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Tree Blog

By Admin 05 Oct, 2018
Most people can easily identify a maple tree. Known for their lobed leaves and their production of sap, maples are across North America in yards, parks, and forests. These trees are intriguing, and they have many unique qualities. Keep reading to discover four important and interesting facts about maple trees.
By Admin 10 Sep, 2018
Trees add enormous appeal and value to your home. While surprising to learn, a mature tree can add between $1,000 and $10,000 to your property value. Of course, knowing which trees to include in your landscape design can be difficult because of all the beautiful options to consider.

While native to Indiana and other parts of the country, the eastern hemlock makes an excellent addition to your home's landscape design. This conifer tree features soft needles in a deep green color that adds beauty and texture to any yard. Unfortunately, you may not understand the benefits of this tree and how to maintain it properly.

This guide and a professional's  assistance will teach you about the eastern hemlock tree.
By Admin 06 Aug, 2018
Homeowners love their trees because they give shade, beauty, and shelter from the wind. Mature trees increase property value and make a neighborhood more desirable. Unfortunately, sometimes people unintentionally do things that damage their trees. To avoid this scenario, four examples of how you can prevent tree damage are listed below. Read on to learn more.  
By Admin 09 Jul, 2018
In terms of insects that infest trees, few cause as much damage as the Emerald Ash Borer. These bright green, oblong insects often kill their host trees. Since they have been seen throughout the northeast, including in the state of Indiana, it's important for you to know the basics about the Emerald Ash Borer. Here are some common questions you may have as a landowner.
By Admin 12 Jun, 2018
When you think of tree pruning, you likely think this type of maintenance is only required for fruit-bearing trees. Your large trees will all benefit from regular pruning. Here are reasons to call your tree specialist and have your landscape's evergreen and deciduous foliage professionally shaped.
By Admin 11 May, 2018
As spring progresses, gardeners across Indiana wait patiently for their trees and shrubs to start showing signs of life. They search the tall branches for swelling leaf buds, tiny flowers, and other signs that their beloved trees have made it through another winter.

Trees and shrubs may show buds and flowers in the heart of winter if there's a sudden warming trend. Tree owners may panic when below-freezing temperatures follow because they worry about damage to the tender emerging buds.

If you have experienced something similar, here are three things you should know about trees, shrubs, and springtime dormancy.

1. Buds Rarely Break Before Their Time

Leaf buds on trees become prominent in spring, but the trees actually produced the buds during the past summer. The buds remain in a dormant state until certain triggers cause them to open at just the right time in spring.

Various hormones and enzymes are responsible for the development and bloom of the buds. These agents are activated by cold or hot temperatures. They respond to climate fluctuations by moderating precisely when the leaf buds open.

If one of your trees seems to be showing buds later than normal, it's probably fine. There are natural budding variations from year to year even in the same tree. Bud times may be weeks apart from one year to the next due to diverse environmental forces including drought and other stresses.

You may be concerned that early-showing leaf buds will be damaged by a late cold snap after a warm period. Most leaf buds won't open unless the tree has received an adequate number of hours below freezing temperatures. So even though an early warm period seems hazardous, it's not enough to make the leaves burst out of the buds too soon.

2. Trees and Shrubs Give Clues of Life

If your tree has been dormant for a while, you might wonder if it's still alive. When you have doubts about the health of a particular tree, you can use several methods to test whether it's still alive. These methods include the following.

Bend Small Branches

Live branches don't snap when bent. If you can reach twigs of the tree, try to gently bend smaller ones. If they break, your tree may be dead or dying.

Call a Tree Service

Your tree service has the equipment to check the overall health of the tree from the crown to the roots. If you have a particular tree that you're worried about, schedule an inspection of the tree to learn more about its health.

Perform a Scratch Test

A scratch test involves testing to see if the cambium of the tree is still alive. This layer is directly underneath the bark and should be a nice healthy green color. Start by using a clean fingernail to scrape a bit of bark off of a smaller branch.

If the cambium is brown, gray, or pale tan under the bark instead of green, check a few other branches to be sure. If they all seem dead, check the main trunk of the tree. Outer branches may have died over winter while the main tree is salvageable.

Force Spring-Flowering Shrubs

Forsythia and other spring-flowering shrubs can be checked for life by forcing the buds. Take cuttings of budded branches on warm days and set them indoors in water. In one to three weeks, the shoots should bloom if the shrubs are healthy.

3. Spring Arrives Earlier in Some Parts of Indiana

According to the National Phenology Network of the United States Geological Survey, parts of Southern Indiana are experiencing earlier onsets  of spring each year. Some people in these areas of the state are seeing spring arrivals that are weeks ahead of their Northern Indiana neighbors.

