It was October 14, 1998 and the snow was falling hard and piling up fast. You could stand outside and see the flashes in the sky caused by failing power lines. Many of the streets were completely blockaded by downed trees. It was the most devastating storm that I had ever seen.
Rodolph Brothers had just completed its first season in business, and I was nineteen years old. My older brother Isaiah and I were in complete dis-belief as we rushed to many of our new clients’ homes to help clear their roofs of fallen limbs. We quickly realized that we were completely unequipped to handle the danger involved in treating these precarious situations. However, after purchasing the right equipment, and adapting our rock climbing equipment to the nuances of tree work, we quickly found that we could overcome the precarious plight of storm damaged trees. We worked around the clock for many weeks to clean-up every single client’s home, and through it we developed a love for trees. We are still caring for many of those clients’ beautiful trees to this very day. It was out of that storm that Rodolph Brothers Tree Service was born. We have spent the last 15 years engrossed in learning and developing our Tree Service into what it is today. I have watched those same ugly, storm damaged trees heal and become beautiful again over the last 15 years. It is difficult to see them torn and broken today all over this city, but I am confident that they will overcome, yet again. Here is what they will need:
- A thorough inspection by a good certified arborist. This is defined as a Tree Risk Assessment. Storm damaged trees may have severe structural damage that is not obvious: spiral fractures, cracks that have seemingly closed, weight imbalance due to broken limbs on just one side of the tree that could cause the tree to fail later….and this is just to name a few.
- Corrective pruning at some time in the next 12-18 months. Even if your tree only lost a few branches it is important to re-establish their growth habit correctly. The branches that are left will begin to grow substantially next season so pruning will ensure that the correct branches are growing. Corrective pruning will get your tree back on track to healing and regaining its former beauty.
- Fertilizing your trees will speed up the healing process significantly. Many trees lost so much energy producing foliage that you will need to have them fertilized just to replace the lost energy; or otherwise they will begin to decline, decay, and die because of the storm damage.
It was Friday October 4, 2013 and the snow was falling and piling up fast; tree branches were breaking…..Don’t worry neighbors, the trees will overcome and be beautiful again!