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Arborist consultation in Greeley, CO
An honest diagnosis before you spend money. Declining trees, questionable limbs, and pre-purchase inspections.
When to get someone to look
Most people call a tree service already knowing what they want done. Sometimes the more useful call is the one where nobody cuts anything.
- A tree that is thinning, yellowing or leafing out late and you do not know why
- A large limb over the house that you are not sure about
- A tree that has started to lean, or where soil has heaved at the base
- A contractor has told you a tree must come out and you want a second opinion
- You are buying a property with large mature trees near the house
- Construction or a driveway is going in near an established tree
What we look at
Structure
Branch unions, included bark, codominant stems, cracks, cavities, decay at the base, root plate condition. The question is not whether a tree could fail — anything can — but how likely it is, and what is underneath it if it does.
Health
Canopy density, leaf size and colour, twig growth over recent seasons, deadwood distribution, and signs of insects or pathogens. A tree that has put on two inches of twig growth in a season is telling you something different from one that has put on eight.
Site
Often the real problem. Greeley trees are routinely dealing with things that have nothing to do with pests.
The site problems we see most in Greeley
Iron chlorosis from alkaline soil
The most common thing we get called about. Leaves yellow between the veins while the veins themselves stay green, usually worst at the top of the tree. Soils across the South Platte valley run high in pH, which locks up iron so the tree cannot take it up — the iron is in the soil, the tree just cannot reach it. Silver maple, red maple, pin oak and river birch are the usual sufferers here. Treatable, but it is a management problem rather than a cure.
Girdling roots
Roots circling the trunk, strangling the tree slowly over years. Almost always the legacy of a container-grown tree planted without teasing the root ball apart. The symptom is a trunk that goes straight into the ground with no visible flare.
Planted too deep
Same symptom, different cause, and very common. The root flare should be visible at the soil line. If the trunk looks like a telephone pole entering the ground, it is buried, and the tree will decline slowly for a decade.
Lawn irrigation on a tree that does not want it
Frequent shallow watering on turf schedules produces shallow tree roots and, for some species, root rot. Mature trees want infrequent deep watering out at the drip line, not daily sprinkler cycles at the trunk.
Construction damage
Trenching for a sprinkler line or grading for a patio can sever a large share of a root system. The tree often looks fine for two or three years and then declines, by which time nobody connects the two events.
We will tell you when to do nothing. A slow-growing but structurally sound tree with no target underneath it usually needs patience rather than intervention. Recommending work that is not needed is how tree services get a bad name.
Pre-purchase inspections
A standard home inspection does not cover trees. A large cottonwood with base decay ten feet from the house is a five-figure problem the buyer inherits, and it is worth knowing about before closing rather than after.
Questions we get about this
What does a consultation cost?
If you are considering work we can quote, the visit is free. For a standalone assessment where you want a written report, a risk evaluation or a pre-purchase inspection with no work attached, there is a fee we will tell you up front.
My leaves are yellow with green veins. What is that?
Almost certainly iron chlorosis. High-pH soils across the Greeley area lock up iron so the tree cannot take it up. Common in silver and red maple, pin oak and river birch. It is manageable with soil treatment or trunk injection, though it tends to be ongoing rather than a one-time fix.
Another company said my tree has to come out. Should I get a second opinion?
Yes, particularly if the recommendation came from whoever would do the removal. Some trees genuinely need to go. Plenty do not.
Can you tell me if a limb over my house is safe?
That is exactly what a risk assessment is for. We look at the attachment, any decay or cracking, the load the limb carries, and what sits beneath it.
We are building near a mature tree. Can it be saved?
Often, if we are involved before the machinery arrives. Establishing a protection zone, routing trenches outside the critical root area, and avoiding grade changes over the roots make the difference. After the fact, options narrow considerably.