Don't fret if your friends around the country are showing off their dogwoods and flowering cherries while you're still looking at bare branches and gray skies. Spring will arrive soon enough, and chances are very good that all the bright green leaves on your trees will show up, too.

Contact Above & Beyond Companies, Inc.,  to schedule a springtime inspection of your favorite trees and shrubs.
By Admin 08 Apr, 2018
You're a smart home investor and have recently purchased a home with large, mature trees adorning its landscape. Mature trees increase home value, and you want to ensure you keep your new property's landscape in prime condition so you get an even better return on your investment when you sell your home in the future.

Taking on a landscape with large trees can be a hassle, and you may not know where to start in managing the beautiful foliage you've acquired. Use this guide to help you in managing your new home's large, mature trees so you know what steps to take to keep the trees in their best condition.

Decide What Trees You Want to Keep

Some trees on your property are growing too close to your home, are dead or dying, or are actually weed trees that will produce seedlings that will continue to grow in your yard. You need to decide which trees are worth keeping and which ones you should have cut down.

It's important to remove excess or potentially dangerous or unhealthy trees to not only preserve the appearance of your landscape but also to allow the healthy, useful trees on your property to grow.

Another reason to remove trees in the yard is because tree roots will eventually find their way under sidewalks and fences and even into your home's pipes if you have trees in your yard fighting for water and nutrients. Eliminating pest trees can help keep tree roots from destroying your new property's landscape.

Have Your Trees Pruned

Even shade trees need to be trimmed periodically to control tree growth and enhance shade coverage. Have every tree in your yard pruned to shape branching structures and to remove dead or dying foliage.

Pruning is an intricate art that is best left to your professional arborist. Your tree expert will trim each tree according to its species, height, and the space the living structure takes up in your yard to give your landscape a streamlined, clean appeal. Ask your arborist how often your trees need to be pruned and when; often tree pruning should be done at least once a year, depending on the species being attended to.

Remove Old Stumps

Trees may have been removed from your new property in the past, leaving behind rotting or unsightly stumps. Have your tree expert professionally remove all existing tree stumps using a stump grinder - the grinder whittles away the existing stump and roots until the unwanted structure is level with the ground, then the open space is often seeded for new grass growth.

Even if you don't have a problem with the tree stumps in your new yard, have them removed anyway. Here are a few reasons why you should have even small stumps removed from your yard:
  • Stumps house ants, bees, and other pests
  • Stumps can allow mushroom and mold growth
  • Stumps can be a trip and fall hazard
  • Stumps take up space in your yard
  • Stumps devalue your property
Before you move into your new home and begin enjoying the large, spacious trees you own, call your tree specialist to inspect every species of tree you have in your yard. Use the guidance of your tree specialist to learn the species of trees you have, how to care for each large tree, and when you need to call for professional assistance or future tree removal.

Your tree specialist will help you keep your trees healthy by showing you watering and nutrition techniques to allow your trees to thrive. Trust our tree experts at Above & Beyond Tree Service Inc to keep your trees in healthy condition.
By Admin 12 Mar, 2018

Having a peach tree in your yard can be lovely. Every spring, you get to look out over puffy peach blossoms, and in the summer, you get to enjoy fresh fruit. Unfortunately, your peach tree might be showing signs of disease.

If your peaches are spotty, shriveled, or otherwise inedible, your tree has fallen prey to illness. Read on to learn about some of the most common peach tree diseases and how to treat them.

Brown Rot

Are your peaches developing small spots of rotting flesh which grow and extend over most of the fruit within a few days? In the spring did you notice that some of your peach tree's blossoms disintegrated into a gray mass? These are classic symptoms of brown rot, a fungal disease that infects peach trees, cherry trees, plum trees, and other stone fruit trees.

Treating brown rot is possible, but doing so requires care and attention to detail. Trim away all of the diseased fruit and branches, then have the tree sprayed with an all-purpose fungicide.

Burn all of the damaged fruits and trimmings, and step up your sanitation practices. Throughout the year, promptly clean up any fallen leaves and debris from beneath the tree. Have the tree sprayed again in early spring and then every two weeks until the flowers die off. Apply fungicides again about two weeks before harvest. If you are vigilant, your tree should be free from brown rot within a season or two.

Peach Scab

Are your peaches developing circular green spots that slowly grow and turn blackish as the fruit ripens? The peaches may be edible, but they are unsightly, and the tree's twigs develop gray, circular wounds. These symptoms indicate peach scab, a fungal disease that rips through orchards and spreads to backyard peach trees during warm, wet periods.

By the time peach scab symptoms appear, you can't do much about the disease during the current season. However, you can probably save next year's crop. Have your tree professionally pruned during the coming winter. Not only will your tree trimmer remove infected branches, but they will also trim your tree to encourage more air flow through the branches. This keeps the branches dry to limit fungal growth.

