Need expert opinions

Davidfl941

I live in a managed community in San Diego California. We have a tree trimming company that has convinced the board of directors that they know how best to take care of our mature trees. The owner is a certified arborist and says he follows ANSI 300 standards. We are spending a lot of money for the results in the photos.

Some people think they do a great job. I think we are wasting our money, and even more important doing sever damage to our trees. Could you please give your opinion and an explanation so I can pass on or point them to this site?
Sorry I don't have before pictures.

Thanks for the help.

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Garry Brockley

I can see what they are trying to do but they are missing the targets, leaving stumps just encourages epicormic growth, rot and weak points, its hard to see by the other photos just the one close up, but i would get a second opinion from a qualified arborist on site to look them over.
if you can get some pictures of close ups on the tips where he has cut that might give us a better understanding of the work carried out.
but i would say thats not to ANSI 300 standards.

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Eric Frei

They are trying to reduction prune the trees, but it doesn't appear to be consistent to what ANSi standards requests. I'm not sure what the weather conditions are, if it is totally necessary for hurricanes etc.

Now lets look in particular at pic 5, not sure of the tree but it's a good way to show you they dont understand how trees work.

Trees grow toward the sunlight, the leaves need that. As trees grow larger often (in nearly all trees) you'll see the lower branches extend further than the higher branches. Some people think that's because they have been there longer and the higher ones haven't caught up with the lateral growth ... however branches above shade out branches below so many lower branches have to grow out horizontally further to get a decent dose of sunlight.

Now in this picture they have shortened the lower branches only. Almost like that's all they could reach. They haven't thought of the higher branches shading out those lower branches now. Have a good read through this thread where we discuss exactly this phenomena.

leaning black oak help

Now besides the liklihood that those lower branches may die the tree has a poorer form for adverse weather, it's top heavy!

For trees like this often thinning or a light reduction over the entire canopy is desire-able, but not what we see here.



There's a product in USA called Cambistat. It slows tree growth, increases root mass and helps the tree's health ... would have been a viable option in the management of these trees if SIZE was an issue.

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Therrin

Pic three looks kinda lions'-tailed to me.

Garry Brockley

eric thats a type of spruce, so the branches will just die back as they dont sprout from brown wood, the braches should have been correctly cut back to the main trunk.
picture 1 shows a lack of targeted pruning, just cut off to shape not thought about correctly, if they had done the cuts closer to the junction and cut them properly then you wont get the die back and epicormic growth, eventually making the tree heavier up top and totally undoing the work done in the first place.IMHO of course

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pcarborist

Galbee, that's not a spruce, looks like some kind of pine to me. And Eric's correct pines do shade out their lower branches as they mature (spruces don't).

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parkcityarborist

Davidfl941

I'll try and get closer pictures this week. I think the pine is an alleppo pine. Not sure.

Thanks for all the input.

stirmantrees

I am going to go out on a limb here and bet that this is a classic case of owner/arborist hires somebody ELSE to reduce(not exactly sure why they would do that on every tree?) the vegetation.I personally see this alot in florida. definitely would be a good idea to get three bids next year. I would personally try to get them to fix the stubs. did any one check credentials? isa can be checked online.

Davidfl941

There are no hurricanes or those type of storms in California. This community is actually in a canyon so projected from really strong winds. We have had less rain than normal over the past couple years. The tree trimming owner is a certified arborist with the National Association of Arborists, yet he tops a lot of trees.

Picture one is what the original picture 1 used to look like. This is not the exact tree but one like it that was trimmed 2 yrs ago. It is a type of Ficus (I think).

Picture 2 is close up of pine trimming.

Picture 3 is same type of tree as original picture 2
Picture 4 is close up of original picture 2

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pawjordan

He is not an arborist
He is a hack

treevet

There is no Certified Arborist with the National Arborist Association (never was) and for that matter there is no National Arborist Association any more.

treevet

This is the source of my above response.

stirmantrees

I think you can pay for that one. ISA is the one you want to see. i am with treevet on this one

Davidfl941

Sorry, had the old association. You are right ISA. This is from his website:


Certification & Affiliations

* Bonded & Insured
* Certified Arborist
* I.S.A. Certified Arborist - Western Chapter #3137

treevet

number 2 and 3 say the same thing

How long has he been in the biz and how long cert'ed? Bring him on here, he might enjoy it.

Therrin

We might enjoy it.

Jeffrey Lovstrom

Hi David, I have to be careful here because he is one of my competitors here in San Diego. The company , Arbor West is owned by an Arborist that I have known well over 20 years. He is an arborist but I doubt that anyone on his crews are. The thing to bring up at the next board meeting is that there is not an on-site arborist over-seeing the job. That title helps get the job but your pics look like crap work and not ansi standards. You could do alot better by going out to bid with a company that has cert. guys doing the actual work and not in an office somewhere counting his money.
Jeff Lovstrom
ISA cert. # WE7624A

Eric Frei

Hence the famous motto ....

THE MAN WHO QUOTES THE JOB DOES THE JOB

...

Over here a few advertise that they're level 5 arborists, and send out the unqualified last recruit!

Here's a good bit of advice ....

Source: Brisbane-Gold Coast region arborist| developer| tree reports

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treevet

There are guys around here that go out and quote jobs and don't even have a saw or any equipment, then they sell the job to tree companies over the phone.

No laws against that. Buyer beware as the saying goes unfortunately.