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4 Reasons Tree Stumps Are Dangerous In Your Backyard

The problem of tree removal, which does not always end when you cut down a dead tree, has been dealt with by many homeowners. The stump remains even with the tree gone, and removing that stump is a wildly different process, often more difficult and costly than the tree's actual cutting. For this reason, many individuals choose to entirely forgo the removal of the tree stumps in Canberra. There are even entire farms (called stump farms) that are planted around the stumps of trees that were cut down.

The owners of the property often try the same thing, trying to plant new trees around the stump. Otherwise, they try to repurpose it or completely ignore it. This is sometimes viable, but when you leave a tree stump in place, you must consider the possible problems that can occur. Here are the five reasons why removing the stumps of fallen trees is a good idea.

Invasions of Possible Pest

A stump that is left in place will begin to decompose, eventually completely breaking down. However, this process is extremely slow and messy. A variety of microbes and other organisms help the decomposition process, all of which will start appearing in the stump as soon as the tree has been cut down. In general, ant species such as carpenter ants will move in and begin building nests inside your fallen tree's stumps. Everywhere else around your home, these ants can then begin to appear, which can lead to a serious pest problem.

Termites, in addition to ants, love tree stumps, as do other wood-feeding insects. Often, they will not just keep to the stumps and will spread to other plants around them, including other trees, shrubs, and maybe your own home.

Plant Invasive Appearances

There are other plant species which are often able to take hold of tree stumps. Other trees may start to grow from the remains of the old tree, but they are often small and unpleasant and extremely difficult to remove. In many cases, the invasive plants growing on your tree stump require the complete destruction of chemicals. This is not ideal because the other plants in the area you are trying to cultivate can be harmful.

All over the tree stump, fungi such as mushrooms can also sprout, which are also often unsightly and potentially hazardous to pets.

Hazards to Safety

Tree stumps can also be a security risk if left on your property, in addition to their propensity to attract unwanted species. They can provide children playing in the yards with tripping hazards, and since they are solid wood, a person tumbling on one can be severely hurt.

You'll have to deal with the stump any time you try to do any kind of yard work, taking care to avoid it when you're mowing your lawn or pulling weeds in your yard. If a lawnmower is in contact with a tree stump, then the machinery can be severely damaged, creating another potential safety hazard for yourself and anyone else working in your yard.

Problems of Aesthetics

When you leave stumps on your property, you can risk pushing your property values down. They're not exactly appealing to look at, after all, and prospective buyers may be wary of a home that has unsightly stumps dotting the yard.

You can repurpose the space to something that will increase the value of your home, such as a new tree, flowerbed, picnic table or something else, once you remove a stump, to enhance the space. In a safe environment with no tripping hazards or other dangers, you can also just leave the area clear for kids to play around.

Ongoing Growth

The roots of the tree may occasionally continue to grow if you leave a stump in place, harming the environment around them. If not correctly controlled, they can damage pipes, sidewalks, and other parts of your home. You can find that they've done a significant amount of damage to the area around them before the roots finally run out of nutrients and decompose. Therefore, rather than letting them sit in place for any length of time, it is best to remove the stumps as quickly as possible.

Removing Stump

There are several steps you can take if you've made the decision to remove a tree stump. The simplest way is to have it done in the first place when you have the tree removed. You can do this on your own, but you may find it a bit overwhelming if you are not prepared to do such a job. You'll often find that simply hiring a professional tree service to remove the stumps is more economical.

Generally, professional tree removal services will charge based on the size of the stump and the removal method. They may charge by the hour as well. Either way, it is most likely that stump removal will set you back a few hundred dollars. To remove stumps, there are several techniques that they can use. To remove them, stumps can be burned; they can also be ground down, or chemically dissolved. We think that you will find removing dead tree stumps is the best option for you, whatever method you choose.

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What is The Best Time to Trim Your Trees?

Many people believe that tree pruning in the fall is the perfect time of year for some reason, especially where there are four seasons. The bright leaves are starting to fall, and some big limbs are looking a little iffy. But that assumption could damage or even kill your precious trees, even mature trees.

Falling is not a time for learning how to prune. Trees then prepare for dormancy, and it takes all the good stuff out of its leaves to store,' says Tchukki Andersen, Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) staff arborist in Manchester, N.H. The organisation provides tree care companies with training and resources.

You won't see success, the arborist states, if you just go willy nilly and start cutting tree branches. If in the fall there is no absolute reason to prune trees, then don't. When the tree is actively growing in the early spring or completely dormant in the winter months, save your tree pruning.

