Bartlett Tree Experts

After last year’s derecho storm, I noticed that the leaves on several branches of a large oak in front of my home were wilting. Not a good sign. I waited until this spring to see whether they would revive. They didn’t.
It’s a beautiful tree, so I called Bartlett Tree Experts, a firm with certified arborists, so see what the problem was. And to let me know whether it could be saved. Gary came a few days later. He examined the tree and agreed that the tree had been stressed by the derecho. But he discovered that the underlying clause was a tree disease. He told me that he thought that here was a 40% chance of saving it. That would involve trimming the dead Branches, applying medicine to the trunk, and fertilizing it in the Fall to give it strength. The price was not cheap, but I thought it was worth it to save the tree. While Gary was here, I had him inspect a few more other trees on my property. There were two adjacent trees which had grown together at the base — Gary said that Sooner or later they ought to be bound together for safety. A clump of birches close to my house — he said that they were far from growing to their full height; they ought to be bound together and a growth inhibitor applied. I decided that I would see how well they did the job at hand before I ordered more work. We set 8:30 this morning for starting the heavy work on the oak.
Several days ago, a man dropped by to treat the disease on the oak. He struck me as being very bright — he was polite and articulate, something I like.
This morning the crew arrived at exactly 8:30, ready to work. These guys were no «chainsaw jockeys». They were professionals, smart, polite, and VERY hard working. We are in the midst of a heat wave, with «feels like» temperatures over 100. They brought a cherry picker truck, since the oak is over 100′ tall. As they set up, a small amount of oil spilled on my driveway. They immediately set about cleaning it up, and Gary came with some additional stuff to clean it up, adding his apologies to the crews. He said that if the stain remained in a few days, the company would bring some power washing equipment to clean it up.
The crew worked until about 3:00. It was obviously dangerous work — the cherry picket would only go so high, so one man had to climb up in the tree to get the upper branches. I talked to the crew chief, and he said that the company has a strong culture of safety.
The crew did more than was in the contract. The contract said that they would remove and branches more than 4″ in diameter, but they got smaller stuff when it was within their reach.
At the end of the job, they got rid of all the branches and debris, and did an excellent job of cleaning up «the site». I had expected that this sort of a job might have left some plants and shrubs the worse for wear, but that did not happen.
Oh, and the oil spot — turns out they use vegetable oil in their chain saws. It’s not going to be a problem.
They did everything they said they would do, and they did it very, very well. I expect to be using their services in the future