St. George Tree Service
St. George, Ontario
Free written estimates (226) 546-3835
Too much density or too much spread in a crown can nearly always be put right by crown thinning and canopy reduction, without damaging the tree. The two treatments are crown thinning and canopy reduction. We carry full insurance and perform both on mature trees in St. George and South Dumfries.
Call (226) 546-3835.
The two get requested as a pair all the time, yet each does the opposite of the other. Crown thinning takes out a proportion of the small interior branches so daylight comes through, and the silhouette of the tree is untouched.
Canopy reduction cuts the reach of the longest limbs so the tree occupies less space, and the interior stays as dense as it was. Say what is troubling you and we will name the treatment.
Crown thinning is the cure for deep shade. Shade sitting on clay leaves a lawn sodden into July, and in St. George that is far and away the usual trigger for a crown thinning booking.
Carried out well, crown thinning is invisible from the sidewalk. A hollowed-out centre with pom-poms of foliage on the branch ends is something else entirely, and it shifts weight to the outside of the crown where it causes more trouble.
Canopy reduction is the answer for a tree too large for the spot it occupies, and for one whose reach is demanding more than a shallow root plate can supply.
In a wet November it is the load out at the branch tips that prises roots up out of the ground. Take length off those limbs and the leverage drops, easing every union further down the tree.
Risk falls with either treatment. A lighter crown really does place fewer demands on a root plate, so the spending is justified.
Neither one reverses decay low in a stem, and neither reseats roots that have already travelled. Where we find either fault, crown work is not the issue and you will be told that plainly.
Topping is the practice of cutting scaffold limbs off at random points, leaving bare stubs and ignoring the branch structure completely. Around here it is still marketed as a safety measure for tall trees. The result is less safe, not more.
The regrowth that follows is a dense mass of shoots rooted only in callus. Give it five seasons and you have a heavier crown attached far more weakly, standing on stubs that are decaying out of sight. We will not take the job at any price.
Take more than a certain fraction and a mature tree simply cannot rebuild it. Clay soils give roots less air and leave the tree with smaller reserves, so the safe ceiling in St. George falls short of the numbers published elsewhere.
For that reason our quote states a cautious upper limit. Wanting a substantially smaller tree leaves two straight options. Spread the canopy reduction across a few seasons, or take the tree out and plant a species suited to the space.
Where a lawn gets no sun, or a tree has simply become too large, both treatments are offered everywhere we work in St. George and South Dumfries.
Call (226) 546-3835. The home page covers our other tree services.
One tree usually needs more than one thing done to it. The remaining services appear below.
Slow growth on this ground means a tree holds whatever shape tree trimming and pruning gives it for a long time, so the work is worth getting right the first time. We carry full insurance and take on pruning and trimming at houses and on larger properties right across St. George and South Dumfries.
View Tree Trimming and Pruning
More calls come in about dead branch removal than about anything else we do. We carry full insurance and take on dead branch removal at any height, anywhere in St. George and South Dumfries.
View Dead Branch Removal
Emergency storm damage cleanup has to happen quickly when a tree lets go with no warning. We carry full insurance and pick up this line after hours everywhere in St. George and South Dumfries. Where a hydro line has been caught up in it, the utility gets the first call and we get the second.
View Emergency Storm Damage Cleanup
Tree removal rests on three grounds. Death of the tree is the first. A structural defect no cut can reach is the second. The third is a planting position that was never large enough for the mature tree.
View Tree Removal
Tree cabling and bracing is the answer when a weak union appears in an otherwise good tree, and it is not automatically a reason to fell it. Tree cabling and bracing will hold that tree together for years to come. We carry full insurance and fit both across St. George and South Dumfries, and we will tell you straight when steel is not the right answer.
View Tree Cabling and Bracing
Stump grinding and removal deals with whatever is left in the ground after a tree removal, and it can happen whenever you are ready. Stump grinding and removal gets its own price rather than being buried inside the felling total, which keeps the choice with you. We carry full insurance and work throughout St. George and South Dumfries.
View Stump Grinding and RemovalSay what is wrong and where the property is. Once we have been out, a written quote follows setting out the method, the fate of the debris, and every exclusion.
If you know the species and rough height, include them, and always include the road, because access shifts a price more than size ever does. Note what sits below the tree. Flag storm damage as urgent. The only field we truly need is a way of reaching you. If you would prefer to talk it through, call (226) 546-3835.