Tree Services San Antonio!

Time poses a good question, What to do with your Dead, Dying, Broken or Damaged Trees in San Antonio? Eventually we all may have to answer this question. Often I am asked about Tree Removals and when or if they are needed. Generally it comes down to a personal choice, most tree’s needing removal are due to environmental factors, damage to structures or damaged tree’s. So I will try to help you a little in making that tough decision and understanding how a tree functions under adverse conditions.

The Eucalyptus Tree is our most commonly removed tree due to the aggressive root systems and “self pruning” method that they often employ scaring people in close proximity to worry about damage or injury to people. Outside of that, we often see tree’s that are in Decline removed, yet that decision is up to the owner. All we can do is inform them of our opinion and support their choices.

Tree’s cannot heal or cure themselves growing new tissue to replace the old. It is commonly mis understood due to nursery grafting and appearances of a damaged tree being able to thrive. For thousands of years tree’s have been learning how to fight off disease, infection, pests, injuries and more. The answer to how a tree does this is called compartmentalization. If a branch fractures and leaves a gaping wound at the crotch, microorganisms set in and fight for the open space. If left unchecked they would get into the feed paths of a tree and kill it quickly. So a tree kills off a section of itself to contain the attack, it is an actual battle. The area will decay, microorganisms will spread through that area but the tree will form new horizontal and vertical walls to control the spread. The same process happens when you trim a branch that is why it is so important to use proper cutting techniques allowing the tree to not have to kill of vital sections of storage.

Generally a healthy tree can sustain a medium fracture and kill of a section without shortening the life of a tree. What you need to ask yourself is how healthy your tree is, were is the fracture and is it in a section vital to the overall structure. Has your tree been over pruned? has your tree had damage in the past? If a number of these questions add up to yes, you may want to consider a removal as your tree may be in decline.

Tree’s have a life span, I do not know them all, but some will only live for 50 yrs or so. Once they have matured and begun to decline you cannot reverse the process. The battle with microorganisms is lifelong and towards the end they spread rapidly and the tree is to old to keep up. In these cases it may help your pocket book to be educated and remove the tree making way for the planting of a new one. An unhealthy tree is likely to loose a number of battles and if left unchecked the false foliage growth, that is not properly structured (suckers), may fool an uneducated onlooker to think the tree is ok. Soon the tree will be a mess and need removal.

I hope this was a help to you in understanding the process that a tree uses to section off a wound. I think the important part to understand is that a tree can not develop new tissue where old was. Once dead it is dead. My hope is that this is a help in your decision of what to do with your Dead, Dying, Broken or Damaged Tree in San Antonio. Your whole Landscape will benefit from healthy trees