High winds forecasted across the Upper Cumberland Sunday, that could mean some tree issues when you combine the arrival of spring foliage and lingering winter storm damage.
Local tree service owner Mason Harville inspects residential properties to identify structural weaknesses caused by storms. He said winter weather events place heavy stress loads on branches, often leaving behind hidden damage.
“We are getting trees that are blooming out, we have new leaves coming out, and so now everything’s turning green, we do have leaves creating resistance against the wind,” Harville said. “During the winter, there was none except for evergreen trees.”
Winter weather creates cracks in tree fibers that do not have enough time to heal before spring arrives. Harville said saturated ground combined with prior root problems can also cause entire trees to uproot when high winds occur.
“Unfortunately, there, as a homeowner, there’s not a good way to get out there and pinpoint what trees are having problems because there are trees that are internally weakened that we may not see from the eye,” Harville said. “Now, of course, when myself or another tree service comes out there dealing with this each and every season, there are things that we can look at and give pointers or tips on.”
Homeowners can maintain smaller trees themselves by looking up pruning guides and watching for exposed roots or leaning trunks. However, many residential trees are too large to maintain with a ladder at home safely, Harville said.
“One of my things especially is anything that’s cracked, broken, or damaged, we need to get that pruned back as early as possible in the spring,” Harville said. “That keeps it from coming down, but unfortunately there’s a lot that you can’t see.”
During the winter months, the majority of calls for trees blocking driveways or falling on houses involved evergreen trees or dead oaks because they were the only ones catching the wind. Now that all trees are blooming, unmaintained trees are increasingly responsible for storm damage.
“Just keep an eye on your trees and the earliest that you can do something about your trees, especially when they become a hazard, the earliest that you plan to do something, it will definitely pay off and keep you out of harm’s way in the future,” Harville said.
Residents are encouraged to schedule an inspection with a local tree service once or twice a year to identify hazardous trees near structures and electric lines.