When spring comes, spray the tree with fungicide every 10 days from the time the petals fall until about six weeks before harvest. Continue with trimming and spraying during each subsequent growing season. The symptoms of peach scab may slowly wane over a few seasons with good care.

Bacterial Spot

The symptoms of bacterial spot are often confused with those of peach scab. Bacterial spot, however, causes pits to form in the fruit's surface, whereas peach scab lesions are flat. Bacterial spot also causes lesions to form on the leaves and twigs, whereas peach scab only causes symptoms on the twigs. If your tree's leaves and fruits are spotty and pitted, you're dealing with a case of bacterial spot.

Bacterial spot typically sets in after hot, rainy weather. Trees under a lot of stress are more likely to be affected.

To manage bacterial spot, have all of the diseased branches pruned away. Then, focus on reducing the tree's stress levels by providing proper fertilizer and water. Avoid fertilizers that are overly high in nitrogen as these can make the problem worse. Fungicide sprays are not effective against bacterial spot because it is a bacterial disease, not a fungal one.

If your peach tree has been ailing, contact Above & Beyond Tree Companies, Inc.  to schedule a tree care appointment. We're fully insured, we offer free estimates, and we use the best equipment in the industry.

By Admin 09 Feb, 2018
If your property includes a woodlot or natural wooded area, promote biodiversity by terminating invasive trees and shrubs. Here's what you should know about invasive trees on your land.

Understand the Epic Battle to Retain Biodiversity  

Biodiversity is a big word to explain the variability of life forms existing in a healthy ecosystem. Biodiverse areas host a wide variety of native plants, animals, birds, fish, insects, and other life forms. The different life forms are able to co-exist in a delicate balance that's easily disrupted by plants that don't belong.

Invasive trees and shrubs are the plants that don't belong. Invasive plants aren't happy merely crowding out other plants. They also lower the biodiversity of native mammals, birds and other life forms in the ecosystems they invade. Nuisance trees and shrubs are able to wage a worthy fight against biodiversity with their superior growth habits, including:
  • Extreme drought tolerance
  • Super hardiness in frigid or hot temperatures
  • Tolerate sun or shade
  • Release chemicals that inhibit nearby plant growth
Invasive plants are able to screw up a perfectly good ecosystem in another critical way. They form vast thickets of dense growth, then throw an abundance of shade on understory plants. Many understory plants are important food sources. When those nutritious plants stop growing in an area, the animals and beneficial insects that feed on those plants must leave, too.

Don't Wave These Olive Branches

Two types of wild olive trees originally from Asia and Eurasia are dangerous enemies of biodiversity. Both of these trees are able to dominate woodlots and scrub areas because of a unique weapon they possess. If the invasive Autumn olive ( Elaeagnus umbellata) or Russian olive ( Elaeagnus angustifolia)   take root in poor, barren dirt, they simply start fixing nitrogen in the soil around their roots. Plants who get sick from too much nitrogen die off, while the Autumn and Russian olives thrive.

Both the Russian and Autumn Olive trees have their redeeming qualities. The plants make attractive and fast-growing windbreaks and hedgerows with their pretty willow-like leaves featuring white undersides. Both trees bloom with small yellowish flowers that smell divine. The berries are a great food source for birds.

But these are wolves in sheep clothing. The berries are wantonly spread by birds, causing further invasions. Both trees are thirsty and develop wide root systems with deep taproots that soak up nearby moisture other plants need. Russian olive and Autumn olive replace native Populus and willow trees along the edges of creeks and other bodies of water.

Experts recommend that you remove any Russian or Autumn olive, especially if the shrubs or trees are growing near a water source. Remove any suckers or saplings you find growing on your property. Suitable alternatives are lilac trees, cottonwoods, and pawpaw trees.

Scout Your Land for Other Wily Invaders

Other tree species perform similar acts of war on biodiversity. These species include:
  • Black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia Linnaeus)
  • Tree of Heaven ( Ailanthus altissima )
  • Norway maple ( Acer platanoides  Linnaeus)
  • Siberian Elm ( Ulmus pumila  Linnaeus)
Your tree service can remove larger invasive trees with a crane and other heavy equipment. If you have a small stand of the trees, they can be cut all the way down to the ground by an experienced tree service. After cutting down the stand of olives, your tree service can use chemical treatments on the stumps and roots to completely kill the plants.

It often takes a year or more for your tree service to completely rid your property of invasive plant species. After you have the area prepared for new plantings, install shrubs and trees recommended by your tree-care experts. Your local tree-service professionals know which native trees and shrubs will grow best in the spot and provide diverse habitat.

