Talking Trees with Davey Tree

10 Mistakes Homeowners Make with Their Trees PART 2

June 10, 2021 The Davey Tree Expert Company Season 1 Episode 22
Talking Trees with Davey Tree
10 Mistakes Homeowners Make with Their Trees PART 2
Show Notes Transcript

Dash Schenck from Davey's Portland, Oregon, office continues sharing some of the top 10 mistakes he has seen homeowners make with their trees. Be sure you don't repeat these same mistakes on your own properties! 

In this episode we cover:

  • Cutting roots (0:42)
  • Annual pruning (3:29)
  • Starting projects you can't finish (6:14)
  • Construction damage (11:02)
  • Volcano mulch (13:23)
  • Fertilizer (15:29)
  • How Dash started his job (16:54)

To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about why you need to avoid volcano mulching, read our blog, Why You Need to Keep Mulch Away from Tree Trunks.
To learn more about fertilizing your trees, read our blog, The Scoop on Fertilizer for Your Trees.

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company

Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!

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Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oster. Each episode showcases one of Davies certified arborists sharing advice with everyone about caring for your trees and landscapes. We'll talk about everything from introduced pests, seasonal tree care, deer damage, how to make your trees thrive, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more, because here at the Talking Trees podcast, we know trees are the answer.

Welcome back to part two of 10 Mistakes That Homeowners Make With Their Trees joined again by Dash Schenck from the Davey Tree Expert company, he's out of Portland. What's next on your list, Dash?

Dash: Cutting roots, that's a big one. I see it so many times where I'll go to a property and the homeowner is like, "Look at these roots." Most of the time they're their neighbor's trees. For some reason, people love their trees, hate their neighbor's trees. [laughs] It's a weird thing that I've come to discover, but it's always the neighbors, the neighbor's tree roots are always doing something, whether it's pushing up the driveway, or they just don't like the roots, whether they're not even causing damage, and they want to just, let's just cut them, let's just cut them right there on the property line.

That as you know is really bad and when it comes to root pruning, you got to be really careful, you got to be-- it's better to excavate and see what you're cutting, but oftentimes, homeowners just cut roots, because they don't like him. They don't realize how can negatively affect their tree's health.

Doug: When I see that I get a lot of questions about maples, with those roots way up high. People want to bury them, or they want to cut them or the same sort of thing. That's a great one.

Dash: It's mind-blowing. There was one, property that I looked at. It was about a year or so ago, some sweet gums, and they have really aggressive roots, and it was pushing up the sidewalk. I looked at that those roots, and it was like a foot away from the trunk of the tree. I told the homeowner I just can't do it. I'm not putting my name on that I'm not cutting that root.

Who knows what could happen, the tree could fall over to die. I'm not going to put my name on that one. I explained to her why she accepted it and then a month later, the city came out and did it. They just cut everything and redid the sidewalk and I thought, "Well, I guess I got higher standards than them."

Doug: Thank goodness you have higher standards because I see that all over the place, not just with that sort of thing. I've got a municipal building behind me where they're trimming magnolias, with the bugs still on them. I\\'m like, "Wait a week and a half, then trim them." I know, they're going over the window. They're planted in the wrong place but it's somebody who doesn't have your expertise. They just see a problem. They said, "Well, come on. We'll just dig into it. We'll cut it, we'll put a new sidewalk, and what's it going to be in 10 years?" All right, let's keep going on our list. This is good stuff. I'm enjoying this.

Dash: Number eight is I guess, we kind of touched base on this one a little bit but there are certain trees or plants are hedges that do need annual pruning. I think typically, we tell people pruning trees every three to five years but there are a variety of things that we do in this industry that need annual or even twice a year pruning. That would be like your Laurel hedges maybe, double your hedge work, more hedge arpege even Cypress or Cedar hedge.

People don't understand that the trees they grow. If you want that head to take that space, and you don't want it to keep growing, you have to push it back year after year and that's one way that you can keep a plant small. It's still going to grow out but what will happen is some will call us and they haven't pruned their hedge for three or four years and they want let's get it back to here. It's like, "You do understand that the green is only the first six seven ten inches. There's just nothing left back there."

That's a common mistake that people don't realize just that the plant's interior there isn't usually greenery in the interior it's all on the outside. If you let that grow past a point where you want it it's just going to outgrow the spot. You might have to start over remove it. If it's a shrub that can handle that type of pruning and grow back, you're going to be dealing with a pretty ugly shrub for a season or two. Knowing the plant you have and the needs of pruning and more of like what you needed to do.

If you needed to be this big and you wanted to stay that big for as long as you can you got to prune it off.

Doug: You need that make up a sign for every arborist wall that says, "People don't understand plants grow." Because that is a great one, like you said, when you want to keep a hedge looking just right. Like you said, sometimes it's twice a year and if you wait, like you said three years, getting it back, it's a challenge.

Dash: It's really hard. It's amazing how much real estate a hedge can take over in your property. It can take over your flowerbeds, it can take over your grass. You lose that area because those hedges they'll just keep going and going and going. We got moral hedges that are 15 feet deep now that's just how it goes.

