When it comes to large landscaping projects like extensive tree removal, it is important to take the time necessary to plan before taking action. Cutting down a tree, or multiple trees, on your property can have many benefits, but it can also have many long-lasting negative effects. Pros and cons aside, once the tree is gone it can take years, even decades, to replace it.
How to Get a Whole Property Vision for Trees
All Tree Removal Projects Should Start with Comprehensive Planning
To keep or to cut? That is the question. The permanence of these decisions requires that they not be taken lightly. When deciding whether or not to remove a tree, or multiple trees, from your landscape, we recommend reaching out to the trusted professionals at The Parke Company. Our landscaping design and tree service team and ISA certified arborists have years of experience in all aspects of the profession and will work with you every step of the way. We can help you best plan for and carry out the installation or removal of trees and stumps. Our goal is not to make the decision for you, but to provide you with a planning service that addresses your specific questions and is patented to your specific needs. If you do decide to move forward on your project, our goal is to provide a service that exceeds your expectations and keeps you coming back year after year. Our goal is to serve our community by becoming your go-to for tree and landscaping services in the Nashville area. Our goal is to help you achieve your goal. To facilitate this, we have listed below some of the common “pros” and “cons” of tree removal.
Some of the Possible Benefits of Tree Removal
More Space and Light
Removal of trees, especially of older trees with large trunks and canopies, opens up your property to an increase in space and light. If you have a small backyard or a yard that is permanently shaded, you may be amazed by how the removal of a few carefully selected trees can drastically improve your landscape. Similarly, if you have any outdoor living spaces, such as a porch or a patio, intentional tree removal may dramatically improve these spaces and extend their usage (early and later each day, earlier in spring and later into the fall season).
Tree and Plant Health
Tightly packed trees, or trees that are competing for space, not only block the light from other trees and plants, but they can also grow unnaturally and take on an unkempt or unhealthy appearance. Similarly, certain trees require lots of water and can end up stealing water from surrounding plants or trees. Tree removal can thus provide an opening for the remaining trees to grow in a more beautiful and natural way and can relieve the water stress placed on other plants.
Trees Can Be Dangerous
Due to age, heavy snow, or strong winds, trees, branches, or limbs can fall on your home, automobiles, power lines, or landscape features causing catastrophic damage or even death. Even trees and branches that do not fall may rub up against your home, potentially causing damage to your home’s exterior and roof. Trees within falling distance of your home should be thoroughly inspected often to ensure that they are in good health. However, good health does not guarantee safety.
Trees Can Be Expensive
Even beyond the previously mentioned watering and upkeep costs, trees will shed branches, limbs, leaves, needles, and bark. All of these can create a mess and cost money to clean up. Furthermore, dripping sap can be an incredible nuisance and can cost irreversible damage to your home’s (or car’s) exterior.
Some of the Possible Negative Consequences of Tree Removal
Unforeseen Damage to Your Landscape’s Ecosystem
Plants rely on each other in a wide-variety of ways that scientists are still just beginning to understand. Your backyard is a system of complex interactions between the plants and animals that live there. Cutting down a tree, or multiple trees, can dramatically alter the light and moisture levels, as well as the soil pH and mineral composition. Furthermore, removal of native trees in particular may increase the chances of insect infestations. Native trees have a better chance of attracting native wildlife such as birds that will reduce insect numbers. Additionally, abrupt changes can weaken the remaining plants, making them more susceptible to pests. Finally, tree root systems help to maintain the integrity of your land. If a tree is removed and the roots die, steep slopes or areas near shorelines or riverbanks can become increasingly susceptible to erosion. Some of these changes happen quickly, others may take a long time, but all of them will impact your landscape.
Unforeseen Loss of Your Landscape’s Visual Harmony
It’s hard to imagine what your landscape will look like without a feature as important and prominent as a tree. Even the removal of one tree can dramatically change the composition of your backyard and skyline. Removal of multiple trees could create a landscape that feels desolate or empty, especially if you have always had trees in your backward.
Expensive, Irreplicable Change
Tree removal in itself is normally an easy and inexpensive procedure, but stump grinding or stump removal can be costly and time-consuming. Adding insult to injury, if you later decide that you wish you had not removed the tree or trees, there’s not much you can do. Bringing in full-grown trees is incredibly expensive and sometimes impossible. Therefore, if you have removed a tree that you wish you hadn’t, often the only option is to wait until a newly planted sapling grows to fill the space. This could take decades.
On the bright side, in addition to tree and stump removal, The Parke Company offers on-site mulching services that can decrease costs and increase the nutrient and moisture levels of your soil and the beauty of your backyard.
Additional Tree Services
Sometimes the appropriate decision to make is not one of the obvious choices. If cutting is too drastic, yet you are unhappy with the current state of the trees in your landscape, we have additional options for you.
Perhaps your trees just need to be trimmed. Tree trimming can offer many of the same benefits as tree removal without the permanence or the hassle of deciding what to do with the stubborn and unsightly stumps and root systems.
Maybe you require additional tree services. From removal to trimming, pruning to crown thinning, cabling and bolting to weight reduction, The Parke Company has the experience to assess your current situation and develop a plan that best fits your landscape vision.
If you have decided to go ahead with the removal process, but do not like the final results; or if your landscape feels empty as it is, we can help you make decisions around which trees grow the fastest and are the best suited for your specific landscape geography and desires.
A History and Reputation We Stand Behind
No matter what you decide, we are honored to be a part of the decision-making process. Locally owned and operated, The Parke Company provides community-centered, high quality, and affordable tree and landscaping services to municipalities, businesses, and private residences in the greater Nashville area. Our certified team of Nashville locals has a reputation for being clean, consistent, professional, and for being leaders in their industries. We at The Parke Company stand behind our work and pride ourselves on our ability to respond quickly, provide efficient and cost-effective services, and meet your needs every step of the way. Please feel free to give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.