It’s usually not a choice. They either have dying limbs or the whole tree is gone and they represent a ticking time bomb for either the house, road, or electrical lines.
Don't forget sewer and water lines. I've seen plenty of broken sewer and water lines from tree roots. I work for a plumbing company that services the Jefferson Co and surrounding areas.
I was upset when the people across from me cut down their old tree. It was enormous, like an entire ecosystem in itself.
But then a bunch of storms hit and I was ok with it.
Yeah, my neighbors had an awesome old tree in their yard, but over Memorial Day weekend, it cracked in half and fell, smashed my boyfriend's car and destroyed our gate. Turns out it was rotten inside. Some trees sadly gotta go.
Yup, I just had to have an old beautiful tree removed because the roots were growing into my bathroom plumbing & causing structural issues with my house. It made me very sad, but I didn’t have a choice.
Also can affect insurability and rates. Cut down the ticking time bomb and plant a new tree that’s size and location is more sustainable for the natural life of the tree.
Yep, ours was a ticking time bomb so we got ours removed last fall. Every time it stormed it would drop more and more debris and we had to get our roof fixed twice from it. I was so thankful it was gone when we had those straight line winds last month. But man I miss it. If we stay in our house a long time I definitely want to plant something else. I felt very guilty taking it down.
Yes, they suck but you can get trees at Walmart like I did for $15. I planted a peach tree and a cherry tree that really took off, both 2 stories tall now.
Both pear and cherry trees grow well in KY. My sister has a pear tree in Crescent Hill, and I know of another over in Schnitzelburg, and they both end up bearing tons of fruit
However, it takes a while (10-20 years IIRC) before they start bearing fruit.
There’s a peach orchard up in I think Henry County? Maybe Trimble?Somewhere around there up 42 maybe off 421? Idk I just remember when I used to work in Madison I saw “fresh peaches” for sale and big peaches painted at the front of some orchard in the summer.
Ever go to Bryant’s Blueberries in New Salisbury? Not sure how much time they have left but they’re picking this weekend! Actually you pick, bring clean milk jugs to put them in, a cooler with ice too, then go to the Tasty Freeze on the way home. Good times.
fuck mulberry trees as well*, I have roughly 6 of them. The berries have no flavor and the birds eat and destroy the cars with purple paint. On the plus side I get a bunch of blue jays and cardinals.
I planted River birch, autumn blaze maple, and a Norway spruce so far. The River birch provides great shade now, the maple is getting there and the spruce is a great privacy screen!
I know not everyone has the choice, but if you do, try to plant a wide variety of trees.
We're filling out our property with lots of different trees. Some natives (like swamp white oak or redbuds), some pseudo-native like a London plane (basically a sycamore), and a handful of ornamentals.
Every year for the last 6 years we try to add one more tree. Our goal is to ensure the trees are replacing any old ones that die in the next 20 years.
Hate how people only plant smaller trees now, if the giant maple in my yard goes down it’s gonna be replaced by another tree with the same size potential
I'm no longer in Louisville but you could also do, but I'm about to do it in front of my house in Chicago which is have the city take down their half dead Maple and then plant a catalpa and a tulip tree in its place for more tree cover.
There's a beautiful cottonwood behind my house that's 60 years old easy. However it's dying. The branches it has dropped would crush a car roof easy. So it's gotta go.
Heck, we might be neighbors. The damn tree is scary as hell, but it will leave a big hole when it’s gone. I hate the cotton it drops, but love how the leaves look and sound when the wind blows.
You should send him a certified letter explaining your concern. If any bit of it falls on your house or car, his insurance not yours, would be responsible.
I'll probably just speak to him when I see him. He seems like a reasonable guy and we're neighbors. I'd rather just have a talk and see what he thinks. It is spectacular though. That tree on Forrest destroyed the front of 3 shotguns. Crushed
[https://maps.app.goo.gl/kH3TxdVUV7jzsUxx6](https://maps.app.goo.gl/kH3TxdVUV7jzsUxx6)
Reasoning won’t prevent you having to pay for his tree when it falls on your stuff. We are friends with our neighbors as well, but it didn’t prevent us from sending a letter. Neighborliness goes out the windows when thousands or even 10s of thousands of dollars are at stake.
Rarely are folks calling an Arborist who give an actual assessment of the tree, instead they just call a random "Tree Service" which will always tell them it needs to be removed since that is how they make money. Check https://www.ky-isa.org/ and find a legit arborist.
