Smart Strategies for Tree Planting, Trimming and Maintenance

My name is Georgia, and I love to write. As an avid gardener, I have spent hours writing about gardening, but in this space, I wanted to turn my attention to trees in particular. I recently added a number of fruit trees to my garden, and I have old oaks in front of my house which have suffered and survived through a range of mishaps. If you want to learn ideas for taking better care of your trees, you have stumbled onto the right blog. Welcome to this space, please explore and share this blog with your friends if they inspire you.

Two reasons why DIY tree felling is not a good idea

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If there's a tree in your garden that needs to be removed, here are two reasons why you should not carry out this task yourself, but should instead arrange for an arborist to do it for you.

It could end up being more expensive than hiring a professional 

A lot of people attempt to cut down trees in their gardens without professional assistance because they believe it will save them money. However, the reality is that this DIY approach could actually end up being more expensive than the cost of hiring an arborist. There are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, unless you happen to own a lot of tree felling equipment, you will probably need to hire several items (such as a chainsaw, safety gear, a felling wedge, ropes, harnesses, etc). This, in and of itself, could end up costing you over a hundred dollars, if not more.

Secondly, because you do not have the same knowledge and skill level as a professional arborist, there is a chance that you will end up inflicting damage on your property at some point during the tree felling process that you will then have to pay to have repaired.

For example, after cutting off a particularly heavy branch, you might accidentally drop it onto your nearby patio furniture and in doing so, break the table or one of the chairs. In this situation, you could end up having to incur the cost of replacing the broken piece of furniture.

Similarly, if the tree is located within a few feet of your house and you cut the trunk in such a way that it falls towards your home instead of in the opposite direction of it, the trunk of the tree could strike and shatter one of the windows, or hit one of the exterior walls and create a large crack. This type of damage could be extremely expensive to resolve.

It could be incredibly time-consuming

Tree felling a lengthy and laborious process, particularly if you are a novice who is unfamiliar with the most efficient methods of performing this task. You can't just begin by hacking away at the trunk of the tree. Firstly, you have to clear out the area around the tree, in order to minimise the risk of falling debris damaging any items that you keep in your garden (such as barbecue equipment or furniture, for example).

You then have to set up your ropes and harnesses, so that you can safely ascend the tree and begin the tree felling process. This can be quite confusing and could take up to a half an hour if you have never done it before. Following this, you will need to climb up the tree and begin to chop off the longer branches; doing this before you cut down the trunk can help to reduce the likelihood of the tree branches inflicting damage on nearby objects when it falls to the ground. Then you need to cut down the trunk; if the trunk is large, this could easily take an hour or more.

Finally, you will then have to pick up all of the leaves, branches and twigs, as well as the trunk, and use your vehicle to transport them to a landfill. This, again, could take you at least a couple of hours.

If you don't have the time or the energy to carry out all of the above-mentioned tasks, it might be best to allow an arborist to take care of this laborious job on your behalf.

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9 April 2018