A calendar for the trees you already have
Shade trees on a city lot can take a long time to grow and can be harmed by a single hurried job. A few small jobs in each of the four general seasons can help you notice changes in a Manhattan yard while they are still small. Trim each season's list to fit the trees you actually own, and ask an arborist which jobs to put first for them.
Drinking water: how the city treats it
Manhattan's Water Treatment Plant, which is in operation 24 hours a day, every day of the year, is a lime softening plant with a design capacity of 30 million gallons per day.
Winter jobs
- Stand back and look at the outline. From across the yard or the street, compare each tree's shape and lean with how it looked a year ago, using old photos if you have them.
- Check any cables or rods already in a tree. Ask the company that put them in how they should be looked at, and who does it.
- Look at the base of each trunk for cavities, soft or crumbling wood and fungus, and note anything new.
- Gather estimates for pruning, removal or cabling you expect to need in the coming months, so there is time to compare them.
Spring jobs
- Look up and down before planting. Pick a spot with room for the tree's full-grown height and spread, clear of the roof edge and overhead lines, and ask for buried lines to be located and marked before anyone digs.
- Open a circle of bare ground or mulch around young trunks, so grass and the tree are not competing right at the base.
- Take this year's photos of each tree from the same places as last year, once the leaves are out.
- Watch flowers and new shoots for wilting or dieback that appears suddenly, and ask an arborist about it while the signs are fresh.
Summer jobs
- Give newly planted trees slow, deep water as the nursery or planter advised, and ask again if leaves droop or brown at the edges.
- Look for limbs bending lower than before under the weight of full leaf, especially over the drive, a walk or the roof.
- Keep lawn equipment off the trunk. A mower or trimmer that strikes bark can open wounds; a wider mulch ring can keep machines back.
- Watch for one limb wilting or dropping leaves while the rest of the tree looks full, and photograph it for an arborist.
- Leave the ground under the crown alone. Avoid parking, stacking materials or setting up a pool or play set within the root zone.
Autumn jobs
- Ask about autumn planting for the species you have in mind; some nurseries plant in autumn, and they can tell you whether that suits the tree.
- Rake leaves out of beds and off young trunks, and compost them or bag them as you prefer.
- Check mulch depth. Keep it thin and wide, and pull back any that has drifted against the bark.
- Book dormant-season work with the company you chose, and confirm the written scope before the date is set.
Feet, wheels and fill
A tree's fine roots can sit in the upper layer of soil, often spreading well past the edge of the crown. Damage there can come from ordinary yard life: a path worn by feet, a vehicle parked on the grass, a pile of soil left during a project, or a new layer of fill to level the lawn. The tree may not show the harm for some time. Before a patio, a fence, an addition or a regrading project near a tree you want to keep, ask the contractor and an arborist where the roots are likely to be, how the root zone will be fenced off during the work, and whether any trench can be moved or bored under. If the damage has already happened, ask an arborist what can be done for the roots now and which signs in the crown to watch for over the next seasons.
Questions for the crew before work starts
Put the same questions to each company:
- "What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?"
- Can you show proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation for the people working on the lot?
- How will cut wood be lowered near the house, the fence and the overhead service line?
- Who will be in charge on the lot, and how do I reach that person during the job?
- Will the written scope list each tree, the work on it, hauling, stump grinding and cleanup?
Deposits, payment and signing off
Agree on money before the first saw starts. Ask whether a deposit is expected and how much, what triggers the final payment, and how changes found on the day will be priced and approved. Hold the balance until you have walked the lot with the crew lead, checked the work against the written scope tree by tree, and seen the yard cleaned up. If something needs fixing, ask for it to be noted on the invoice before you pay.