She stresses that qualified tree care specialists prune trees every day without a lot of detrimental effects all year round.

Nevertheless, tree service specialists know more about how to care for the health of a tree," she says." "They understand its processes and stages, such as dormancy and new growth."

Andersen adds that until a crisis happens, many homeowners really don't know what kind of trees on their property are. It can add value to homes and add shade and beautification to the landscape to learn about those trees and their needs for staying healthy.

Before pruning lower branches or any other part of the tree, she recommends first getting an evaluation from tree trimming specialists in canberra or an arborist before doing anything with your trees. Get Expert Tips

Taking a tree inventory begins with good tree care. If you don't know what kind of trees are growing in your yard or if they need to be trimmed or not, then you can do several things to find out.

In order to get free advice, Andersen suggests contacting your local Cooperative Extension Service. Some have on staff a certified arborist or horticulturist. For the region in which you live, whether in the country or a big city, they provide their expertise. By clicking on the Land-Grant University Website Directory and going to your state, you can find the one closest to you. Click on it once you find your state, and there will usually be a tab to locate your local county extension bureau. Andersen says their websites are robust, with data about trees, too.

Or you can find a qualified tree care firm to come to do an evaluation. You can ask them about your trees' health, which ones might fall on your house during a storm and any other pending disasters, she says. You can go to the International Society of Arboriculture's (ISA) TreesAreGood.org, a website helping the public with tree-care information, to find a certified arborist. By Tree Type, When to Prune

Most routine pruning is done to remove infestations, branches that are weak, dead or diseased, and can be completed with little effect on the tree at any time during the year. Pruners should know as a rule that if pruning happens in late winter before a spring growth spurt, growth and wound closure are increased, confirms the tree-pruning guide of the ISA.

Diseases may spread through the wounds from pruning. Oak trees can suffer from oak wilt, for instance. The way a tree grows can be changed by each cut. So, Andersen says that, without a clear reason, no branch should be cut. Strive when pruning for branch collar cuts.

To make the tree look better and grow stronger, homeowners remove dead branches. They also prune hazardous branches that could fall during a thunderstorm on someone or the roof. Light diffusion and air flow to the tree's crown or to someone's home or landscape can also be increased by shaping trees.

Here are a few different kinds of trees and the best tree trimming time of the year: Caducals

These are the trees which, every year, shed their leaves. According to the Extension Service's Wisconsin Horticulture division, most deciduous trees should be pruned from late fall to winter. They have entered their dormant season, and then the framework of the branches is easy to see, and insect and disease activity is gone. The Young Trees

With proper pruning, developing a strong and good shaped tree occurs. As they grow older, trees which receive the right amount of pruning while they are young will need less excessive trimming. Ask your professionals, depending on your area of the country, when the trimming should be done. SUBTROPIC

Due to the growing environment, trim trees year-round in regions such as Florida and California. They constantly replace lost tissue and have abundant sources of 12 months a year of sunshine and water, Andersen adds. "It's not possible to prune large limbs every day, though," she says. The industry standard is never to produce pruning cuts that in any season remove more than 30 percent of live tissue from a tree. "You're done for the season if you have a giant broken branch and 30 percent of the leaves are on that branch." Trees of Flowering

According to the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, they should be pruned after blooming. At any moment, routine pruning of dead or dying branches can be done. Your type of tree, however, may have specific trimming needs and rules. The New Trees

Annually, inspect for pruning needs. Prune trees regularly to keep them healthy, secure, and aesthetically pleasing throughout their lives. Do not postpone pruning until the limbs are larger. Large limbs are equivalent to large wounds that are harder for a tree to seal and leave the tree open to disease, insects, and rot. As a substitute for proper tree selection and placement, do not try to chop the tops off trees to decrease their size. Called topping, this practise can really hurt your trees.

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How to Check if Your Trees Are Dying and What You Can Do to Help Them!

Identifying whether a tree is dead or living can sometimes be a very tricky task – especially in the winter time when every tree can look dead, so do you need tree removal? While it is possible, yet sometimes difficult, to revive some sick or dying trees it is impossible to bring a dead tree back to life. There are many reasons that you should remove a dead tree which we will touch on in this post. But how exactly can you tell if a tree is dead, sick, or healthy? Here are a few signs that can help you determine exactly this question and what steps to take after.

