A tree should be removed when it is dead or dying, diseased beyond recovery, structurally failing (rot at the base, a large crack, a worsening lean), or when it is a hazard to a home, a power line, or people, and pruning or cabling cannot make it safe. An ISA Certified Arborist can usually tell you which in one visit.
Our goal is to preserve trees when possible and remove them when necessary. Here is how an arborist decides which.
Signs a tree should come out
- Dead or mostly dead. A pine that has browned out, a maple with no leaves on half the crown. Dead wood gets brittle fast and comes down in pieces on its own schedule.
- Rot or fungus at the base. Conks (shelf mushrooms) at the trunk, soft or hollow wood, sawdust from carpenter ants. A tree with a rotten base can look fine in the crown and fail at the ground.
- A large crack or a split union that cabling cannot hold.
- A lean that is new or getting worse, especially with lifted soil or roots on the uphill side. That is the tree moving.
- A hazard we cannot prune away: a big dead top over the house, a tree growing into a power line, a root system undermining a foundation.
- Storm damage that took more than a third of the crown, or broke the main leader.
Signs it does not need to come out
- Deadwood in an otherwise healthy crown: prune it.
- A limb over the roof: prune or reduce it.
- A big tree that “makes you nervous” but has good structure and healthy wood: an arborist visit will usually put the nerves to rest, or find the one limb that is the actual problem.
- A weak union in a valuable tree: cabling and bracing.
Ponderosa pines around Spokane deserve a note. They are the tallest thing on most lots, they were there before the house, and they are usually fine. What we look for is a dead top, bark beetle sign (pitch tubes, red needles from the top down), root damage from construction, and where it would land. Most of them we leave alone.
If you are not sure, the estimate visit is free and the arborist will tell you straight: keep it, prune it, cable it, or take it out.
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