Keith Brown

Critters Getting on Your House Through the Trees?

Racoons, squirrels, rats, you name it. If it can climb, it wants in your house. I frequently get called out to bid a tree trimming jobs where the only goal is to cut the tree back far enough so that wild life can’t use it to get on the roof. Take my recommendation and don’t butcher up your trees in an overzealous attempt to keep everything away from your roof. For starters, call a wildlife / rodent control service and consult with them. Arborists or tree trimmers are not the best people to talk to about controlling wildlife. I like to refer people to Austin Wildlife Pro.

To keep Raccoons out of your attic you only need a small amount of clearance. Raccoons are somewhat fat and clumsy; you won’t catch them doing many acrobatic tricks. I’ve watched a squirrel with my own two eyes scale a brick wall, so no amount of tree pruning is really going to solve that problem.

Ideal Time to Prune Trees & the Oak Wilt Pruning Season

Today a customer asked me this question, “We will want the trimming done, but don’t have a date yet. It depends on the progress with the construction. What are the ideal dates for trimming?”

What are the ideal dates for trimming?”

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Fall Color on Live Oak Trees? Senescence.

Live Oaks are semi-evergreen; so, why am I writing about fall color on a live oak? Sometimes live oaks will produce fall color. But, usually not in the fall. When it happens it’s in the winter. I was somewhere between Hamilton Pool and Johnson City driving between jobs when I ran across these shining examples.

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The Waller Creek Project

The City of Austin has been planning for some time now to do a major restoration to Waller creek. If you are not familiar with this creek, it is one of the major tributaries that funnel into Lady Bird Lake on the east side of downtown, mostly along Red River, just west of IH-35. Waterloo Park is the main city park where you can check out the creek.
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Tree Struck by Lightning? What a Lightning Strike Really Looks Like.

It’s funny to me what gets “diagnosed” as lightning strikes. It seems to me the average homeowner thinks the only two afflictions known to trees are oak wilt and lightning. Hopefully, this simple post will shed some light for many of you wanting to know if your tree was struck by lightning, and if so, what you should do about it.

The main thing you need to look for is a narrow wound that stretches the length of the trunk from the upper canopy to the ground. Typically, lightning doesn’t strike the tree half way down the trunk. It hits somewhere out near the tip of the canopy. Then, the charge travels down the trunk of the tree into the ground. In this picture, the strike barely blew-off the outer layer of bark. Continue reading Tree Struck by Lightning? What a Lightning Strike Really Looks Like.

Tree Climbers’ Training – Fall ’06

Back in October we did a 4 day company training event. Jose Mercado of Mercado Horticultural Training Service came down from California as our instructor. Jose is an ISA Certified Arborist and Certified Tree Worker, and he is bilingual.

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Every Kid’s Dream Tree House – How to Build It

Who hasn’t dreamed of the most grand tree house imaginable? Trap door, zip line, bucket on a pulley to get your stuff up. Well, for a few lucky kids their dream came true. And, their dad cared enough about the tree to call me in for advice. He didn’t want the dream tree house to be the demise of the tree. There are techniques to employ to minimize the damage to your tree when building a tree house.

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Landscaper’s Guide for Construction Site – Tree Ordinance Mitigation

As a landscaper, your job might not be to manage tree ordinance compliance, but planting trees from this specific list will help your client (the contractor) keep their costs down. Planting trees from the list below will count toward the tree mitigation fines. Any plantings that are done as a requirement to the landscape plan do NOT count toward tree mitigation. But, if you happen to plant above and beyond the requirements then the extra will count.

75% of the trees planted must be from the class one list; 25% can be from the class two list.

pdf version of list
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All About Arizona Ash Trees

Arizona ash is referred to as “Arizona trash” by many people. Personally, I don’t really agree with this attitude. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t perfect trees, but ash can grow into large trees quickly and provide significant shade from the hot summer sun that is much needed in Texas.

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Growing Turf Grass (Lawn) Around Trees

Most tree guys I know and network with would tell you that turf growing under you trees is horrible. I don’t agree with this. There are definitely some potential problems. But, in my opinion, the potential benefits out-weigh the potential problems. Growing turf grass around trees can be done successfully. But, be careful.

There are three basic arguments against turf growing under trees. The first is that the turf robs all the nutrients in the soil. Ok, yes, grass chews up a LOT of nitrogen. But, if you are mulching your clippings and not bagging then most of the nutrients are staying there. And, most people are good about providing supplemental fertilizers. Just make sure the fertilizer you use doesn’t have weed killer mixed in. We call these products weed-n-feeds and they are HORRIBLE for trees.
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