KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Many people woke up with tree limbs and branches in the yards after severe weather this week. The sounds of chainsaws and wood chippers become somewhat routine. But arborists say there are ways to keep your tree from falling.
Mike Corcoran from Eden Tree Service said the general rule of thumb is when you look at a tree’s branches, you should be able to see “a lot” of blue sky behind them.
“Trees are damaged because they're not thinned out. They become like a big sail on a sailboat and they catch the wind,” Corcoran said.
He added the best time to trim trees is during the winter, but it’s not too late to do it now especially in the thick of storm season. You will have to wait for trees to finish flowering before cutting any limbs. And if it’s too hot, trees don’t handle the added stress of trimming well.
"In the arborist world, when you see cross members - two branches that rub up against one another - what we do is we have to decide each time, there might be hundreds of them in a tree, which one is the better branch and which one isn’t. The one that is not beneficial, it goes," Corcoran explained his strategy.
Corcoran said it’s a good idea to thin out small trees every year and bigger trees every three to five years.
With bigger, older trees, Corcoran checks to make sure the trees are not rotting. He said signs of rot can be branches with no leaves and weak bark that easily falls off the trunk.
If you have to use a ladder to reach parts of a tree, Corcoran suggested hiring a professional. Most tree trimming services offer free estimates, so you can shop around before hiring one.
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