Life is a Journey: Time to Trim Some Trees

As the title states it is time to take care of some problem trees in the yard. Taking advantage of this nice cool spell and the break in rain we have been trimming trees and shrubs all around the property for the past few weeks. However, when it comes to the really large ones on the property it was definitely better to leave this job to the professionals.

The tall pine on the left next to the shed and the small oak were the trees that needed to be removed

After researching local companies I found John Davis at Davis Tree Service (Click on link to see their website) who came out to take a look at what our options were with regards to our problem trees and to give us an estimate for the work that would need to be done to solve this. He arrived with his crew this past Tuesday and they quickly got busy taking care of the jobs we'd discussed.

The boom went up and John swung it around over the house, then after removing a few branches from the other pines that were in the way he began to take care of our problem pine

It was a COLD morning for Florida, with the temperatures in the low 40's and a chilly wind that had us all wearing layers to try and keep warm. The first tree they set to work on was the large long needle pine next to Cameron's shed/room. We probably should have removed this before we brought the shed in, but with all we had going on at the time it was left out of our project list and has proved to be an issues with the amount of garbage and branches that drop from it on the shed. This included some branches that could have damaged the roof. This tree was probably a good 60+ feet tall, so this needed the pros to be removed without damaging buildings surrounding it.

The truck John has for his business is amazing!! The girls and I were in awe and entertained by the heights it could reach, and how far the boom could extend to facilitate the cutting of the high branches and trunk. He would work in conjunction with the two gentlemen who assisted him as he used ropes to guide and gently lower the branches to the ground where they then made quick work of removing, cutting and chipping them up. As an added bonus for us, we had asked to have the mulch for our yard and the trunk that he cut nicely into logs to fit the size of our fireplace all left for our use.

Mulching up the branches

After finishing off the problem pine, he cleared out a small oak that was growing next to this and some very high branches from the other pines that had grown out over the house and driveway and dropped needles and sap on everything below.

Oak with it's heavy branches hanging over the citrus and bananas

Next it was on to the oak that has too heavily shaded the citrus and bananas in the lower part of the yard. This tree needed to be climbed as the location didn't allow for a vehicle to get near it. A pole saw was used initially to remove the lower heavy branches. These were cut up and stacked at the base of the oak for our use.

John then climbed the tree and began using his chainsaw to take care of the additional branches. Again he worked with his crew who carefully lowered these heavy pieces leaving my bananas and other fruit trees I've planted in my food forest all in tact.

The branches were taken to be mulched in their chipper, all adding to the load we would have at the end of this project.

The final task was taking down an unruly elm tree in back inside the dogs area. This old established tree was in poor shape when we moved here and Kevin had been able to trim it up where it hung over the roof and some of the lower dead branches. It's responded to the clean up and the additional nutrients it receives from the garden that's now next to it by growing at an amazing rate over the last couple of years. This made for a very large, messy and really ugly tree. I thought at first I might take it out all together, but it is a good tree for this area and makes a nice wind break. So giving it a severe "hair cut" made more sense. They topped it to a level that would allow Kevin to keep it trimmed each season when it puts out it's massive growth and to be able to enjoy the shade and protection it offers without dealing with the mess it currently created.

Our very messy overgrown elm tree before

Then after it's major trimming. With the main branches at a manageable height we can keep it trimmed up when the growth takes off this Spring so that it makes for a more attractive tree.

It is rather sad looking right now, but as soon as the weather warms it will put out a mass of new healthy growth that will make it an attractive part of our yard.

Here are some before and afters. I am pleased and know we'll reap benefits from these changes as well as from the logs we'll season for firewood and our wonderful new load of mulch!!

The area next to the shed with the pine and small oak on left, and now that they're gone it's far more open

The top picture is with the oaks heavy branches hanging out over fruit trees, and on the bottom is how open it is now. This makes the space seem much larger and will be great for allowing more sunlight to reach the trees

I am VERY glad we left this to professionals, it was a huge project that they made look easy and made quick work of. Anyone who may be more local I can say I highly recommend this company and when we eventually need more trees trimmed or removed I will be using Davis Tree Service, Inc
I've also asked to be the recipient of more free mulch when they have local jobs so we can continue to build our sandy soil into the rich humus that we've seen already from that huge load we had delivered last Spring. - Conquering Mulch Mountain. (Click on link to see)