Protecting yourself and your trees
Heavy, wet snowstorms can damage your trees and shrubs. Snow and storm damage can include broken limbs, structural fractures and stress cracks – while young trees can be damaged beyond repair. Dormant pruning is a great way to keep them resilient and less prone to snow damage, especially if your trees contain a fair amount of dead branches.
Each storm is different and can present a variety of challenges. However one thing remains the same – safety must be a top priority.
We urge our customers to take precautions when heading outside to shovel snow on their property. Be mindful of trees overhead, which have become weakened due to the heavy, wet snow clinging to branches.
For smaller trees, which are easily accessible, shake snow from branches in order to prevent any breakage. For higher, unreachable branches, use a painter’s pole or broom to reach up and shake off the snow – always making sure to practice safety first.
Downed Tree Limbs
If you do have downed tree limbs on your property, be cautious of any power lines which might have come down along with them (or atop fences and deck railings). Do not go near any wires on the ground – always assume a downed line is an energized line. If a power line has fallen onto a vehicle, stay away and call 911. Contact your local electric service provider immediately should your experience any downed power lines.
Depending on the volume of damage caused by a storm, we may temporarily suspend normal tree work and focus on storm damage. When this occurs, we complete the storm work as quick as humanly possible and reschedule our normal tree work so that we may complete the service(s) soon thereafter.
During storm operations, our focus is always to address the safety issues of our customers first.
Don’t forget to protect your sprinkler system!
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