How do you know if your tree trimming is satisfactory?

Did you know that some cities fine for improper pruning? I doubt that the Albemarie Road Presbyterian Church will ever forget! In 2011, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina levied $100 per branch fines on the church for excessive pruning. The bill? $4,000. A landscaping parishioner pruned the crape myrtle trees. “We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don’t want to worry about them hanging down in the way. I just couldn’t believe it when I heard about it. We trim our trees back every three years all over our property, and this is the first time we have been fined.”[1] 

Have you heard that in Overland Park, Kansas, a tree trimming company charged a customer $8,000 to remove two trees from her home, and were only chased away from the home after police got involved?[2]

Lessons learned? Hire a certified arborist that knows the difference between necessary and excessive trimming, but make sure you do your homework.

According to several certified arborists, the way to avoid the novice uninformed “tree guy” from doing irreversible damage to your trees is to make sure that you hire a company that is either accredited or certified by the professional societies. There are two worth mentioning. The first is Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA).[3]  The second is the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA).[4] They both focus on ethical and safe treatment of your trees while promoting proper care. According to certified arborist Joe Green, the former Roswell, Georgia’s City Arborist, ISA requires 30 hours of training every three years to remain certified and you must document a minimum of 3 years full time experience working in the field prior to certification.[5] You also need to be very current on tree biology so that you can apply that knowledge to planting, pruning and protecting trees.

Certain practices that used to be commonplace are no longer accepted by many arborists. One of these rejected practices is tree topping. It is illegal in some counties. The ISA defines topping as the “indiscriminate cutting of tree branches to stubs or lateral branches that are not large enough to assume the terminal role.” In a tree care information brochure, they assess that topping is perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known but despite this it still remains a common practice.[6]  They provide the following reasons: topping stresses trees, causes decay, can lead to sunburn and creates hazards among others.  Another practice to avoid is climbing spikes. Someone who uses climbing spikes is not following industry standards and could do severe damage to the exterior bark of your tree, while also creating entry ways for diseases.[7]  

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[1] http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/05/29/nc-church-fined-4000-for-improper-tree-pruning/

[2] http://www.kshb.com/dpp/money/consumer/call_for_action/tree-trimmers-charge-woman-8000-to-remove-2-trees

[3] http://tcia.org/

[4] http://www.isa-arbor.com/

[5] http://forestry.about.com/od/arboriculture/a/arborist_interview.htm

[6] http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/topping.aspx

[7] http://tcia.org/PDFs/Press%20Release%20Archive/PR_Climbing%20Spurs%20Damage%20Trees.pdf