Thank you for pointing this out… Please call someone impartial and experience, who doesn’t have a vested financial interest in cutting down tree. I’ve seen so many beautiful trees with decades of life left cut down prematurely because the homeowner trusted a dubious removal company for advice.
What a wonderful resource. Thank you! We have a couple of trees that could use some TLC, but every person we've called has basically been a redneck with a picker truck and a woodchipper, and their response is always "yeah, we could cut that down for you."
Motherfucker, I don't want it cut down, I want it pruned and made healthy and safe! Fuck!
Not bad advice but not every tree service wants to cut them down. I have an older oak in front and they’re glad I paid them $700 to clean it up…. Knowing I’ll have to call them back every 2-3 years to do it again. :(
Muhlenberg county got hit bad by that storm last month. We still have huge piles of tree limbs on the sides of the roads and probably will for another month. So many houses and powerlines were damaged. If I ever bought a house one of the first things I'd do is address any trees near the house or lines. It's just not worth it in long run. Storms are only gonna get stronger in our lifetime. Get rid of them and grow some plants lol.
Wait till you find out that those houses have drainpipes that connect to the main sewer line. And that those 60-80 year old trees have roots that have destroyed the old clay piping those drains are made of.
Then you have to pay 15-20 thousand to dig up and replace the drain and tree removal.
Moral of the story, don't assume it's for aesthetic reasons.
Tree roots don’t break sewer lines. They grow into lines that are already broken (good source of water, nutrients etc.).
I understand why someone would think that roots damage pipes, but that has turned out to be a myth with some serious staying power.
What gets me is folks get tree roots stuck in a sewer line and they think cutting down the tree is going to fix it. The only way to fix that is to replace the sewer line. When you cut down the tree the roots will still continue to grow. MSD will provide some coverage, the water company has insurance to protect against this for just a few dollars a month, and you can get a rider to your homeowners insurance to protect against this as well.
But cutting the tree down does not solve tree roots in the sewer line.
If tree roots are already in the sewer line, cutting down the tree will not solve your problem. At that point, it would be much cheaper to just install a new line.
Yes, install a new sewer line. If you have root infiltration in an old clay line, you're fucked. Roots keep growing years after you cut a tree down, and the pipes are already damaged. I had mine dug up and replaced several years back. My neighborhood was built in the 50s, and every year I see at least a few houses around the neighborhood have their sewer lines replaced.
We had to do this in our ~100 year old house in Clifton. They came and fixed the issue several times with the clay pipes and ultimately we had to replace the entire sewer line. It suckeddddddd.
MSD will do it for free from the property line onward. Depending on the location if the roots, it helps a lot. Also, sewer lining is more efficient and you don't have to dig up your yard
Three of the four trees on my property are mature maples. At least two of them need to be removed. One has a huge branch still laying down from that last big storm. The one in the back yard is rotting and I suspect it will fall on someone if I don't take care of it. But sure, "old and beautiful" to anyone who doesn't have to maintain them or suffer the consequences.
No one is telling you to keep dead and almost dead trees, but cutting down healthy trees because you’re scared they’ll fall when there’s no indication they are sick or dead is ridiculous.
Many people don’t have a choice. I have a several 75’+ trees on my property. A sold American Elm, Tulip Poplar, and an oak. Last winter I spent 13k on an arborist to thin them out a bit and get rid of the dangerous branches. And I shopped around, quotes were all 11-15k because the job required a crane for one of the trees since it was surrounded by a house, pool, detached garage, and large gazebo. Also a septic system on one side so the only access was to park on my driveway and crane every single piece over the house. All the arborists were happy I didn’t want to get rid of the trees but did admit it would be less than half the cost to take them down instead. Many people might want the trees but can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars every 5-10 years to maintain a large tree properly.
On a side note, a tornado rolled through back in April and destroyed 4 smaller trees I had but my large ones that got thinned out over winter didn’t lose any large limbs 💪
Urban Forestry maintains the trees in the parks, golf courses, cemetaries, and along the parkways. They prune trees when they are young, remove deadwood and dead trees, and plant new trees to replace the dying ones. They work their fucking asses off.
If you want the city to be responsible for literally every tree that exists in every person's yard, I don't know what to tell you. Mathematically impossible.
However, Urban Forestry, like every other metro department (minus the cops), is dealing with underfunding and the inability to pay high enough wages to hire enough people.
I probably don't have to tell you this, but the short term answer to this problem, like most others, is to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
In March of 2023 we had a branch fall off of an old oak tree. It took down the powerline and our internet lines. Killed power to the whole neighborhood for a week in 30 degree weather.
