I just had a local tree farm come and plant 9 trees on my property and they buried the root ball with the support cage around the ball. I know that not optimal, but the holes between the wire is large enough that I don’t think it’ll cause an issue.

What I’m angry about is they did not remove the nylon ropes tied around the base of the trees holding the cage together. These were wound around the base of the trunks several times and were extremely tight. I had to dig them all up and carefully slice them away with a utility knife so I did not damage the trees.

Is it fair for me to withhold some of the remaining payment because of this? I paid over $1500 for these guys to come out and do this job. I feel like all 9 trees would’ve died in a decade if I hadn’t noticed. It just blows my mind a whole crew from a tree farm that does this daily could make this mistake.

Our backyard has this lovely tree in it, but has this…hole that I’m not sure what to make of. There’s water at the bottom of the hole. The tree otherwise seems to be great. It’s almost like two trunks merged up higher. I was hoping I could get more experienced eyes on it.

Fortunately it’s not near enough the house to worry about damage, though it may take out a fence if it falls.

This black walnut stands 12 feet tall now and it's probably about 8 or 9 years old. Is it too late to pick a leader? The left looks like the better one. It belongs to a buddy of mine and I hadn't seen it in 3 years or so.

Please ignore the power lines, it's an old neighborhood and an absolute mess. Thank you so much!

Our yard was 90% Ivy when we bought the house but dug it all out except for this space. I’d love to hang my hammock up on these trees but now poison ivy is starting to grow within the English ivy. My family is not actually reactive to poison ivy luckily. We’ve all touched it before being told and nothing happened. But I don’t want to risk a reaction. Can I torch the ivy off without damaging the tree?

Took delivery of this 2” B&B Black Gum tree today. Working to expose the root flare before setting it in the hole. Does this look like a girdling root to others, potentially where it was grafted?

Is the root flare exposed enough?

Any/all insight appreciated!

I just bought this house and the maple in front needs to be trimmed. How much should I take off the top and the right side for overall health of the tree and safety?

There is a huge, amazing old tree that sits on the property line between my place and my neighbor's, and recently the neighbor has gotten nervous about it endangering a building on their property. I understand the concern, and we've been discussing what to do about it without any animosity, but the tree doesn't look like it's dying to me and I really don't want to see it go. I want to make sure it gets examined by an actual professional and all the options put on the table. So far the one person who's looked at it was "ISA Certified but not a cerrified arborist" - is that even a thing? If I have a certified arborist come out, what should I expect them to do as part of a proper inspection?

...because I told the young man who cuts my grass to stop cutting between the two oak trees in my backyard. There was a loose dead limb hanging in each tree, so 2 dead limbs. The trees are 50 feet tall and 20 feet apart and they constantly drop dead limbs in the area between them. They never drop dead limbs on the outside perimeters. But this is the first time I had actually "seen" dead limbs hung up in the trees before and it made me realize that those trees are too dangerous, for someone wearing hearing protection and operating a loud lawnmower or weed whacker, to cut between them.

A couple of years ago, I was sitting at my desk in the early afternoon with the window open and heard a "crack" and then, a split second later, a "thump" when a large limb hit the ground. So even on a beautiful, quiet, balmy day, there's no time to react.

So I think my twin brother's wrong that I'm behaving "just like a woman". Those trees are dangerous and I need to do something about it. My brother doesn't read books so I guess he's never heard of a "widowmaker".

PS: I'm ashamed that I didn't realize sooner how dangerous these trees are to the young man who cuts my grass.

PPS: I guess I just need reassurance that I'm right about these trees and that I do need to do something about it.

PPPS: My twin brother is a good man but I think he gets an attitude with his twin sister sometimes.

Absolutely perfect prune job, textbook.

We’ve lived in this house for 5 years. Upstate South Carolina. Never seen this happen to this tree before. It’s otherwise healthy. Squirrels have taken to it the last few weeks and are absolutely chomping the living crap out of it. I can’t tell whether they’re eating the leaves or they’re doing this to take the twigs to another nest, but they have locked onto this tree. It’s making a mess all over my yard and now there are gaps all over the tree. Anyone seen behavior like this towards one specific tree and know what their main motivation is? There are dozens of squirrels so I don’t want to start trapping and putting out poison. Anything I can do to repel them from the tree?

