Tree & Shrub Care

Ultimately, we care for trees because we love our planet.

We do not use solutions that kill life in the soil, harm pollinators, injure birds, or damage our streams — just to name a few. Instead, we promote natural remedies such as improving the health of the soil around your trees & shrubs with composts, encouraging predatory insects to kill unwanted pests, and giving your plants the natural supplements they really need.

Whether we are caring for your trees, shrubs, or both, we believe the best defense against problems like pest attacks is to make sure your plants are in excellent health.

When your plants are healthy they are often able to naturally defend themselves against pests and other attacks. This is similar to our immune system; when it is strong, we are better able to defend against sickness. Building great plant health often requires things like:

• Improving the soil in which the plants are growing. Soil health is a critical prerequisite for tree health — so much so that we qualify this as one of the two most important ways to care for a tree, along with improving its structure. Here are some of the ways we work to improve soil health, though there are more.
• Pruning trees to create strong structure. In the urban space, trees grow differently than they do in the forest. Without structural pruning they often break and split. Here is a fun video we made on this topic.
• Feeding trees & shrubs with healthy composts. We do not use any traditional chemical fertilizers. Instead, we produce our own composts and compost teas in-house. Every batch is packed with healthy microbiology that will help your plants thrive. Learn more about our compost tea.
• Spraying plants with nutrient-dense extracts. These are also made in-house using natural by-products from our tree care operations.
• Avoiding harmful practices like mulch volcanoes. If a mulch volcano exists, it must be removed to improve the tree's health. Never heard of a mulch volcano? Here is the basic overview.
• Creating habitats on your property where beneficial, predatory insects can take up residence and then feed on unwanted pests. Piedmont Prairies are an excellent example of this.
• Adding wood chips and leaf compost around trees and shrubs to further improve soil. Here are 10 reasons we love wood chips!
• Generally staying away from chemicals and instead using natural products like Neem oil, gentle soaps, beneficial bacteria, and others when treating for pests. We like to avoid chemicals altogether, though there are a few exceptions where no other options are available, such as with Emerald Ash Borer. Chemicals create all sorts of serious, long-term issues for plant health.

Our approach may require more work, but in the long run we create lasting solutions that have a positive impact on the health your trees, local ecology, and our planet as a whole.

In addition to offering specific services, we also offer full tree and shrub care programs. We can package our various services into a program tailor-made for your property.