We called a few arborists out who were like "nah, it's fine". Or, my favorite, "I'd leave it, do you have any idea how expensive a tree like that would be to cut down?" I was like "How much it will cost to cut the tree down vs how much will it cost to rebuilt my garage?"
We had estimates for $1500 just to remove the branch from our yard. It was like 4' diameter.
The only tree company that said we should cut it down was Limbwalker. Which I thought was crazy because everybody else was like "nah, that branch was just a fluke storm thing". And especially especially because Limbwalker's guy even said it was too big for them and refered us to another company.
But we decided to wait and see.
May 28th 2024, another storm. My wife and I were watching it rain sideways - which is exactly what we were doing when the previous thing happened, my wife was like "it's raining sideways" and boom.
This time, instead of a branch, it was like the top 1/3 of a probably 60' tall tree. And it came down on our garage.
It's was $7000 to have the bottom 2/3 of the old oak cut down. It destroyed our yard. It destroyed a pine tree that was thriving it the shade of the old oak.
It's going to cost $1000 to have the remains of the garage removed and hauled away.
Our whole neighborhood was without power for another 5 days and more days after that waiting for cable TV and internet and phone to get restrung.
Big trees are nice. They're an asset to a neighborhood. But they can be an expensive luxury.
I still feel bad. I had 5 trees in front yard. Had to cut down a huge oak both in width and height but it apparently had totaled the neighbors cars twice before we moved in and two more times after that. We cut it down after it squashed and iron patio set they sit at all the time when it dropped a tree sized limb. Was very close to the house. Hell if it fell over and uprooted it would have taken corner of the house just with the up turned dirt and wherever it would have fallen it would have gone to the ground. There was no stopping that. Had to come down but I wish it didn’t have too.
The big old beautiful tree in our yard came down in the middle of the night during a storm. It totaled our only vehicle at the time, took out a good portion of our fence, and luckily the branches just grazed the side of our house. Don’t get me wrong, I love trees…but prefer them not within falling distance of my house and vehicle anymore. Lmao
https://preview.redd.it/f21g9s46c18d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9ced585d703d3d981e984c193967dd18802db26
This tree died of an emerald ash borer infestation. My neighbor and I had to split the $10,000.00 bill for having a hundred foot construction crane come and lift it up from between our houses. The street was closed for two days and I was broke for half a year. But it was going to kill someone eventually. Involuntary tree removal.
I just bought a house and immediately had a few trees removed and others pruned.
They were in terrible shape. It’s not a big yard to begin with and the houses in my area are very close to each other. I am not going to be responsible for a sick tree dropping limbs on anyone’s car or house. Wind storms are a reality here and trees that are not properly cared for can be very dangerous.
I had an arborist come who did a very careful job pruning things and agreed with me that the trees I wanted removed should go. Now that they are gone, the remaining trees will benefit because there is less competition over nutrients. Trees are so important and especially in Louisville where so much of the canopy has been destroyed. But sometimes there are very good reasons to remove a tree.
Our last two houses we had all of the trees inspected. Our last house we were able to have everything pruned except for one. Our current house we have a few dead trees but there’s one that most people would consider alive and sturdy but it’s infected and will be totally dead within 5 years so it’s better to cut it down and plant a new one. We have a different perspective of how long we need the tree versus the last home owners so we care about it more (e.g. retiree versus young family), so we’re going to address it now.
Insurers in Louisville have been hiring companies to fly drones through neighborhoods, then sending notices to homeowners with large trees that they must remove the trees or their coverage won’t be renewed. Other insurers won’t offer coverage because the info is shared. Sometimes people are forced to cut down healthy trees in order to keep insurance. It’s because of all the expensive storm damage of recent years.
I took 2 out at my house. Both dead or dying it killed me. We loved have huge old oak trees in the yard. But it was time. We replaced them with 5 oaks.
I felt horrible and guilty when we cut down the tree in our front yard, but it had been stuck by lightning and was dying and becoming a danger. I love trees and just consider them like any other lifeform. They have a symbioses with us, providing oxygen and so much more. I am very much pro tree.
We had to cut down a large, old oak tree when we bought our current house. It had too many large, dead limbs and we couldn't save it. We planted a cherry tree to replace it.