Doug: We're getting towards the end, what do we got left?

Dash: This is kind of a fun one for us but it's a common mistake that homeowners make is starting projects they can't finish.

Doug: [laughs] All right, I'm in there. You got me again.

Dash: There's a couple of reasons why I think they should always look into asking professional first. The most dangerous, of course, is starting a removal that they have no business doing and then they get themselves in a situation where it's dangerous for them to continue and it's dangerous for the pros to finish it because they've got maybe some really questionable cuts on the trunk, maybe they got the pipe cut wrong. That's the, the worst of it, where they start something they can't handle and they put themselves in a really dangerous situation, and there may not be a good solution to overcome what they've already started.

More of the simpler terms, and maybe not as dire but, we'll have people call us and say, "Hey, I removed my tree, it's all on the ground. I cut it up, can you come and just clean it up?" I get there and I explained to him, yes, I can do it but just for the future, if you were to let us come out and just remove this tree and clean it up as we removed it, it would be cheaper than us cleaning up what you have left because the branches are tangled together, it's a huge pile of mess, it's hard to get through.

There is a system to the way we do things. That's a common one that I gave up, people will just call and want us to clean up something that they've started and they don't realize that it would have cost them the same or less just to have us do it from the beginning.

Doug: I think this happens more when you're younger, but there's always some friend or neighbor or something, that you bring up this project to the tree and they look at it and they're just like, "Oh, sure. Don't hire anybody." You're like, "Sure. Okay." Then you get into it. If you could just talk a little bit about the importance of having a pro at least look at it before you attempt something like this. I'm not kidding you that I've seen one person almost killed themselves up in a tree for no reason.

This was ridiculous. You've got money, you could hire somebody, why risk your life at the top of a tree when you don't know what you're doing?

Dash: It is scary. [laughs] So many times I'm driving the neighborhood I see someone up on a ladder in the middle of a tree cutting branches from a ladder and I'm just like, "Oh." I'm horrified. I don't want to walk because I know it just take someone doing a wrong cut and that branches that take ladder right from underneath them. You see that enough. Especially where we work now where I'm working now in the Pacific Northwest in the Portland area Oregon and Washington people have a very much of a can-do attitude, which I think is really great.

They can handle a lot of problems. They can do it. They know enough. Maybe they know maybe too much for their own good but they have this self-reliance up here and sometimes it can get you in trouble. It's remarkable how people don't respect the danger involved in tree work and climbing a tree working with a chainsaw, let alone a chipper. I guess maybe just for us who are in the industry that have seen the worst of it. In the day-to-day, we know what the consequences of just one mistake can make?

Doug: Well, I've certainly learned my lesson. I have a can't do attitude when it comes to my trees. I just can't tell you how good it feels to have somebody who knows what they're doing, come and look and take care of this stuff. I had a big oak down at the bottom of my driveway removed recently by Davey. It was a three-four-man operation with ropes. I'm just like, "Oh." I just couldn't imagine how a regular person could try a job like this. It was a relief to see it done right, I'm telling you.

Dash: Yes, I agree. That was my number nine. Starting projects that can't finish or maybe even starting projects they have no business in trying.

Doug: All right. Finish this off, then what's left?

Dash: All right. The last one is a little more. It's a sneaky one that people don't know about and that's construction damage. Like, how bad construction on a property can affect your trees? Whether it be a new driveway, a patio, a new lawn. Just any changes to the environment around the trees can be so detrimental to a tree's health. It's something that can happen or at least won't show in the tree for several years after the project. We go to a project the trees look or we go to a property, the tree is just looking really stressed out. I look around and this looks like an addition and that's the thing first thing that will.

How long has it been since you put this in? Oh, three, four years ago. That's probably what did it. That stuff can really, really hurt the trees. Even simple stuff as like, I used to drive a concrete mixer truck back in another life and wash out. Just washing out a concrete solution like cleaning out your truck underneath a tree or next to a tree. That has to go somewhere. That will seep down into the root zone, the trees will pick it up, it can be harmful to your tree.

Even something as simple as washing, a paint or washing his tools underneath your tree. All of that can have a negative effect. Especially the additions, the remodeling, paving the concrete work. All of that can be really bad for trees and it won't even show up for years until years afterward.

Doug: I guess the same thing would be true of construction. Like, a big truck driving over where the roots are compressing. Is that the same sort of-- [crosstalk]

Dash: Absolutely. It's all compaction the whole bit.

Dash: You imagine having a big truck drive over your root zone or your property that pour a slab of cement. We're talking 80,000-pound vehicle back and forth. You're going to push all that space out of the soil. Those roots need that space in the soil to thrive. It needs air, it needs water, it needs that space. Once it's compressed out, you're going to have a tree that's going to struggle for a long time. That's a hard problem to fix.

