When it comes to carrying out a tree inspection, there are many different things that arborists will look for to assess the health and condition of your trees. A full inspection ensures that you can be confident that your trees are in a good, healthy and safe condition. There may be many reasons why you’ll require a tree survey, either for insurance purposes or to accredit an area as safe. So what does a tree inspection look for?
Signs of Dying or Decay
There are a few signs that we can spot to assess whether a tree is in the stages of dying or is undergoing decay. Some symptoms of a dying tree are easier to spot than others, and may be more apparent on some trees compared to others that may be further along in the process.
Common symptoms of a dying tree include a tree easily shedding sticks, the bark easily falling off, or the lack of foliage in the spring and summer. In addition to this, if the tree suffers root damage this can kill the tree but isn’t always easy to spot, however if a tree is leaning when it previously wasn’t, this is also a sign of damaged or dying roots.
In addition to dying trees, a tree inspection can also identify signs of decay including tree rot, fungi, holes or cracks in the bark, and issues with leaves such as discolouration, spotting or dieback.
Tree Diseases
Another thing we look for during a tree inspection is any sign of disease. Some symptoms might be easy to spot for the untrained eye, but this would typically mean a tree disease is in an advanced stage. Through a survey, diseases have the potential to be identified in earlier stages, meaning they can be managed more easily and the spread of the disease to other trees in the vicinity can be reduced.
There are a range of tree diseases which we’ve been spotting in Amersham and the surrounding Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire region, including ash dieback and Dutch elm disease. Out of all the tree diseases, these two are some of the most common, so if you have an ash tree or elm tree you should always be on the lookout for signs of disease.
Storm Damage
Whilst this depends on recent weather conditions, assessing trees for storm damage can form part of a comprehensive tree inspection. If a tree has been damaged by a storm, either by damage at branch or trunk-level, it may not always be easy for someone to verify if a tree is still safe.This could be for fear of more branches falling, posing a hazard of falling debris, or even the entire tree being unstable.
The consequences of unsafe trees can be extremely hazardous and even fatal, which is why it’s important your trees are inspected and surveyed by expert arborists such as Quill Hall Arboriculture.
Tree Inspections with Quill Hall Arboriculture
At Quill Hall Arboriculture, we have years of experience carrying out tree inspections and tree surveys, assessing the health of trees around Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas. As well as giving you a breakdown of the condition of your tree or group of trees, we will also pair that with recommendations on how to keep your trees in the best condition.
This could range from a regular tree pruning schedule to help shape the tree, promote healthy growth and to prevent falling and overhanging branches; all the way up to complete tree removal if we assess the tree to be diseased, decaying or otherwise unsafe.
We offer a range of arboricultural services for homes and businesses, including tree felling, stump grinding, hedge trimming, grounds maintenance and site clearance.