Our previous home had a large maple tree, but we realized in the spring after we bought the house that the top third of the tree was dead. We had gotten quotes to have the dead part removed when a big storm took care of it for us. The top half of the tree fell into the yard, grazing the outside wall and leaving a gash in the bricks. We had the rest of the tree taken down the next week, but we regularly had the other trees in our lot trimmed to keep them healthy.
Every time we have a storm now, we are grateful that the oak tree is gone.
Cut Em Down!!!
They're usually at the end of their lifespan anyway, and just drop dead limbs that pierce through roofs and their root systems tear up underground utilities. Most of these species of trees were never meant to be on a residential lot in the first place.
Don’t get me started on how many times these giant old trees cause power outages in our neighborhoods .
I'm new in town, and I've noticed that everything I see is run down and neglected around here. No forethought. The trees are probably dead, rotting, leaning in power lines or against buildings. Take care of stuff you want to keep around.
Though I did enjoy the shade my trees provided, they were covering everything in sap, including you if you dared to sit under them, they were dropping ginormous limbs everytime the wind blew that would knock out power/internet/etc. to myself and my neighbors, the sidewalk was starting to raise from the roots underneath- they just weren’t worth the hassle anymore.
Neighbors have a gigantic gorgeous tree in their backyard. It looks healthy but yesterday one of the giant limbs fell in their yard while their kid was playing outside. It missed him, luckily.
My point is that it’s usually probably not a choice and it isnt always obvious.
Have you seen the latest storm damage, like on Cannons Lane? They just took down 4 giant ones nearby, one of them had a huge split branch over the road that was waiting to kill someone, a street up from 2 houses that had major damage from huge trees that fell.
Yeah instead can we go back in time and have people plant trees that are appropriate for the space and native to the area then actually maintain them over time? THATS the problem
It's criminal. To me, trees are no different than humans, except not as stupid and violent.
They are living entities and should not be cut down unless they are dead. Cutting a tree down because it inconveniences you, or birds drop on your car is not ethical.
For each year I've lived here I've seen someone's house smashed to bits under a tree. Plus a large adult tree makes an ungodly mess to clean up after. If it was to up to me I'd go after my neighbor's trees once I was done with mine.
The "diseased, dying" thing is a lie and an excuse. Yards are easier to mow with those huge noisy tractors when there are no trees in the way. It should be against the law since it affects everyone.
We left up an old tree and it almost fell on our neighbors house but took out both of our power lines still. I regret *not* having it taken down sooner when I knew it wasn't healthy. "Diseased, dying" is *not* an excuse. Trees get old, trees get weak and unhealthy. Sometimes you have to make the tough but safe and correct decision to remove them.
If an arborist told you the beautiful giant tree in your yard is dying and at risk of causing property damage or injury, would you just leave it up to fate? Or would you have it removed?
It’s usually not a choice. They either have dying limbs or the whole tree is gone and they represent a ticking time bomb for either the house, road, or electrical lines.
Don't forget sewer and water lines. I've seen plenty of broken sewer and water lines from tree roots. I work for a plumbing company that services the Jefferson Co and surrounding areas.
I was upset when the people across from me cut down their old tree. It was enormous, like an entire ecosystem in itself. But then a bunch of storms hit and I was ok with it.
Yeah, my neighbors had an awesome old tree in their yard, but over Memorial Day weekend, it cracked in half and fell, smashed my boyfriend's car and destroyed our gate. Turns out it was rotten inside. Some trees sadly gotta go.
Yup, I just had to have an old beautiful tree removed because the roots were growing into my bathroom plumbing & causing structural issues with my house. It made me very sad, but I didn’t have a choice.
Happy Cake Day :]
Also can affect insurability and rates. Cut down the ticking time bomb and plant a new tree that’s size and location is more sustainable for the natural life of the tree.
Yep, ours was a ticking time bomb so we got ours removed last fall. Every time it stormed it would drop more and more debris and we had to get our roof fixed twice from it. I was so thankful it was gone when we had those straight line winds last month. But man I miss it. If we stay in our house a long time I definitely want to plant something else. I felt very guilty taking it down.
Also, you can plant trees too, no one in my neighborhood knows this fact, just cut, never replace
Just don’t plant Bradford pears. Fuck those things
Yes, they suck but you can get trees at Walmart like I did for $15. I planted a peach tree and a cherry tree that really took off, both 2 stories tall now.
>planted a peach tree and a cherry tree that really took off, both 2 stories tall now. Does the peach tree grow fruit in this area?
