If you have trees on your New England property, you already know that they require a substantial amount of work. Whether it’s regular pruning, pest and disease management, or even occasional removal needs, these are tasks that are best left in the hands of a tree care expert.
But when it comes to hiring tree care services, you’ll find there are a wide array of options. If you’ve explored any of these choices, you might have noticed there are some variations in the types of people who work with trees.
Is it that big of a deal to hire a company that employs Certified Arborists?
We know that there’s quite a bit of misunderstanding around this and a lot of different terminology thrown around. In this article, we’ll clear up some of the misinformation and help you understand why it’s always worthwhile to choose to work with a Certified Arborist, especially in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region.
Jump To:
What is an Arborist?
What is Arboriculture?
What Do Arborists Do?
Do I Really Need a Certified Arborist?
How Do Arborists Help Preserve Trees?
FAQs on Certified Arborists
How to Find and Choose a New England Arborist
What is an Arborist?
Generally speaking, anyone who works with trees can call themselves an arborist. But a Certified Arborist is someone who has completed specialized training and has actually become “certified” by the International Society of Arboriculture. This helps to set the bar with an industry standard for care.
With a Certified Arborist, you can expect:
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A strong knowledge base rooted in science and specialized learning
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Training to diagnose and treat complex bugs, fungi, and soil issues
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Understanding and training around rigorous safety standards
The bottom line? A Certified Arborist has had to pass testing and maintain a certain standard.
What is Arboriculture?
Arboriculture focuses on the health and well-being of trees and incorporates services including pruning, fertilization, and pest and disease management. It also includes the diagnosis and treatment of problems. Studying arboriculture is complex as trees are complicated and numerous.
The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) is a non-profit organization that promotes the professional practice of arboriculture. ISA offers certification programs, demonstrating that tree care professionals have demonstrated a certain level of knowledge. They also have a tool to help you find Certified Arborists, like myself and Evan Mercier.
What Do Arborists Do?
Arborists manage tree health in a variety of important ways. Some of their core duties include pruning, health diagnosis, plant health care, consulting, and tree removal.
While these services can be provided by anyone calling themselves an arborist, there are benefits to hiring a company that employs actual Certified Arborists, who have extensive training backed up by an official certification. Having that high level of certification can elevate the care that the trees on your property receive, ensuring they get the best care possible.
Do I Really Need a Certified Arborist?
There are a lot of great reasons to hire a tree care company with professional expertise. While some homeowners might attempt to tackle small tree care jobs on their own, it often becomes more time-consuming and complicated than they realized it would be.
We have picked up plenty of partially completed pruning jobs where homeowners thought they could handle it themselves.
There’s also a significant safety factor involved.
Tree work like pruning and tree removal can actually be quite hazardous. These services typically involve using serious equipment, climbing ladders, and making cuts that could lead to a limb or entire portion of a tree falling if a mistake is made. It’s arduous work that requires a lot of skill and experience.
And, of course, there’s the knowledge and expertise needed to perform these tasks correctly and without damaging the tree.
A service like pruning can be quite complex as there are different tree pruning techniques that can be used for different purposes. These involve making different cuts depending on the end goal of pruning. Improper pruning can do more harm than good in the long run.
A tree care professional will know exactly which branches to cut to have the most impact. There is not only an aesthetic benefit to pruning but also a health benefit, too. When you prune away dead, dying, or diseased branches, it helps restore energy into the rest of the tree. It also isolates problems and prevents them from spreading and impacting the tree as a whole.
But pruning mistakes can also lead to a tree’s decline. If you cut the wrong branches or prune too much off, you could severely harm your tree. You also won’t see all of the benefits of pruning if you make errors. Pruning mistakes can lead to problems with disease, decay, and pest infestations.
When you prune a tree, there has to be a strategic plan in place. There is so much more to it than just haphazardly choosing branches to cut. When you make poor-cut choices, you could potentially harm the tree rather than help it.
How Do Arborists Help Preserve Trees?
The goal, whenever possible, is to preserve a tree’s health. We’ve said before that we believe trees are treasures, and we are their guardians. This philosophy is the guiding light for our arborists on staff.
Certified Arborists play a valuable role in preserving the health and longevity of trees by diagnosing problems early on and putting corrective measures in place before it’s too late. Their emphasis on proactive maintenance can go an incredibly long way in keeping trees healthy for many years to come.
FAQs on Certified Arborists
Is an arborist the same as a tree specialist?
Terms like arborist and tree specialist have no official definition. Anyone can call themselves an arborist. But a Certified Arborist means the person has received a certification from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA).
Is it important to hire a Certified Arborist over an uncertified arborist?
Yes, it is important to hire a company that employs Certified Arborists as this is the only way to know they are qualified to a defined standard.
Should I hire an Certified Arborist to take care of my trees?
Yes, tree care is very complicated and mistakes can be serious. We definitely recommend choosing a company that employs Certified Arborists to care for the trees on your New England property.
How can I find an arborist in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine?
There are plenty of tree care services in the Seacoast region. We recommend doing your research and specifically seeking out companies that employ Certified Arborists. This is the best way to know that they have knowledge and experience that is backed up by an industry standard.
How to Find and Choose a New England Arborist
Making a wise choice in arborist services in Southern NH, Northeastern MA, and Southern ME will be critical when it comes to getting the best results.
Choosing a tree care company that values extensive training is important. You want to make sure that whoever is working on your property’s trees actually knows exactly what they’re doing. You can get a sense of how experienced a company is by spending some time on their website and also reaching out and asking some questions.
As you do your research, we recommend looking for companies that employ Certified Arborists.
In addition to knowing exactly what cuts to make on your tree or how to remove it as safely as possible, a Certified Arborist will also be able to identify and diagnose potential tree problems. Trees can be subject to problems like diseases, pests, and more. It always helps to have an expert eye taking a good look at your trees.
If you decide to hire a tree service we would love for you to consider Seacoast Tree Care.
At Seacoast Tree Care, we’re committed to preserving the health and beauty of trees by performing vital services like tree pruning, tree removal, and general tree care the right way. When you make a wise choice in tree services, you’ll ultimately take an important step in protecting the value of your property’s trees.
Ready for safer and healthier trees at your Southern NH, ME, or MA home? Request your consultation and get a quote for tree pruning or other tree care services. We take care of properties in and around Stratham, NH, Kittery, ME, and Haverhill, MA. By making a wise choice, you’ll know your trees are in good hands.
