Clean Cuts Trees
St. George tree service handling storm damage, hazard assessment and removal after monsoon winds.
Clean Cuts Trees handles tree work in the St. George area including storm damage and removal. Summer storms here bring the strongest winds of the year in short violent bursts, and the trees that fail in them usually had the defect long before the storm arrived.
Worth knowing
The wind itself is a specific phenomenon. A thunderstorm's downdraft can hit the ground and spread outward as a microburst, producing straight-line winds that arrive suddenly and from a single direction. Trees are reasonably good at handling wind they have grown up with, because they lay down reaction wood where they are repeatedly loaded, and much less good at a strong gust from a direction they have never been loaded from.
What fails is predictable. A codominant stem - two stems of similar size rising from the same point - is weak where they meet, especially where bark has become trapped between them as they grew, because included bark prevents the two from ever joining as wood. That union splits under load, and the failure runs down into the trunk. Decay from an old topping cut or a torn limb is the second common cause, and an undersized root plate the third. All three are visible to someone who knows what to look for, well before a storm. That is what a hazard assessment is: examining structure, decay and root condition, and considering what is beneath the tree if it fails. Where a defect is found there are usually options short of removal - reducing the leverage on a weak union by shortening the stem, or a cabling and bracing system - and the choice between them is a judgment about how much target sits below.
Related on the site: roofing contractors and junk removal and hauling. Browse all Tree Service in the directory.
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Contact
- Website: https://cleancutstrees.com/st-george
Frequently asked questions
Why do trees fail in summer storms here?
The strongest local winds come from thunderstorm downdrafts spreading outward as microbursts - sudden straight-line winds from a single direction. Trees adapt to the loading they normally experience by laying down reaction wood, so a strong gust from an unfamiliar direction finds whatever weakness the tree already had.
What is a codominant stem?
Two stems of similar size rising from the same point on a tree. The union between them is inherently weaker than a normal branch attachment, and where bark has been trapped between the stems as they grew - called included bark - the two never join as wood at all. That union is the most common place a large tree splits.
Does a defective tree always have to be removed?
Not usually. Reducing the length of a stem lowers the leverage on a weak union, and cabling or bracing systems can support a structural defect. The decision depends on the severity of the defect and on what sits beneath the tree, which is what a hazard assessment weighs.
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