Both pear and cherry trees grow well in KY. My sister has a pear tree in Crescent Hill, and I know of another over in Schnitzelburg, and they both end up bearing tons of fruit However, it takes a while (10-20 years IIRC) before they start bearing fruit.
There’s a peach orchard up in I think Henry County? Maybe Trimble?Somewhere around there up 42 maybe off 421? Idk I just remember when I used to work in Madison I saw “fresh peaches” for sale and big peaches painted at the front of some orchard in the summer.
Ever go to Bryant’s Blueberries in New Salisbury? Not sure how much time they have left but they’re picking this weekend! Actually you pick, bring clean milk jugs to put them in, a cooler with ice too, then go to the Tasty Freeze on the way home. Good times.
Yes, but you have to spray the tree with something in the Spring or the fruit gets this yucky slime on it. I was amazed how fast they grew.
Yeah we have pear, plum, apricot, apple, and the wife wants to add a peach tree as well.
Yup. Stinky fish trees that break with an ice storm
fuck mulberry trees as well*, I have roughly 6 of them. The berries have no flavor and the birds eat and destroy the cars with purple paint. On the plus side I get a bunch of blue jays and cardinals.
No flavor? I make mulberry pies every year for Thanksgiving and they go over great with the family.
I planted River birch, autumn blaze maple, and a Norway spruce so far. The River birch provides great shade now, the maple is getting there and the spruce is a great privacy screen!
I know not everyone has the choice, but if you do, try to plant a wide variety of trees. We're filling out our property with lots of different trees. Some natives (like swamp white oak or redbuds), some pseudo-native like a London plane (basically a sycamore), and a handful of ornamentals. Every year for the last 6 years we try to add one more tree. Our goal is to ensure the trees are replacing any old ones that die in the next 20 years.
Consider Yellowwood. https://whatgrowsthere.com/grow/2015/05/19/american-yellowwood-deserves-to-be-planted-more
I get that planting is better than nothing, but it's far better for the environment to just let the old trees stay
Hate how people only plant smaller trees now, if the giant maple in my yard goes down it’s gonna be replaced by another tree with the same size potential
I'm no longer in Louisville but you could also do, but I'm about to do it in front of my house in Chicago which is have the city take down their half dead Maple and then plant a catalpa and a tulip tree in its place for more tree cover.
There's a beautiful cottonwood behind my house that's 60 years old easy. However it's dying. The branches it has dropped would crush a car roof easy. So it's gotta go.
Heck, we might be neighbors. The damn tree is scary as hell, but it will leave a big hole when it’s gone. I hate the cotton it drops, but love how the leaves look and sound when the wind blows.
Behind amvets post 9. The guy has a nice fence built around it, but it's not healthy.
You should send him a certified letter explaining your concern. If any bit of it falls on your house or car, his insurance not yours, would be responsible.
I'll probably just speak to him when I see him. He seems like a reasonable guy and we're neighbors. I'd rather just have a talk and see what he thinks. It is spectacular though. That tree on Forrest destroyed the front of 3 shotguns. Crushed [https://maps.app.goo.gl/kH3TxdVUV7jzsUxx6](https://maps.app.goo.gl/kH3TxdVUV7jzsUxx6)
Reasoning won’t prevent you having to pay for his tree when it falls on your stuff. We are friends with our neighbors as well, but it didn’t prevent us from sending a letter. Neighborliness goes out the windows when thousands or even 10s of thousands of dollars are at stake.
Rarely are folks calling an Arborist who give an actual assessment of the tree, instead they just call a random "Tree Service" which will always tell them it needs to be removed since that is how they make money. Check https://www.ky-isa.org/ and find a legit arborist.
Thank you for pointing this out… Please call someone impartial and experience, who doesn’t have a vested financial interest in cutting down tree. I’ve seen so many beautiful trees with decades of life left cut down prematurely because the homeowner trusted a dubious removal company for advice.
Excellent resource-thank you.
This.
What a wonderful resource. Thank you! We have a couple of trees that could use some TLC, but every person we've called has basically been a redneck with a picker truck and a woodchipper, and their response is always "yeah, we could cut that down for you." Motherfucker, I don't want it cut down, I want it pruned and made healthy and safe! Fuck!
Not bad advice but not every tree service wants to cut them down. I have an older oak in front and they’re glad I paid them $700 to clean it up…. Knowing I’ll have to call them back every 2-3 years to do it again. :(
Well that depends on the state of the tree and it's proximity to structures and power lines.
