It is important to understand the differences between a Landscaper and an Arborist. It may seem as though the two are interchangeable but, they are far from the same profession. Each role requires its own unique set of skills, experience and equipment. If you were to entrust a job to a company that is not equipped or trained to handle tree work, you could be looking at many damages and safety hazards to your property. This in the long run could become a costly sink hole for the homeowner. Its important that homeowners set these two unique professions apart from each other. As Peter Gerstenberger, Senior Advisor to the President for safety, Standard and Compliance at TCIA puts it; “Traditional landscaping tasks include landscape and hardscape installation, lawn care, lawn irrigation installation and maintenance, mulching, garden bed preparation and maintenance and sometimes shrub pruning,” Gerstenberger explains. “Arboriculture, on the other hand, involves caring for mature trees, tree removal, pruning, cabling, stump grinding, and more.” The importance of homeowners making the distinction between the two professions could be the difference of the overall cost of the job, the results of entrusting an arboricultural job in the hands of an unqualified company could present damages to persons and/or property. As a homeowner, you may even find yourself responsible for the damage, especially if your contractor doesn’t carry liability insurance! Professional arborists, on the other hand, are accustomed to handling dangerous equipment such as chippers and chainsaws. Reputable tree care companies also adhere to pruning standards, carry liability insurance and understand the importance of standardized safety practices on the jobsite for the set of skills required for such an arboricultural job. When determining if your job requires the skillset of a Landscaper or Arborist, consider the scope of the work that needs to be done, does it match the scope of the services offered by the company you’re hiring? When the work of a landscaping job includes trees, that work should include an arborist. Arborists specialize in maintaining tree health and can properly assess the condition of trees to help ensure longevity at an affordable cost. A professional arborist will also be able to identify hazardous tree conditions and are trained to safely manage a job site and adhere to established industry standards. Meaning that the crews on your property have experience handling chippers and chainsaws, climbers safely access tree canopies and technicians properly identify pest problems. Just imagine the potential consequences of this work being undertaken by unqualified individuals! Landscapers and Arborist may not be interchangeable, but they can work together to achieve the over all goal of the homeowner’s landscape maintenance dream. For example, when a landscaper is installing new plants, an arborist can provide practical information on tree selection and planting as well as guidance on getting young trees through the critical first years. The two professions are complementary and when working together can be beneficial to you as a homeowner, and in the end be better for the trees, the most visible and valuable assets in a landscape. When thinking about the needs of your property remember that your landscape investment will receive the best care when all the professionals involved recognize the value of each element of your landscape – from the turf down below to the treetops up high. For all your landscaping needs give our friends over at Angel’s Landscaping & Lawn Service a call 623.340.2163 and ask for Angel. For all your tree care needs give us, The Kings’ Tree Care, a call at 928.499.7111 and ask for Micah. The Kings’ Tree Care and Angel’s Landscaping & Lawn Service Working together to help you preserve your landscaping investments. When is it finally time to remove that tree? Ideally, before the worst happens. Removing a tree can be a difficult decision to make. Trees can become so familiar that it is hard to imagine your yard without it. These beautiful outside dwelling friends create shade and attract wildlife. We benefit from trees physically, mentally and even emotionally. It’s the everyday happiness we feel in their presence that often matters most. But sometimes an old or decaying tree can be much more harm to keep than its worth. The risks to the people and objects in its shade below become to great. At this point it becomes safer to leave the trees fate in the hands of a professional. Obvious reasons for tree removal
Not so obvious reasons for tree removal (have an arborist look for these issues)
Contact Micah King for a free consultation! Here at The Kings' Tree Care we pride ourselves in maintaining your trees health through proper pruning techniques. We prune trees correctly to reduce the height of a tree and keep it healthy. We trim appropriate branches to safely shorten your tree, without using the harmful practice of topping your trees. Topping your trees to reduce height puts your trees at great risk and in the long run can prove to be a costly mistake. The tree will either need to be removed later on or need extra care just to stay alive. Topping trees is a quick way to gain visible results, but what most people do not realize is cutting large diameter main branches of a tree in an effort to reduce height is actually a counter effective way to pruning trees. Topping permanently disfigures trees by reducing beautiful branches to stubs and essentially initiates the decline of the tree. Topping trees jump starts the decay process, and leaves trees vulnerable. When branches are correctly pruned at its point of attachment to the trunk the decay progress is stopped from continuing further into the trunk. A correct cut allows the tree to rapidly heal and close all wounds, the bark can then quickly grow over the injury. The fungi and decay that is present on branches that have been stubbed through the proceed of topping, can now spread into the trunk of the tree. Whenever a cut is made in the main leader by topping, there is nothing to prevent decay from developing in the trunk. The tree becomes structurally weak and its life span reduced. Other affects of topping include:
Contact Micah King, at The Kings' Tree Care to learn more about how to properly prune your trees. |
Micah King/ OwnerWith 12 years of experience and extensive climbing ability, I can guarantee the quality of my work. Archives
April 2020
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