How a Fall Pruning Can Put Minnesota Winter Storm Damage (and the Cost of It) in Perspective
When an ice storm is bearing down on you in Minnesota, it is not uncommon to look at the old oak by your driveway and question whether it will see out the night. Then come the springs when you have to put up with broken branches strewn over the yard. If one were to total up the expense of such cleanup from one year to the next, the figure can be eye opening.
Homeowners in the Twin Cities put these concerns to us at Birch Tree Care with some regularity. We have been tending to the metro’s trees since 2015 and are well aware that a Minnesota winter does not coddle your landscape. To put your mind at ease before the snow sets in, we are at (651) 504-6097.
There is no easier way to ward off damage from a winter storm than with some fall pruning. The economics are plain: put the price of an emergency removal or the repairs after a branch has fallen side by side with a routine visit for pruning and the latter is a bargain.
Winter Does Not Make for Easy Going for Twin Cities Trees
The combination of wind, ice and heavy wet snow is what one expects here. That weight is all but guaranteed to find its way onto a poorly attached or dead branch. The limb gives under the strain and in doing so may bring down a fence, a roof, power lines or even a car in your driveway.
More often than not, the culprit was a branch that could have been dealt with in the fall. A weak union or a dead limb is not going to fortify itself over the course of the winter; it will only hoard more snow and ice until it breaks.
A Way to Shield Your Property
We let the storm find nothing to trouble by way of fall pruning. Our ISA Certified Arborists will put the whole tree under review and excise anything that is a risk to your property. In the course of a visit we will get to:
- Any dead wood apt to go under a snow load
- Limbs that are weak or crossing, making for a point of failure
- Overhanging branches on your roof, power lines or driveway
- An overgrown canopy prone to catching too much of the elements
- Structural issues in younger stock that age will not improve
- Poorly angled limbs that have no business holding up heavy weight
Shaping and thinning the canopy allows the snow and ice to run off as opposed to building up. A tree in balance will yield to the wind and not oppose it. You will have less in the way of broken limbs and lower bills for the aftermath.
Do the Math
Consider a January storm and a large branch coming down. Between the cost of calling in an emergency service in the cold and fixing your gutters or putting in an insurance claim, expenses mount. And there is no such thing as an inexpensive emergency.
With a bit of foresight in October you can avoid that and save considerably come February. Planned pruning is far more affordable and you are the one setting the schedule.
Timing Is Everything in This Part of the State
Once the leaves start to drop you can read a tree’s structure better, and with the tree in dormancy there is less stress involved. Our arborists will make the kind of clean cuts that are sure to heal by the time spring comes around.
Our services extend to Anoka, Hennepin, Northern Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties. From Minneapolis and St. Paul to Plymouth, Woodbury, Maple Grove, Blaine, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Shakopee, Inver Grove Heights and Roseville, we are there.
We Are of the Community
Birch Tree Care is fully licensed and insured and we are here 24/7. We use GIS technology for tree inventory and mapping so an owner can keep tabs on the health of his land. You will also find us involved with local efforts such as the Watermark Community Tree Planting and the Fridley Emerald Ash Borer Program.
We provide Free Inspections to put things in perspective for you. So do not leave it to the first big snow to tell you which branches should have been removed. Get in touch with us at (651) 504-6097 to set up your inspection and face the winter without worry.
