Gallery : Cable & Bracing

 

 
Cabling and bracing can be a useful tool in the arborists inventory, but the above pictures show how not to do it.
 

Gallery : Cluster Red Oak Fungus

This is a cluster red oak that is falling victim to several different types of fungus partially due to the different trunks of the cluster pushing against each other.

Gallery : Crown Gall
This tree is infected with crown gall, which is a bacterial infection of trees. Almost certainly, this tree will one day structurally fail at the gall.
 

Gallery : Hazardous & Remove

 

The two trees above are both hazardous and should be removed. They will both fail. It is a question of when, not if and they should be removed before they suffer catastrophic failure.

Gallery : Ring of Callus

The two preceding photos are examples of large limbs that were removed using proper pruning cuts. Both of the limbs are forming a ring of callus which will eventually surround the area of the pruned off limbs and encapsulate them completely. This is an example on a large scale of what happens with every limb, no matter how small, that is removed from a tree. Improper cuts will take much longer to cover over if they ever do.

Gallery : Properly Pruned Oak
This is a well maintained properly pruned live oak. This tree is between 40 and 50 years old, and has a trunk diameter of close to 40 inches. This picture was taken in spring just as the tree was putting on the new spring leaves and starting it's spring growth.
 

Gallery : Root Collar Excavation

The preceding two pictures are of a root collar excavation, the yellow flags are inserted in decayed roots. This tree will eventually fail and our recommendation was removal.

Gallery : Significant Structural Defect

Even though the above tree looks reasonably healthy, a little investigation reveals a significant structural defect. This tree has been trimmed back and another tree planted beside it as part of a plan for its removal.

Gallery : Tree Topping

 

 The previous three pictures are an example of an archaic practice called "topping". This is a horrible way to treat a tree and results in many problems, structurally and The trees in these pictures are going to be problematic and unhealthy from now on. They will need a lot of future attention. A proper pruning by a professional would have been a better and more cost effective way to trim these trees.

Gallery : Tree Decay

 

 The preceding 3 pictures are of a large live oak that has all ready failed due to decay.

Gallery : Oak Wilt

 

 

The above 6 pictures are of both red oaks and live oaks that are infected with Oak Wilt. The disease is caused by a fungus (ceratocystis fagacearum) and has an extremely high mortality rate in untreated oak trees.