Putnam Tree Service Owner Said Plan Ahead To Protect Your Trees From Storms

If you want to protect your trees from storms like we had this month, you have to plan.

Putnam County Tree Service owner Greg Allen said thinning out the inside of a tree makes it easier for the wind to pass through rather than knocking the tree over. He said the best time for trimming is late fall and into the winter.

“When you’ve got a real thick tree and you know lots of canopy is really thick, you go in and you start thinning the insides of that tree out,” Allen said. “And it kind of makes it, well it doesn’t kind of, it does. It makes it better for the wind to blow through it.

Allen said another consideration is the types of trees you have on your property. He said a White Pine has all its roots at the top of the ground, so their poor root structure has them toppling over in wind storms.

Allen said Bradford Pears are another tree that fares poorly. He said all the weight is on the top of the tree, and if you do not keep it trimmed, you are going to lose the tree.

Allen said a good tree service can provide preventative trimming to protect trees from storms. He said they would also help you with trees that have already fallen. He also said although you should generally remove a downed tree, it may be best to leave the stump depending on its location.

“If it’s on a hillside, I’d want to leave it for erosion control,” Allen said. “Stumps are unsightly, but sometimes they’re good. Like if it comes off a bankside or something, I would recommend leaving it if you could stand to look at it because it helps with erosion control.”

Allen said trees like willows, willow oaks, and river birches can help alleviate ground saturation. He said if you are losing trees toppling over at the ground level, you may have a saturation issue.

“I’ve seen people have wet grounds, and we come back in a couple of years, and they’ve planted these trees that we told them to plant, and their problem has been solved,” Allen said.

Allen said if you plant a river birch, you want to keep them away from driveways and structures because the roots are invasive and can be destructive.