Just as reference, I cleaned up the ground and pond completely yesterday, so this is just 24 hours of damage.

Hi all, I hope this is ok to share - I've been making video supplements to the certification guide for a few years and wanted to share: https://www.youtube.com/@arboriststudyguide

Back when I was first getting going, I asked for some feedback here but otherwise have been fairly silent about it. I wanted to make sure I was going to keep it up, so now that I've put in 5 years I'm pretty sure I'll keep going!

The intent with the channel:

• Covers every term in the Arborists' Certification Study Guide
• Shorter videos (sub 10 mins), for intended busy tree workers + shorter attention spans
• Lots of real-life visual imagery from my consulting arborist work
• Accessible for non-arborists who want to learn about trees, but my comments are aimed towards the professionals

The caveat...although I use the Arborists' Certification Study Guide for the TERMS, I don't use their definitions and only glance over the chapter to see what it covers. I've found some of the info to be wrong, and frankly the terms are often not described well in the text (you have to look to the glossary). My info is based on other resources, like textbooks and reference books. For that reason, I would suggest my channel as a supplement, not a replacement.

If you know anyone who's interested in trees, or actively studying for their test, please feel free to share :)

Hi, I planted 4 emerald green arborvitae 1 month ago and a few look like they’re continually getting worse. They’re spaced appropriately and get lots of afternoon sun in Zone 5a. I’ve been watering every 3 or so days depending on rainfall. Photo 1 is 1 week after planting and the other two photos are from today.

What am I doing wrong? Am I just overreacting due to transplant shock or are they actually dying. Thanks for any advice

Hello everyone. A tree in my backyard has developed this fungus at the base. It’s been around 3 months and is growing. I have no idea what is causing it or how it can be cured. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Young mango tree is about 3 to 4 years old and growing well. I am in a zone where it cannot be planted in the ground, so I bring it in every winter. It has been in that same location all of its life and haven't moved it in a while.

I noticed a trunk damage (image 1) and added other pics to show size/health. It's about 4ft tall and is about the size of a quarter, maybe a bit bigger.

Any ideas of what this damage could be?

Thank you

Recently moved into my Mother’s house after her passing two years ago. I love this pine tree but noticing it turning brown. It is fall in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Is this normal or something to worry about?

My parents front yard has a tree with these concrete edges. I want to remove them and just clean it up and make a tree surround. The concrete edges don’t look good to me and assume it’s not great for the tree. I’m not sure what kind of tree but would appreciate any advice. For some reason my father thinks it won’t be a good idea and wants to leave it.

There’s this black cherry that I didn’t even notice a few years ago because it was swallowed by Japanese holly, forsythia, and various vines. After starting to clear the invasives a couple years ago, it’s been growing very rapidly but has black knot in a bad location. My goal for this space is reforestation by means of extending the adjacent forest edge. I already have one tall mature black cherry that’s the “champion” tree of the yard. How should I approach this situation?

I have a very healthy Live Oak in my front yard and the irrigation pipes run through the root system. One broke and when I started digging, the roots are big and there are a lot of them. I dug it all up, started cutting a root and realized I should stop. The only roots I removed were small. Ive had 2 different irrigation companies tell me that they are comfortable cutting the roots given how big the tree is. It's probably 70-80 feet tall and the canopy is massive. Pics attached.

The hole is about 10 feet from the tree. I put a ruler in (12 in) but it's clear so not the best for pics.

Can I cut some of these roots and keep the tree healthy? Thanks!!

Hi all!

Looking for help figuring out what’s happening to a tree in my yard. I believe it’s a Norfolk Island Pine. It’s been healthy in the same spot in central San Diego for 30+ years, and we’ve basically never watered it.

Over the past month the top started turning brown, and in the last few days the browning has spread rapidly down the tree.

We’ve had extreme weather swings here in a very short time period (record heat followed by a tropical storm), so I’m not sure if this is heat scorch, if the tree is dead/dying or something else.

We also watered it for the first time in a long time this weekend, not sure if that helped or made things worse.

Is this tree dying, and is there anything I can do?

See pictures, two small patches of uncut grasses and small trees. Could I clear these and plant a weeping Willow or Oak?

What would give the hardwoods the best chance for success?