I thought my old oak tree was a goner after the storm last month

The big branch that came down looked bad, so I called a tree service for a quote to cut it all down. They wanted $2,800. My neighbor, who's lived here in Grant Park for 30 years, told me to call a certified arborist first. The arborist came out, charged me $150 for a look, and said the tree was healthy and could be saved with some careful pruning for about $600. I went with his plan and the tree looks great now. Has anyone else saved a tree they thought was dead?

2 comments

2 Comments

anna1771mo ago

Always get a second opinion from an arborist first.

amy_murphy151mo ago

Disagree with the idea you always need an arborist. Sometimes a big broken branch means the whole tree is a safety risk, and you need to just get it down before it falls on your house. That $150 for a look could be wasted money if the next storm drops the rest of it on your roof. My cousin had a pine that lost a limb, got it pruned, and then the whole thing split six months later because the trunk was rotten inside. You can't always see the real damage. @anna177 has a point for some cases, but trusting a tree service to know a lost cause isn't always wrong.