Tree Health Assessments in Chattanooga, TN

Tree health assessments answer the question homeowners actually have: is this tree going to be a problem, and what can I do about it? Around Chattanooga, the answer often depends on knowing a handful of local pests and diseases by sight, along with the usual structural warning signs. We walk around the tree, look at the trunk, the root flare, the bark and the crown, and tell you what we see in plain language, with the options laid out: treatment, pruning, monitoring, or removal.

Hemlocks and woolly adelgid

Eastern hemlocks grow in the cool, shaded ravines and north-facing slopes of Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain and the creeks that run off them. Hemlock woolly adelgid is the biggest threat they face. The insects leave small white tufts, like bits of cotton, on the underside of twigs at the base of the needles, and infested trees fade to grayish-green and thin out. A 2009 Forest Service study warned that the adelgid could kill most hemlocks in the southern Appalachians within a decade. A tree with most of its needles left can often be protected with a systemic insecticide such as imidacloprid, applied as a soil drench or trunk injection, which can work for several years. A tree that is mostly bare is usually past saving and, near a house, may need to come down. If treatment is the better route, we explain what it involves and how often it has to be repeated.

Pines and southern pine beetle

Loblolly, shortleaf and Virginia pines are common on Chattanooga lots, especially along wooded edges. Southern pine beetle goes after stressed pines first, including trees damaged by storms, crowded stands and pines weakened by drought. The telltale sign is pitch tubes: white, popcorn-like lumps of resin on the bark where beetles bored in. Needles that turn yellow, then red-brown, often follow within weeks. There is no practical cure for a heavily attacked pine; prompt removal of infested trees can help protect healthy pines nearby, and keeping pines from being wounded or crowded makes them less attractive targets.

Ash and emerald ash borer

Emerald ash borer has spread across much of the eastern US, including Tennessee. Signs include thinning at the top of the crown, D-shaped exit holes in the bark, woodpecker damage and S-shaped tunnels under loose bark. Without control, ash trees in an infested area are expected to die within about ten years. Valuable ash can be protected with systemic insecticides, which last one to three years depending on the product; ash that is already declining is usually better removed while the wood is still sound.

Decay, lean and storm damage

Not every problem is a pest. We look for mushrooms or conks at the base, hollow sounds and cavities in the trunk, cracks and included bark at forks, roots cut by past construction or grading, and soil heaving on one side of a leaning tree. On hillside lots we pay attention to erosion around roots and to trees whose root zones have been buried by fill. Trees wrapped in kudzu get a closer look too, since the vine's weight and shade break branches and can pull trees over.

What you get

After the visit you get a clear recommendation and, if work is needed, a written quote. If the right answer is to leave the tree alone and look again next year, we say that.