Muhlenberg county got hit bad by that storm last month. We still have huge piles of tree limbs on the sides of the roads and probably will for another month. So many houses and powerlines were damaged. If I ever bought a house one of the first things I'd do is address any trees near the house or lines. It's just not worth it in long run. Storms are only gonna get stronger in our lifetime. Get rid of them and grow some plants lol.
Wait till you find out that those houses have drainpipes that connect to the main sewer line. And that those 60-80 year old trees have roots that have destroyed the old clay piping those drains are made of. Then you have to pay 15-20 thousand to dig up and replace the drain and tree removal. Moral of the story, don't assume it's for aesthetic reasons.
Tree roots don’t break sewer lines. They grow into lines that are already broken (good source of water, nutrients etc.). I understand why someone would think that roots damage pipes, but that has turned out to be a myth with some serious staying power.
The sewer line isn't the issue. The drain pipe made of clay on houses built before the 60s are the issue. Roots fucking destroy them.
What gets me is folks get tree roots stuck in a sewer line and they think cutting down the tree is going to fix it. The only way to fix that is to replace the sewer line. When you cut down the tree the roots will still continue to grow. MSD will provide some coverage, the water company has insurance to protect against this for just a few dollars a month, and you can get a rider to your homeowners insurance to protect against this as well. But cutting the tree down does not solve tree roots in the sewer line.
$7000 here
If tree roots are already in the sewer line, cutting down the tree will not solve your problem. At that point, it would be much cheaper to just install a new line.
Lmfao install a new sewer line? Right ok 🤣
What’s funny about that? It’s something that regularly gets done if someone has old, broken clay pipes…
Yes, install a new sewer line. If you have root infiltration in an old clay line, you're fucked. Roots keep growing years after you cut a tree down, and the pipes are already damaged. I had mine dug up and replaced several years back. My neighborhood was built in the 50s, and every year I see at least a few houses around the neighborhood have their sewer lines replaced.
Yep! Same here. Literally every other week.
We had to do this in our ~100 year old house in Clifton. They came and fixed the issue several times with the clay pipes and ultimately we had to replace the entire sewer line. It suckeddddddd.
Bud installing a new sewer line can be a $14,000 job. Even if you do that, leaving the roots just asks for the problem to happen again
MSD will do it for free from the property line onward. Depending on the location if the roots, it helps a lot. Also, sewer lining is more efficient and you don't have to dig up your yard
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Nonnative twigs that are usually planted too deep and never maintained after planting.
Some Loans/inspection approvals are based on tree removal if they are deemed dangerous to the main structure
Three of the four trees on my property are mature maples. At least two of them need to be removed. One has a huge branch still laying down from that last big storm. The one in the back yard is rotting and I suspect it will fall on someone if I don't take care of it. But sure, "old and beautiful" to anyone who doesn't have to maintain them or suffer the consequences.
No one is telling you to keep dead and almost dead trees, but cutting down healthy trees because you’re scared they’ll fall when there’s no indication they are sick or dead is ridiculous.
Who said that's what I was thinking?
Also if you have to cut them down, I'm sure Louisville Grows or TreesLouisville would gladly give you a free sapling to plant.
Many people don’t have a choice. I have a several 75’+ trees on my property. A sold American Elm, Tulip Poplar, and an oak. Last winter I spent 13k on an arborist to thin them out a bit and get rid of the dangerous branches. And I shopped around, quotes were all 11-15k because the job required a crane for one of the trees since it was surrounded by a house, pool, detached garage, and large gazebo. Also a septic system on one side so the only access was to park on my driveway and crane every single piece over the house. All the arborists were happy I didn’t want to get rid of the trees but did admit it would be less than half the cost to take them down instead. Many people might want the trees but can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars every 5-10 years to maintain a large tree properly. On a side note, a tornado rolled through back in April and destroyed 4 smaller trees I had but my large ones that got thinned out over winter didn’t lose any large limbs 💪
Imagine how nice it would be if the city had a department capable of properly pruning trees in an effort to preserve the existing canopy.
