Winter’s ice and wind storms have left tree trimmers swimming in work and looking for good help.
Two winter ice storms broke many limbs and branches already weakened by previous storms, leaving an astonishing number of trees in disarray.
Many tree trimmers said they already have jobs scheduled more than a month in advance, but their phones are ringing with new requests for estimates every hour.
“I’m swamped,” said South Amana tree trimmer Jason Kruse of Kruse Tree Trim, who estimates that 20 percent of all area trees have suffered serious damage. “People are doing things they’ve been wanting to do with their trees for 10 years.”
Tree repairs typically are not covered by insurance unless a tree limb has landed on a house or other insured structure. Tree trimming bills typically range from a few hundred to $1,000, depending on the volume of work involved, all of which must be paid by the homeowner.
Veteran tree trimmer Dick Reisner of Dick’s Tree Service in Cedar Rapids has sent crews to about 175 locations this spring, and still has “a whole s—load to do.”
Reisner sees more work coming as trees leaf out and fill with sap. He said fully leafed trees will have heavier limbs that catch more wind in storms, setting the stage for cracked limbs to crash down during the first big summer or late spring storm.
he best thing homeowners can do at this point, experts said, is try to find a tree trimmer who can skillfully and safely trim away the broken branches and other unnecessary areas from the tree to preserve as much of the natural symmetry as possible.
“Normally, the tree is pretty resilient and given time to heal and reform itself, will grow back,” said Dwight Hughes, president of Hughes Nursery and Landscaping in Cedar Rapids.
Hughes said the biggest general distinction that can be drawn in deciding which trees to save is the tree’s age. Most hardwood tree species under 30 years old still have enough vitality to recover from the loss of some major limbs and branches, but older trees have a harder time coming back. An expert evaluation sometimes is necessary to make a good assessment of the tree’s chances.
Mark Lam of Lam Tree Service in Springville said deciding whether to keep a tree is often a matter of aesthetics.
“Make sure you know what you’re willing to look at,” said Lam, who has a two-month backlog of trimming jobs.
Lam has seen white pine trees so brittle that when a top limb heavy with snow and ice broke off, it snapped every limb below it on the way down. Even so, he said, some property owners decide to keep the trees.
Tree experts said the best thing property owners can do to reduce future storm damage is to keep their trees well pruned. An expert pruning removes weak branches and high tops that are most likely to break in a storm.
Although tree trimmers are certainly busier than usual, they said profits aren’t climbing in line with work demand because of the high cost of fuel for their aerial and hauling trucks.
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