In our busy lives, it can be so difficult to navigate the world of all those important professional services. Toilet blocked? Call the plumber. Wiring on the blink? The electrician is the go. Need a tree lopped? Call a tree lopper.
Tree loppers VS arborists
But wait just a minute – because it’s not that simple. First, let’s challenge the claim that what your property needs is a good old dose of tree lopping. Sure, if you ‘lop a tree’, you can quite rightly call yourself a tree lopper. When browsing for other tree services, you’ll undoubtedly find that adverts for tree loppers mention services that are great for those on a tight budget. But bear in mind that there is no special credentialing, accreditation or even special training or qualifications associated with becoming a tree lopper. If you lop trees, you’re a tree lopper.
But let’s dig a little deeper, because ‘tree lopping’ is something the true tree specialists – sometimes known as tree surgeons or arboriculturists – actually warn against. Tree lopping is the crude and indiscriminate slashing, cutting and hacking away of out-of-control tree branches – and it’s a controversial practice at best. It alters a tree’s health, structure and stability, and threatens your garden and even your home if the lopping is done in too reckless a manner. In other words, a tree lopper is definitely not an arborist – the most common word to describe a real, qualified, licensed, trained master of the art and professional practice of arboriculture.
Tree lopper or arborists? The answer is a no-brainer. Think of the arborist as a tree doctor, who will approach the management of your tree situation in much the same way as a medical surgeon will do prior to a delicate operation. As for tree lopping, they simply don’t do that – it’s too crude. Instead, they will do their meticulous and precise cutting and pruning only after setting clear objectives, assessing the health and status of the trees in question, the layout of your garden and property, and carefully matching the game-plan with mutually-agreed and tailored outcomes.
4 reasons to say ‘NO’ to a tree lopper
Hopefully, all of those special skills, training, qualifications and vast experience have already declared the winner of the tree loppers vs arborists debate. But if you’re still tempted, here are 4 good reasons to say “no” when a tree lopper tells you that what your tree needs is a crude round of tree lopping:
1. Disease
Crude hacking into trees and their branches leaves an untreated wound, which then becomes subject to the risk of disease, bacteria and tree pest infestations. The result can be decay and even tree death.
2. Re-growth
Part of an arborist’s assessment about how to tackle your pruning task will be how to manage and minimise rapid re-growth. Think of your tree as it is – a living thing. When you simply hack into it without skill or thought, it can enter a state of shock and a process of rapid, wild and uncontrolled re-growth.
3. Instability
This re-growth can grow back both poorly and erratically, endangering the basic structure and integrity of your once-sturdy tree.
4. Liability
Don’t forget, because a ‘tree lopper’ isn’t a real professional, any damage that might be done as a result of this crude practice could come back to bite you very hard. We’re talking about things like big branches failing and then falling onto a neighbour’s roof – and outcomes that are even more devastating. From a legal point of view, you may not have a leg to stand on.
Tree loppers VS arborists – It’s a no-brainer
Today’s takeaway? If you have a tree that needs some work done on it, get in touch with the very best and most experienced local arborist you can find. They won’t just use their verified know-how and specialised equipment – they’ll follow and in many cases far exceed key Australian Standards for the safe, ethical and effective management and maintenance of trees.
Need help from the Gold Coast tree removal experts? At JC Tree Services, we care about your trees from the deepest roots to the tip of the crown, servicing a huge area from the Gold Coast to northern NSW, and from South Brisbane to the scenic rim and beyond. Give Jez and the friendly team a shout today.
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