Doug: There's, I got to throw out number 11 and I already mentioned it. My son's volcano mulching. I was at lunch with a friend yesterday and I was looking across the street. I bring it up and he goes, "What are you talking about volcano mulching?" I said, "Turn around. Look at that." He's like, "Oh yes, because I see that all over my neighborhood." I said, "Yes, we all see it over the neighborhood and it's a bad thing for a tree."

One of the theories that I got from an arborist was that, when these guys show up to do this job, they've got a truckload of mulch they don't want to take back with them. That's how it's ended up on the way too high in the bottom of these trees. That's something that I talk about with the Davey guys constantly. The irony is just like your sister is planting one way, my son is volcano mulching and he doesn't want to hear it from me.

Dash: I don't know. I'm sure there was a reason long ago why they thought that was a good idea because tree work is a science and evolves and things that they did 20 years ago, we don't do now. I wonder what the reasoning was behind it. I sometimes wonder if it had something to do with when we do applications or even water, say we're doing a growth inhibitor. We do make a dam around the tree to make sure that the chemical doesn't run where we don't want it to. I wonder if over time, making a little bit of a ridge around the tree to hold the product or even water there developed into this ornamental volcano.

I don't know why or where but there had to be a reason when they started that. I don't know.

Doug: Obviously it's keeping up with the Joneses. One guy puts up a volcano, another guy wants Krakatoa. These neighborhoods I drive through and I'm just like, "You're not doing your trees any favor by volcano mulching them?"

Dash: No. I guess if you want to put a number 12 on the list, this is super important. It's something one of the mistakes that they make or maybe it's a mistake because they don't do it, it is just trees do need fertilizer. Not fertilizing your trees specifically in your ornamental trees around your yard. You've got this tree because you like the way it looks and it's the signature piece of your yard. Fertilizing is important.

If you think about just the construction process of building a home, they dig a hole, they strip everything away, the chemicals, the compact. It's so invasive in your soil and then they just backfill with whatever they have. Then we have this lawn and these leaves. We have gardeners come in, everything gets taken away. There is no natural way for soil nutrients to be put back into the soil. We have to do it for the trees. It just doesn't get done naturally anymore.

We don't live on a forest bed where we can just let the ground cover do its thing. That's one mistake that I think a lot of people make is the trees do need fertilizer. They do. They need it.

Doug: We started trying to get to 10, now we're at 12. I have a feeling if we kept chatting, I think we get to about 18, maybe 19. I do want to ask you a little bit about your job and how you got into it and why it's right for you?

Dash: Okay, sure. I don't think I was a very traditional route into this industry. It was just kind of happenstance where I don't want to say I fell into it but it was definitely not the plan. I was going to university. I was going to be an accountant. That's what I was studying for. Often, I have a midlife crisis, [laughs] I guess you can say. I was in my late 20s and I wanted a change of pace. A friend of mine, who had gone to school and graduated with a horticultural degree, he took a job in California at the San Francisco Davey Tree Office. He took a job there to move up as in a sales arborist and take that path.

He said, "Hey, you're looking for a change. Why don't you come out to California for a year or two? Just take a break from school and I'll get you a job. You can start dragging brush. You can drive a truck. I know you're a hard worker," because I work in construction. I put myself through college just working construction. I said, "Sure. Great. Yes, why not?" San Francisco sounds like a fun place. I moved out there, started working for Davey Tree in 2009.

I found out that I had a knack for it. I enjoyed the work. It was fulfilling. I liked the company I was working for. This temporary just a little vacation from my life turned out to be probably the best decision that I ever made because from that, I moved up the ranks. I started not only just doing groundwork but climbing, doing some plant health care work. Then just over time, I became an ISA Certified Arborist.

I was promoted to a sales job and then another promotion as assistant manager. Then the final promotion where I'm at now, as a manager. I did that all in the span of 10 years. Yes, it was not your traditional path. At least I don't think so. It's one that I like to share often, especially with the employees that work for me, I'm not anything special. I just put the work in.

There was a clear path put in front of me and they said, "If you want to do this, you need to do this." All I did was just those steps. If I can do it, anybody can do it. Davey Tree is such a great company to work for with so much opportunity and so much room for growth and an upward mobility that I just tell all my employees, "Look at me, you're probably smarter and harder working than I am. I can do this, anybody can achieve that. It just takes some work."

That's how I got into the industry and I'm really glad I did. It just clicked for me, it just seemed right.

Doug: I'm telling you what, after our talk today, I think you are a little bit special there, you had a lot of good stuff going on. I really loved what we went over today. This is going to be so helpful to homeowners when they're thinking about working in the landscape. I appreciate your time and, like I said, that was a lot of fun, Dash.

Dash: Thank you, Doug, I appreciate it. It was very enjoyable, and I'm glad I got the opportunity.

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Doug: What did you think about our first two-part podcast? I really enjoyed it. Remember to tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company, I'm your host Doug Oster. Next week is all about how to identify trees and looking for science of stress trees. As always, we'd like to remind you, on the Talking Trees podcast, trees are the answer.

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