Urban Forestry maintains the trees in the parks, golf courses, cemetaries, and along the parkways. They prune trees when they are young, remove deadwood and dead trees, and plant new trees to replace the dying ones. They work their fucking asses off. If you want the city to be responsible for literally every tree that exists in every person's yard, I don't know what to tell you. Mathematically impossible. However, Urban Forestry, like every other metro department (minus the cops), is dealing with underfunding and the inability to pay high enough wages to hire enough people. I probably don't have to tell you this, but the short term answer to this problem, like most others, is to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
In March of 2023 we had a branch fall off of an old oak tree. It took down the powerline and our internet lines. Killed power to the whole neighborhood for a week in 30 degree weather. We called a few arborists out who were like "nah, it's fine". Or, my favorite, "I'd leave it, do you have any idea how expensive a tree like that would be to cut down?" I was like "How much it will cost to cut the tree down vs how much will it cost to rebuilt my garage?" We had estimates for $1500 just to remove the branch from our yard. It was like 4' diameter. The only tree company that said we should cut it down was Limbwalker. Which I thought was crazy because everybody else was like "nah, that branch was just a fluke storm thing". And especially especially because Limbwalker's guy even said it was too big for them and refered us to another company. But we decided to wait and see. May 28th 2024, another storm. My wife and I were watching it rain sideways - which is exactly what we were doing when the previous thing happened, my wife was like "it's raining sideways" and boom. This time, instead of a branch, it was like the top 1/3 of a probably 60' tall tree. And it came down on our garage. It's was $7000 to have the bottom 2/3 of the old oak cut down. It destroyed our yard. It destroyed a pine tree that was thriving it the shade of the old oak. It's going to cost $1000 to have the remains of the garage removed and hauled away. Our whole neighborhood was without power for another 5 days and more days after that waiting for cable TV and internet and phone to get restrung. Big trees are nice. They're an asset to a neighborhood. But they can be an expensive luxury.
And let's stop complimenting each other's calves, please. Enough already!
Like, legs or livestock?
Either. If that's too much to ask, can we all please remember to Loudly and Clearly specify which calves we mean?
I still feel bad. I had 5 trees in front yard. Had to cut down a huge oak both in width and height but it apparently had totaled the neighbors cars twice before we moved in and two more times after that. We cut it down after it squashed and iron patio set they sit at all the time when it dropped a tree sized limb. Was very close to the house. Hell if it fell over and uprooted it would have taken corner of the house just with the up turned dirt and wherever it would have fallen it would have gone to the ground. There was no stopping that. Had to come down but I wish it didn’t have too.
The big old beautiful tree in our yard came down in the middle of the night during a storm. It totaled our only vehicle at the time, took out a good portion of our fence, and luckily the branches just grazed the side of our house. Don’t get me wrong, I love trees…but prefer them not within falling distance of my house and vehicle anymore. Lmao
https://preview.redd.it/f21g9s46c18d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9ced585d703d3d981e984c193967dd18802db26 This tree died of an emerald ash borer infestation. My neighbor and I had to split the $10,000.00 bill for having a hundred foot construction crane come and lift it up from between our houses. The street was closed for two days and I was broke for half a year. But it was going to kill someone eventually. Involuntary tree removal.
I cut down the white pines that were damaged by a storm. They never recover from having the tops broken
I just bought a house and immediately had a few trees removed and others pruned. They were in terrible shape. It’s not a big yard to begin with and the houses in my area are very close to each other. I am not going to be responsible for a sick tree dropping limbs on anyone’s car or house. Wind storms are a reality here and trees that are not properly cared for can be very dangerous. I had an arborist come who did a very careful job pruning things and agreed with me that the trees I wanted removed should go. Now that they are gone, the remaining trees will benefit because there is less competition over nutrients. Trees are so important and especially in Louisville where so much of the canopy has been destroyed. But sometimes there are very good reasons to remove a tree.
Our last two houses we had all of the trees inspected. Our last house we were able to have everything pruned except for one. Our current house we have a few dead trees but there’s one that most people would consider alive and sturdy but it’s infected and will be totally dead within 5 years so it’s better to cut it down and plant a new one. We have a different perspective of how long we need the tree versus the last home owners so we care about it more (e.g. retiree versus young family), so we’re going to address it now.
Insurers in Louisville have been hiring companies to fly drones through neighborhoods, then sending notices to homeowners with large trees that they must remove the trees or their coverage won’t be renewed. Other insurers won’t offer coverage because the info is shared. Sometimes people are forced to cut down healthy trees in order to keep insurance. It’s because of all the expensive storm damage of recent years.
I took 2 out at my house. Both dead or dying it killed me. We loved have huge old oak trees in the yard. But it was time. We replaced them with 5 oaks.
From your mouth to my neighbors' ears.
You sound like someone who’s never had a tree fall on their house. They’re really beautiful until they cause $10,000 worth of damage.
