Having Tree Troubles? Blame Previous Years’ Droughts
After a rainy June, tree services are busy.
Yes! Trees, a company based in Maple Grove, is booked out a month for all kinds of services.
Owner Lance Gardner said his company isn’t alone.
“We are busy. It’s pretty typical for a professional tree service to be booked for about a month,” Gardner said.
On Tuesday morning, Gardner and his staff were trimming trees at a home in Medina. The trees are fairly young, which Gardner said is a critical time to maintain them.
A Yes! Trees employee assesses branches.
“We’re going through and thinning out the center of most of these trees,” Gardner said. “This is the perfect time to get them growing properly and in the right way.”
Other jobs are less preventative– many trees in the area are facing problems caused by extreme weather patterns.
“You’re getting extreme weather patterns, right? We get the drought for two years, which is not good for trees. The root system, the structure of the trees,” Gardner said. “And then we’re getting this onslaught of rain that keeps on coming.”
Gardner said they’ve been busier during stronger storm systems, but this is a unique combination.
“Even a little bit of wind with excess moisture and weight on a tree can cause problems for those that have not been dealt with prior to with that preventative maintenance,” Gardner said.
Waiting in Line
In Brooklyn Park, Barb Scholl is struggling against that backlog. A tree fell across her property and struck the fence bordering her lawn.
“I don’t have any fence left! All the way through here,” Scholl said.
Barb Scholl says this is the fifth fallen tree in the last two years. This time, it hit her fence.
She lost five trees in the last two years– symptoms of the strange weather patterns. And Scholl isn’t the only one.
“There’s dead trees up and down the street. Pretty much every yard has dead trees. Three or four– not just one. You’ll find them everywhere,
Scholl said.
Helping Your Trees
As Scholl waits, tree service companies continue to stay busy.
As for future concerns, Gardener said the best way to keep your trees from falling is preventative trimming. In Medina, his team worked to thin out the inner branches of a young tree.
“This is the perfect time to get them growing properly and in the right way,” he explained.
If you have an emergency fallen tree in your lawn, Gardner also recommends calling local companies and seeing if they can help.
He’s been in business for five years. As for why he loves trees– Gardner has his eyes on the future.
“We need beautiful trees and good oxygen to breathe, so we can enjoy the days when we wake up,” Gardner said.
