cause property damage to your home.

For some trees, pruning or at least an inspection is recommended every year, especially if the trees are located near your home, along a property line or around power lines.

Here are the three most important benefits of regular tree trimming:

Pruning can prolong the life of your trees by removing dead, weak, insect-infested or diseased limbs before they start to rot and impact overall health.

Regular trimming will also improve the overall appearance of your trees. With unwanted branches no longer drawing energy from the trunk, the desirable parts of the tree can flourish. Removing excess limbs may increase leaves, flowers and fruit production too.

Tree branches hanging over your home can cause damage if they break off or slam into a home during a strong wind. Over time, additional damage can occur as tree branches burrow their way under shingles causing roof leaks.

if you are in an area that is not maintained by the utility company or another responsible party Trees left to grow without trimming can also grow into power lines, creating a risk of power loss and further damage to the lines.

Most importantly, regular tree trimming can prevent injuries to those who use your property by eliminating cracked branches that are in danger of falling, and low-hanging limbs that can be dangerous for those who bump into them.

Proper pruning can also reduce the weight of a tree, making it less likely to fall in a snowstorm or from the constant strain of carrying a heavy load.

With frequent maintenance, trees can enhance the look, feel and value of your property without decreasing the safety of your family or creating unnecessary and costly property damage.

To maintain the beauty and safety of your property contact us for a free estimate

There are three basic reasons why we prune trees. The first is to improve the look of a tree; the second is to improve the health of a tree; and the third is to make a tree more storm resistant.

If you like a tree to be really thick, impenetrable and with no visible branches, then you’ve come to the wrong place.  In fact I think I have just given a definition for a bush. In my opinion a tree’s full beauty is only available when the structure of the branches is visible.  Trees simply look better to me when they are evenly thinned out. Another factor is the general shape or silhouette of the tree. If some branches stick up like Alfalfa’s rooster tail, this probably diminishes the aesthetic appeal.  Most trees have a mind of their own. When a tree has departed from a symmetrical look it is often preferable to work with what you have instead of trying vainly to make it more evenly shaped. In a bonsai garden you will find both symmetrical and asymmetrical trees.  So thinning can improve the appeal of a tree and some general shaping can also help at times.

As far as its health goes, a tree will benefit from the removal of dead branches as these attract a myriad of wood-eating insects and fungi.  The other health-related issue is that of crossing branches. When branches cross and rub together it not only interrupts the aesthetic flow of the tree’s scaffolding but also causes wounds to form in the bark.  These open wounds are very attractive to pests. It is best and least expensive to remove crossing branches when they are small– as each of the crossing branches enlarge over time, so does the problem.

Where we live in the Phoenix Valley there are occasional summer storms called micro-bursts.  Wow, they can wreak some havoc! As far as I’m concerned, the principle reason for keeping a tree thinned out is to help it weather a storm.  If you can see quite a bit of daylight through a tree’s foliage then it’s a good bet that the wind can slip through without knocking it over. A tree that is too thick is like a boat with too much sail up in high winds–it will have a greater chance of suffering a “knockdown.”

We prune a tree to improve the way it looks, improve its health, or make it more storm resistant. If your tree looks good, has no crossing or dead branches, and is not overly thick, then you might be able to wait a year or two before hiring an arborist.  I hope that this article will help you assess the needs of your trees and leave you ready to make informed decisions for their care.

While most utility companies regularly trim around overhead lines on or near public thoroughfares, some require homeowners to handle this task at their own expense for power lines spanning over private property.

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