Check Your Trees For Potential Problems

Quick, before the leaves turn: If you have trees anywhere on your property, go outside and look up.

Don’t just admire the poetry of the trees - look closely.

Do you see any limbs without leaves? Leaves that are obviously dead? Maybe just a large branch that’s scraping the roof?

If so, it’s probably time to call in the tree specialists.

Spend a few minutes looking around now, and you could save yourself hours of anxiety when winter winds start whipping through the branches. You might even save yourself a lawsuit.

“In summer, you can spot the dead wood better,” said certified tree expert A. William Graham. “When trees are going into foliage color changes, it’s hard to tell whether they’re dead or just turning.”

Homeowners should check their trees at least once a year, said Graham, who is consulting arborist to Pennsylvania’s official arboretum, the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania. And if there are storms, residents should take a look after the wind settles down to see if there is any damage that needs to be addressed.

What to look for? Signs of potential problems include:

Branches without leaves, or with leaves that are dead.

Large holes, cavities or rotten spots in the trunk or limbs.

Areas with a lot of missing bark.

Shelf fungi coming out through the wood of the tree, or mushrooms growing at the base of the tree. “These are warning signs,” said Graham. “The tree might have little or no roots, but the top of the tree is still green. The mushrooms are a warning that the tree might be dangerous.”

Cracks or ribs running up the main trunk or the branches. These don’t mean that the tree will have to come out, but they should be looked at by an expert.

Some warning signs are harder to spot. Sometimes, when the major branches, or leaders, come together at a very acute angle, it signals a weakness in the tree. An expert may be able to deal with this by linking the two sections with flexible wires that are spun into a cable that anchors the tree, reducing the likelihood it will split in a storm.

Problems of this kind are no job for an amateur. But picking someone from an ad in the phone book is not a guarantee of expertise. If you know the person’s work, fine. If not, Graham suggests it probably would be safer to choose an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture - and also to make sure that the person you choose has adequate insurance.

He also recommends comparative shopping, especially when an entire tree has to be taken out.