A certified arborist is a qualified professional who has at least three years of experience in the tree care industry. In addition, they must have passed several exams covering all areas of arboriculture.

The average annual salary of such a professional in the USA is around $45,000.

Tree services workers, on the other hand, are generally only responsible for planning new trees and trimming branches on existing trees. They can also chop down trees that have been specifically grown for wood manufacturing plants. Such workers generally don’t have the expertise to diagnose different tree diseases or come up with treatment plans if a forest or farm has become infected.

When trees are suspected of having a disease, a certified arborist is brought in to identify the illness and suggest treatments. If pesticides are to be used as part of the treatment plan, the arborist will need to hold the licensing required to buy and use such chemicals depending on the location.

Arborists are hired by residential clients as well as commercial clients. If your garden contains really old trees that look ill, for example, some of them might be protected by law. This means you can’t just get them chopped down because they are blocking light from entering your property or you suspect that they have a disease. You will often have to hire the services of an arborist to come and identify the disease. Such a professional can also tell you if the trees’ roots could be in danger of causing damage to the foundations of your home. They can also advise you as to how to get the reverent permission from governing bodies to get the trees removed.

According to James the managers at Tree Service Of Mobile, the average cost of hiring an arborist varies depending on where you live and the number and type of trees that require diagnosis and treatment. For smaller trees, you can expect to pay a licensed professional an hourly rate of around $45, but you might also be responsible for their travel time and equipment costs. For larger trees, services costs can exceed $2000. So, it’s important to shop around pricing quotes and obtain multiple ones from as many different local companies as possible. You don’t want to pay more than you need to.

The majority of residential customers will not need to hire the services of a certified arborist. Instead, they will be able to just hire general tree service workers whose hourly rates are a lot less. For all general tree trimming and planting work, a general worker is all that is needed.

The internet can help you to find competitively priced local tree services very quickly. Just conduct an online search using Google for some relevant terms and you should be able to find the contact details of lots of nearby companies providing residential tree services. In addition, you may even be able to view reviews and ratings from previous customers. Taking note of these can help you to avoid companies that offer poor services or charge extortionate prices for simple jobs.

Caring for trees in your yard can be a fun and rewarding activity. But as anyone who as ever done it before will tell you it can also have it’s more difficult times – particularly if your trees are struck down by disease.

Being able to identify the disease and begin treating it early can be the difference between saving or losing your trees. Here are some common diseases to keep an eye out for.

Leaf Rust

This disease is easy to spot with just a cursory glance at your trees. It will present as patches of orange or gold on the leaf surface. This fungus is rarely strong enough to kill a tree outright, however it will weaken it by affecting the leaves ability to generate food energy for the tree via photosynthesis. Remove and destroy affected leaves and, if the problem persists, treat with a fungicide.

Fire Blight

This tree disease is so named as it will make your tree look as if it has survived a wildfire. Infected leaves, twigs and even branches quickly wilt and blacken, giving the appearance that the tree has been burnt. This disease is, however, bacterial in nature and thrives in warm and wet conditions. If spotted then carefully prune away any infected areas of the tree and destroy the cuttings. Also make sure to thoroughly disinfect all the tools you use, as this disease can also spread via contamination on your yard tools themselves. Dennis and Jason go a lot more in-depth on this at Wilmington Local Tree Service website as well as their blog posts. Feel free to contact either one of them personally regarding the Fire Blight.

Powdery Mildew

Again, like the fire blight described above this disease is named after the visual symptoms it promotes. In this case, Powdery Mildew disease causes, well, a coating of what looks like white powder to form on the leaf surface. This disease is a fungus and typically attacks plants that like to grow in more shaded areas. Fungicides will treat this disease effectively. If you have had plants that suffer this disease, when you buy new plants for your yard, select species, which are known to be more resilient to this disease.

Witches Broom

This fungus infects a tree where the bark on branches has been damaged – whether by an accident or by pruning. Once infected, new growth on the tree will begin to grow in odd looking clusters. These clusters of growth and twigs on a branch kind of look like an old fashioned broom sometimes – hence the name! infection will be local to the growths so cut them right back and treat with fungicide spray.

Leaf Spot

Another easy to spot infection. This tree disease, like leaf rust, attacks the leaf of the tree and leaves easy to spot signs. In this case it is bright red spots on the leaf surface which will also rot straight through the leaf itself, causing large holes to appear. This fungus likes cool and wet weather like that found in Spring. It also appreciates the abundance of new growth that Spring brings. These two factors can lead to rapid spread so you must treat quickly once you spot Leaf Spot. Remove infected laves and treat with a fungicide if necessary.

With just a little vigilance you can protect your trees against serious infection.

Time to cut down or trim the trees yourself, but the chainsaw isn’t working? Check out Jason’s chainsaw trouble checklist to help effectively troubleshoot your (most likely aged) chainsaw.