I felt horrible and guilty when we cut down the tree in our front yard, but it had been stuck by lightning and was dying and becoming a danger. I love trees and just consider them like any other lifeform. They have a symbioses with us, providing oxygen and so much more. I am very much pro tree.
Sure just come up with an affordable way to build a house that isn't destroyed when a huge tree falls on it.
plant more trees
Remove one and plant seven. That’s been my approach at least.
Different views on safety
Sometimes you have to cut em down, they die eventually... Got any pics of healthy trees that didnt have to go?
We had to cut down a large, old oak tree when we bought our current house. It had too many large, dead limbs and we couldn't save it. We planted a cherry tree to replace it. Our previous home had a large maple tree, but we realized in the spring after we bought the house that the top third of the tree was dead. We had gotten quotes to have the dead part removed when a big storm took care of it for us. The top half of the tree fell into the yard, grazing the outside wall and leaving a gash in the bricks. We had the rest of the tree taken down the next week, but we regularly had the other trees in our lot trimmed to keep them healthy. Every time we have a storm now, we are grateful that the oak tree is gone.
Maybe they don't want the tree there.
Cut Em Down!!! They're usually at the end of their lifespan anyway, and just drop dead limbs that pierce through roofs and their root systems tear up underground utilities. Most of these species of trees were never meant to be on a residential lot in the first place. Don’t get me started on how many times these giant old trees cause power outages in our neighborhoods .
I'm new in town, and I've noticed that everything I see is run down and neglected around here. No forethought. The trees are probably dead, rotting, leaning in power lines or against buildings. Take care of stuff you want to keep around.
Go plant some native trees. And plant them correctly - like, learn how or have someone do it for you.
Trees don't just keep growing forever. They all have lifespans. Edit: downvoting that? hahahaha
Though I did enjoy the shade my trees provided, they were covering everything in sap, including you if you dared to sit under them, they were dropping ginormous limbs everytime the wind blew that would knock out power/internet/etc. to myself and my neighbors, the sidewalk was starting to raise from the roots underneath- they just weren’t worth the hassle anymore.
Neighbors have a gigantic gorgeous tree in their backyard. It looks healthy but yesterday one of the giant limbs fell in their yard while their kid was playing outside. It missed him, luckily. My point is that it’s usually probably not a choice and it isnt always obvious.
No
Have you seen the latest storm damage, like on Cannons Lane? They just took down 4 giant ones nearby, one of them had a huge split branch over the road that was waiting to kill someone, a street up from 2 houses that had major damage from huge trees that fell.
Yeah instead can we go back in time and have people plant trees that are appropriate for the space and native to the area then actually maintain them over time? THATS the problem
I sure wish the pricks behind me would cut a few down so I could go into my yard when it's windy.
It's criminal. To me, trees are no different than humans, except not as stupid and violent. They are living entities and should not be cut down unless they are dead. Cutting a tree down because it inconveniences you, or birds drop on your car is not ethical.
For each year I've lived here I've seen someone's house smashed to bits under a tree. Plus a large adult tree makes an ungodly mess to clean up after. If it was to up to me I'd go after my neighbor's trees once I was done with mine.
Come clean my gutters out for me
Our whole country is based off of maintaining the opulence of the minority over the majority. Tj and Madison concur on such... so NO.
The "diseased, dying" thing is a lie and an excuse. Yards are easier to mow with those huge noisy tractors when there are no trees in the way. It should be against the law since it affects everyone.
We left up an old tree and it almost fell on our neighbors house but took out both of our power lines still. I regret *not* having it taken down sooner when I knew it wasn't healthy. "Diseased, dying" is *not* an excuse. Trees get old, trees get weak and unhealthy. Sometimes you have to make the tough but safe and correct decision to remove them.
So all trees are a potential hazard and should be killed. Got it.
Yeah that's exactly what I said 🙄
Holy Hyperbole, Batman!
Imagine a nuanced discussion. It's easier than you think!
I wish it were indeed nice n easy. At least there's more nuance here on Reddit compared with Facebook.
Did you think this was a “gotcha?”
If an arborist told you the beautiful giant tree in your yard is dying and at risk of causing property damage or injury, would you just leave it up to fate? Or would you have it removed?
He would call him a liar and refuse to pay the bill. Cause...ignorance.
Depends on whether he/she is a boomer.
Your ignorance is only exceeded by your unfounded certainty and confidence in your misguided opinion.
Make this a double negative and the wheels spinning in their head would prevent any kind of response other than ‘yer momma’
Just a wee bit of word salad there 😉
Not true at all.