Things to check for on a dead tree

The first thing that you need to do is inspect the actual tree in question. There are a few visual signs that will help you out as well as some tests you can perform on the tree itself.

Fungus Growth

Take a look around the tree’s trunk and base of the trunk. Do you see any fungus growing? Fungus is an initial sign that the tree could be dead. If you spot fungus on the trunk this is often an indication that the internals of the tree trunk are actually rotted out and anything beyond the living fungus is dead.

Tree Trunk Damage

Keeping your focus on the actual tree trunk itself, give it a good visual inspection. Look for cracks that are running vertically along it. If the trunk has severe damage this increases the likelihood that the tree is in bad health. Check to see if the tree has bark. As trees age bark will fall off of the trunk and if healthy grow back to replace the old stuff. If a tree isn’t as healthy you will see areas, large or small, on the trunk that are just smooth areas of wood with no bark covering it.

Check for Bare Branches

Take a look at the trees’ branches. If they’re abnormally bare during a time when they shouldn’t be – such as Spring or Summer – there’s a good chance the tree is too far gone to save. Sometimes branches on only half of a tree are bare and the other side are full. This would signal that the tree is diseased only on one side in which case could cause a tree to become lopsided and fall due to the weight. If the tree is deciduous check to see if the leaves cling onto the branches in the winter instead of falling off as this is another sign the tree may be dead.

Check for Damaged Roots

While performing a check of the roots to see if they are damaged is not easy there are some factors that could help you guess if the roots could be damaged. An initial sign that a trees’ roots may be damaged is if the tree appears to be leaning to one side or the other. This could mean the tree’s roots are not strong enough to keep it directly upright. If the roots are damaged or weak, epicormic shoots could be present at the base of the trunk. These are sprouts that can pop up and mean that the tree is under severe pressure underneath the ground. There are some other factors that could affect a trees roots both natural and man-made. Things like excavation projects, new construction, shallow root systems, exposure to new extreme elements, or loosened soil compaction. Check to see if any of those are present near the tree area.

Perform Scratch or Break Test

Performing a scratch test is an easy way to tell the health of a tree. Use a small knife to scratch the outside of one of the tree’s branches. If the inside is green and moist the tree is healthy. Try this on a few more branches in different areas of the tree. If they are all green and moist the tree is in good shape. You can also perform a break test which is the same thing except instead of scratching the outside you can attempt to break the branches to check the inside.

How to tell if a tree is dead in the winter

Determining if a tree is dead in the winter is a little bit more difficult because dormant trees can look just like a dead tree. One thing you can look for however is if the tree has buds on the branches. Even in the winter time a tree should show signs of buds. You can also perform the scratch test here as well for further determination.

Why are dead trees an issue?

Aside from being unattractive, a dead tree can be a serious risk to not only humans but to the surrounding natural environment as well. Let’s walk through why it is dangerous to ignore a dead tree.

Disease/insects can spread to other trees

There are many causes of a dead tree but if the tree in question is dead because of disease this can cause serious harm to surrounding trees. Disease as well as insect infested trees can easily spread to nearby trees and exert their power on others resulting in the same fate as the original tree.

Attracts insects/pests

Along with disease spreading to other trees, dead trees tend to attract a lot of unwanted insects and pests. Termites and rats for example love to congregate to a dead tree. And if the tree is close to your house they’ll eventually make your home their own home.

Dead branches falling

A dead tree means dead branches. And dead branches mean weak branches that can randomly fall. Branches can range in size and if a large branch snaps off and falls it can cause serious harm to any pedestrian that happens to be standing below it.

Can fall on hazards

Dead branches can fall on hazardous areas but so too can the entire tree itself. If a tree is extremely fragile it can topple over entirely. Trees that are especially close to things like power lines, cars, houses, or pedestrian areas can wreak havoc and could end up being extremely expensive to remedy. It’s best to take care of them before this happens.

How to determine if a dead tree should be removed

More often than not a dead tree should always be removed. Here’s how to determine if the tree is ok to leave be or if it needs to go.

If it’s in a remote area the tree can be left alone: Dead trees in remote areas can serve as a place for various species of woodpeckers and other wildlife to nest.

If 50% of the tree is damaged, it should be removed: At this point it is probably too far along in the process to be able to revive it.

Near hazardous conditions: If a dead tree is near any sort of hazardous condition it should immediately be removed due to safety concerns

If it could benefit nearby trees’ health: Determine if by removing the tree it will also benefit the health of the surrounding trees in the area. It can often help stymie disease from spreading to the other trees around it.