Two guys and a woman with a ladder and a saw are roaming the neighborhood offering hurricane protective pruning. I'm pretty sure they are fixing to "limb-up" the giant live oak across the street. They lion-tailed a couple of limbs on the live oak across the street a couple of years ago. Those limbs died and had to be cut back this past spring. Now they are hitting up the people that live on the other side of the tree offering to do the limbs on their side. They knocked on our door today and offered to hack at the live oaks in our back yard and remove the limbs that are hanging over our yard from the big oak across the street. Sadly, I did not answer the door so they were politely dismissed. Tree across the street is over 100 years old but I doubt it will survive another ten years of "care" by the uncertified hacks. These geniuses are also hacking all but the top 2 or 3 fronds off the cabbage palms in the yards in which they snooker people into letting them work.

The last thing the oaks and palms need right now is more excessive and innappropriate pruning but that is what these guys are selling and the people that hire them are most impressed by the huge piles of debris they leave behind. Must be doing good hard work to make all those piles. Too bad they leave behind trees that are far more vulnerable to failure in storms down the road.

 

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Edited: 10/24/2016 at 05:35 PM by scombrid

     Hate to see that. Tree companies are required to be licensed and insured through the county. Ideally, they should be arborists as well. If they get hurt on your property and they aren't insured, they can sue your homeowners insurance. I have personal experence with that scenerio. Don't take a chance just to go cheap. They should have the info in their truck. If not, don't hire them.  

Agreed. Good post. But, probably to deaf ears.

All I'm hearing from the city dwelling snow birds that flock to my subtropical condo garden right now is that the garden is in desperate need of a trim. They won't listen to logic. "We definitely need professional help." I'm so sick of these idiots.

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If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

I have cut all the frowns off my cabbage palm before. It still didn't die. Now I trim all my cabbage palms at grade level. I had 19 now I am down to 2. I have lots of trees but cabbage palms suck!!

These storms always bring out the unlicensed contractors. An easy way to weed them out is ask for proof of insurance. You cannot buy insurance without a license.