Contact the experts at Above & Beyond Companies, Inc,  today to schedule an invasive-species inspection of your woodlots, forests and woodland areas. We have the equipment and know-how to remove and install trees of all sizes.
By Admin 08 Jan, 2018
Winter isn't coming. It's already here, and with the cold weather come the inevitable snow and ice storms that wreak havoc on power lines, roadways, and trees. Ice-wrapped trees may look metal, but they can cost you plenty of gold. Weak and diseased trees are susceptible to losing large limbs or toppling over in ice storms.

Assess and manage your trees before and after ice storms to reduce the chances that you end up in the hospital or a courtroom. Here's what you should know. 

Indiana Wants You-To Care for Your Trees

In Indiana, you're responsible for any trees growing on your property. The state's Supreme Court ruled in 1991 that landowners have a duty to perform routine inspections on their trees so that trees don't fall and endanger people or property.

If you don't exercise reasonable care in assessing and managing your trees, you're subject to lawsuits. If someone suffers personal or property injury because one of your trees falls on them or their stuff, they can sue you to recover medical expenses and property-damage costs.

Legal experts advise landowners to have a professional assessment made of their trees before the worst winter weather hits. Not only will an expert tree service terminate the trees that can't take the ice, but you'll also have a written document proving that you followed the law by having trees inspected and removed.

Healthy-Looking Trees Can Be Death Traps

The trees in your yard may look awesome now, but they could be hiding defects and vulnerabilities that make them easy targets for ice damage and disaster. Ice on a tree can increase the weight of its branches by over 30 percent. If the tree is weak or the winds are strong, branches, limbs, and entire trees can fail.

Several other factors can make trees more fragile with a coating of ice. These include trees that have:
  • Dead or decaying limbs and branches
  • Broad-spreading limbs with high surface area
  • Topped-off crowns
  • Position at open edge of forest
Trees on the outside edge of a grove or forest are more at risk from ice damage because more of the branches are exposed. This is also true of trees lining ponds, streams and other bodies of water.
Another condition that can cause tree limbs to snap is called "included bark." This condition happens when a tree trunk splits into two branches and bark starts growing in the crotch. The bark weakens the tree at the joint and makes it easier to split off when coated with a heavy layer of ice.

Call in the experts to assess your trees if you're not sure whether one or more of your trees are weak or vulnerable. Your tree service assesses trees for you and then trims, prunes or removes trees that pose hazards.

Brittle Wood Makes Brittle Trees

When ice coats a tree species that has brittle wood, the branches are far easier to break because the tree is naturally more "splinter-prone." Trees that are more vulnerable to ice damage include:
  • American and Siberian elm
  • Black cherry
  • Black locust
  • Bradford pear
  • Hackberry
  • Green ash
  • Pin oak
  • Silver maple
Other tree species that have brittle wood include varieties of poplars, birches, and willows. Many people plant these varieties because they grow quickly, but that rapid growth can spell rapid collapse when an ice storm hits. The following trees are better choices for replacement:
  • American sweetgum
  • Black walnut
  • Blue beech
  • Catalpa
  • Eastern hemlock
  • Ginkgo
  • Littleleaf and silver linden
  • White and swamp white oak
Replace and replant your property with heartier trees that have a higher resistance to ice breakage.

Ice Damaged Trees Can Recover

If you wake up and find your trees drooping and heavily laden with ice, don't panic. Don't go out and try to knock the ice loose, either. You may get clobbered by a sudden branch fall.

Let the ice melt and the trees have a chance to stand back up again. Some trees that look like goners may actually be perfectly fine. Then, call Above & Beyond Tree Service Inc  to do an inspection. We properly care for your ice-damaged trees and remove the trees that are hazards.
More Posts
By Admin 05 Oct, 2018
Most people can easily identify a maple tree. Known for their lobed leaves and their production of sap, maples are across North America in yards, parks, and forests. These trees are intriguing, and they have many unique qualities. Keep reading to discover four important and interesting facts about maple trees.
By Admin 10 Sep, 2018
Trees add enormous appeal and value to your home. While surprising to learn, a mature tree can add between $1,000 and $10,000 to your property value. Of course, knowing which trees to include in your landscape design can be difficult because of all the beautiful options to consider.

While native to Indiana and other parts of the country, the eastern hemlock makes an excellent addition to your home's landscape design. This conifer tree features soft needles in a deep green color that adds beauty and texture to any yard. Unfortunately, you may not understand the benefits of this tree and how to maintain it properly.

This guide and a professional's  assistance will teach you about the eastern hemlock tree.
By Admin 06 Aug, 2018
Homeowners love their trees because they give shade, beauty, and shelter from the wind. Mature trees increase property value and make a neighborhood more desirable. Unfortunately, sometimes people unintentionally do things that damage their trees. To avoid this scenario, four examples of how you can prevent tree damage are listed below. Read on to learn more.  
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