The Ultimate Damage Control: How to Undo a Storm’s Mess

Did a storm smash through your yard and leave wreckage in its wake? Whether you’ve suffered damage to trees and shrubs or other areas of your property, it’s important to follow the correct steps and ensure you put things back to rights as soon as possible. Here are five steps we highly recommend for you to take to get your property back from damage.

1. Assess Trees

Signs to look for include cracks or splits in tree limbs or trunks, dropped branches, or burnt areas from lightning strikes. These all indicate serious damage to trees and potential instability, which could result in injuries to people or further damage to your property if left unattended.

2. Call in the Specialists

If you need major clean up, significant pruning, to de-limb a tree, or to ensure the safety of your remaining trees and large shrubs, you want to work with specialists. Make sure they’re licensed and insured; otherwise you’re liable for anything that happens on your property, including the injury of tree workers themselves. Call them to come out and inspect your property, then make a recommendation on whether or not you need services.

3. Repair Structures

Once you’ve ensured there will be no further damage to your property and all hazards have been removed, you should repair any structures that may have been damaged. Unless you’re handy yourself, you’ll likely need to call in a contractor.

4. Perform a Main Clean Up

With or without the help of tree care specialists, you want to clean things up as soon as possible. That includes de-clogging your gutters if you see a lot of debris in them, picking up sticks and leaves that might be suffocating other plants, and performing minor pruning on shrubs and small trees. It’s especially important to inspect plants for damage or open wounds and remove those parts, as they can lead to infection.

5. Tidy

Now all you need to do is tidy up. If parts of your lawn were damaged, try to put the sod back in place as best you can. Replant smaller plants such as flowers or herbs, right overturned pots or ornaments, and put your yard back the way it was.

If you need help cleaning up your yard after a storm, call Premier Tree Solutions today. We specialize in helping you get your property shipshape again, from tree trimming and pruning to removal and stump grinding, and everything in between. Let us know how we can help today at 404-252-6448 or contact us here.

New Year, New Yard: 5 Yard and Tree New Year’s Resolutions You Should Make

The New Year is a time for fresh beginnings. This go round, don’t just confine your goals to that disregarded gym membership or finally, finally giving up the Cheetos habit (we’re not there either). Show your tree some love as well. Without further ado, here are five arboreal aspirations to put on your list.

1. Prune with Precision

Pruning is crucial for trees, especially young ones. If you don’t take the time to trim your trees, they may grow beyond their capacity to support their own limbs, making breakage more likely. Pruning helps to ensure that branches are strongly attached to the tree, with narrow crotches rather than right angles. Plus, it makes trees look more pleasing to have elegantly spaced limbs and twigs.

2. Deal with Damage

If your tree does summer damage from a storm – which can happen year-round, not just in winter – make sure you deal with it immediately. Leaving trees cracked or wounded invites infection and can make it more likely that they will drop branches. This poses a danger to people and property as well as the trees themselves.

3. Make Mulch Happen

Mulching keeps trees warm in winter and traps moisture during dry periods. Cover the ground around the tree to a depth of 2-4 inches with leaf mulch or bark chips, leaving a 6-inch ring around the trunk clear.

4. Water Well

Watering your tree is important in the summertime, as well as in hot spring and fall weather. During the dormant period, avoid it. But during times of growth when you’re not getting enough rainfall, make sure you give long, well-spaced drinks, waiting until soil is dry then saturating to a depth of 12 inches within the drip line (the area covered by branches above).

5. Support with Space

Avoid planting smaller trees or shrubs within the drip line of a tree, which can compete with its water sources. Instead, dedicate that space to grass, wildflowers, or steppable plants such as mosses, wood violets, or low-growing herbs.

Premier Tree Solutions is a growing tree removal business in Atlanta, Georgia. We specialize in a wide range of tree care services, including tree removal, pruning and trimming, storm damage and clean up, stump and branch grinding, clearing and debris removal. If you want help keeping those tree resolutions, make sure you let us know right away at 404-252-6448.