Services
Longview Tree Care is a full service tree company serving all of Sonoma County. We pride ourselves on staying up to date with the most current industry standards so that we can provide our clients with an exceptional tree care experience, from start to finish.
Tree Pruning
Tree pruning can serve a variety of functions depending on your vision for your landscape. Removal of dead/broken/diseased wood along with addressing any structural problems that may affect the strength and stability of the tree are the most important aspects of tree pruning. From there, we may develop a more specific plan to meet your particular goals while always prioritizing the health and strength of the tree.
Informed by the latest information published by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and the standards developed by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA), we pride ourselves on providing an exceptional pruning service that will make your trees healthier, safer, and more attractive.
This is the most basic level of pruning and is generally included in all pruning jobs. Proper deadwood removal will reduce the risk of pathogen/pest infections in your trees, reduce the risk of broken branches, and improve the appearance of your trees. It is natural for all trees to contain a certain amount of dead branches throughout the canopy, but when you start to notice a larger accumulation of deadwood, it may be time to give us a call to do a cleanup of your tree.
Crown reduction involves cutting back overextended branches to healthy lateral branches. This practice can strengthen the structure of trees that are overgrown and may not have had appropriate training when young. When performed properly, reduction of large, overextended branches will reduce the likelihood of branch failure.
Crown reduction can also have a modest effect on the overall size of your trees, but this practice should not be confused with tree topping. It is very rare that we would recommend topping a tree, as it leads to overly stressed trees that are much more likely to fail.
Crown thinning involves opening up the canopy of a tree to allow for more airflow and light penetration. The first step in this process is deadwood removal. We then selectively remove branches that present some kind of structural problem to the tree. Unlike reduction pruning, thinning does not change the overall shape or size of the tree, it simply opens up the canopy giving the tree a “lighter” look.
Sometimes a limb or a set of limbs presents a hazard to people or property. Instead of removing the entire tree, it is often possible to selectively remove or reduce hazardous limbs from the tree to ameliorate the hazard.
Most fruit trees require yearly pruning in order to produce healthy fruit, while maintaining a strong structure for the tree. For most fruit trees, the best time of year to prune is in winter while the trees are dormant. Staying on top of your fruit tree pruning will lead to healthy trees that will produce fruit for many years to come.
Trees can get in the way of houses, sidewalks, or your view of the sunset. We can often find solutions to meeting your clearance or vista needs without having to remove the entire tree.
Soil Testing and Fertilization
If your tree is showing signs of stress there is no better place to start than with your soil. Tree stress is often related to soil compaction, nutrient/pH imbalances, and improper watering techniques. If the issue isn’t immediately apparent, we are happy to collet soil samples for you that will be analyzed by an environmental laboratory. From that information we can develop a plan for you that will improve the health of your soils, in turn improving the health and resilience of your trees.
Planting
Along with maintaining your healthy trees and removing your bothersome trees, we would also be thrilled to recommend and plant appropriate trees for your landscape. A lot of the problems that come from mature trees can be mitigated by planting the right tree in the right location. We’re lucky to have plenty of healthy young trees to choose from and we’d be happy to assist you in selecting and establishing your next tree.
For a quick view of some trees that may be appropriate for your landscape, check out this list of ‘climate forward’ trees that was produced by the UC Master Gardener program.
Tree Removal
We got into this business because of our love for trees, but we know that sometimes a tree simply isn’t appropriate for an urban area anymore. Generally this is because the tree is dying or already dead, but there could be other issues that lead to you considering the removal of a tree. Rest assured that we will never try and sell you an unnecessary removal of a tree–our approach emphasizes tree preservation above all else.
You will also have a variety of options when it comes to dealing with the debris from the removal which will affect the cost of the job; you may opt for the removal of all debris, you may want the wood chips that are created from the removal (lets improve the soil health for your remaining plants!), or you may want to keep the wood for firewood.
Consulting and Reports
With accreditation from the International Society of Arboriculture as a Certified Arborist and Tree Risk Assessor, Cameron has the education and experience to consult and develop reports related to the health and safety of your trees. Some of the consulting services we provide are as follows:
- Tree risk assessment
- Tree inventories
- Tree appraisals
Hedge Trimming
Though our specialty is in tree work, if you have some hedges that need shaping up or other minor landscaping work done, we’d be happy to assist you. Our goal is to leave your property looking cleaner and more inviting than when we showed up, and we know that trees are often not the only plants that need love on your landscape.
