Looking Ahead with Your Healthy Trees

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Episode Transcript

(00:09):
In twenty two Wiba Madison in themorning chatting this morning with Kevin Ham of
hams Arbercare. Of course, Kevinis a master arborist at hams Arborcare.
The website hams Arbercare dot com.That's h A m MS Arborcare dot com.
Also find him on the other site, which is Game of Trees dot

(00:30):
com. That's Game of Trees dotcom. Telphon for hams Arbercare. Eight
six six five nine six five threenine six. That's eight six six five
nine six five three nine six.Kevin, How you doing this morning.
I'm doing great, Sean. It'sgood to talk to you, you know.
And I opened up the paper thismorning and I see a headline it
says without gras demo, lawncare companiesare turning to tree trimming and weed removal.

(00:56):
Um. I want to talk aboutthat one. I respect keeping guy
Eisingals busy, and I know ifyou are in those businesses, it's probably
a very very difficult time. Iknow personally that the pre Bow household,
we don't have the most manicured lawn, but I'm pretty good about mowing.
I don't think we fired up thelawnmower and over a month. Now,

(01:17):
there are some things to think aboutwhen it comes to taking care of your
trace. Mentioned of course, youare a master arborist. For people who
don't know what is as an arboristor a master arborist, what do those
what do those designations mean? Andwhy is that something? I know that's
very important to you and to thefolks that you work with. That designation
is pretty important, isn't it.Yeah, definitely. International Society of Arboriculture

(01:41):
has been around for a long timeand they developed the certification program back in
the mid nineties to raise the awarenesslevel of the general public. And actually,
I will elevate the field of arboricultureinto a more respected level because in

(02:07):
the past it was just both thetree guy and and that's all you knew,
and well, they cut tree,so they must know about treat Well,
that's not necessarily true that you know, there's there's chainsaw skill and then
there's tree knowledge, and they're vastlydifferent. And I'm discovering that on on

(02:30):
the social media platforms that I frequentit's actually, uh, my brand is
increasing because of the information that Iput out and I'm trying to, you
know, gather my twenty five yearsexperience along with the reading that and study
that I've done and which I'm stillcontinuing to do, and so I've got

(02:53):
active books going right now that I'mbroadening my knowledge in the field of all
arbor culture and as a Board CertifiedMaster Arborists. A certified arborisk needs three
years of experience in the field andthen they have to pass, you know,
a comprehensive test of two hundred questionsthat is a broad based twelve twelve

(03:21):
domains of arbor culture from you know, plant healthcare and soil to pruning and
safety and all these different domains thatthey have to be aware of to you
identification. And then you have tohave at least eight years of experience as
a certified arborist to qualify for theBoard Certified Master ARBORSK, which is a

(03:46):
much more comprehensive test kind of nationallybased, and so you have to have
a much broader knowledge to pass thattest. And I was joyfully surprise passing
on the first attempt. It wasit was at the the uh dawn of

(04:06):
computer testing, and so my firstcertified arbreath test I had to wait two
weeks, you know, for snailmail to tell me that I was certified,
and I was anticipating that type ofexperience, and I finished the computer
test and congratulations came across the screenand there was a very uh it was

(04:28):
pretty intense test. So that wasa pretty joyful experience on my part.
But uh so we and we've gotuh at least five certified arborsks on our
throughout our crew. And you know, we were specializing a lot in pruney.
And you know what I tell peopleis, you know, removals removal.

(04:51):
You know, anybody with with goodknowledge of of chainsaw and safety techniques
can take down a tree, butto prune one, you know, if
if you mess up on the grass, it's a couple of weeks before it's
better. If you mess up onthe tree, it might be a generation

(05:13):
before get better, and it maynot ever get better, depending on what
assault was attempted on the tree.And and so you know, pruning,
pruning and tree care are are reallyimportant. And you know, a lot
of a lot of various companies gotinto the the ash tree injection, you

(05:35):
know market because it was an opportunityand hey, we can do this,
it's on the ground, we cando it. And they've effectively treated trees.
I've seen trees treated by by awide array of companies that are alive.
You know the treatment is is working. But I've seen other situations where

(05:57):
you know, a comprehensive knowledge ofwhat was going on would have would have
been very valuable. And the signswere evident to me that that that wasn't
the case. And so yeah,when people are getting into trimmy, I
mean just buy or beware trimming.There's right ways and wrong ways to trim
your trees, and the consequences arelong lived. It's it's really important when

(06:21):
you and you talk about and longevity. We're actually gonna talk to about tree
planting and longevities and the rewards there. You want to make sure with your
trees again, you've got those establishedtrees, You've got those trees that you
really appreciate that you're treading them right, whether it's getting getting a regular check
up and inspection to make sure they'regrowing properly, or if you have any
issues, to make sure you're workingwith somebody that has the knowledge and understanding

(06:45):
specifically of trees and treecre It's agreat thing with Ham's Arborcare Kevin, the
team would love to work that,you'd love to get to know you.
I gotta spoke up phone gim McCallthis morning. Eight six six five nine
six five three nine six. That'seight six six five nine six five three
nine six. And Kevin, it'sbeen talking about decades. We're talking a
little bit about timelines. It's nevera bad time to plant to tree.
It's, as a matter of fact, a great time to plant a tree.

(07:09):
One of the things I love isum is seeing that tree grow and
develop. And I know you've talkedabout in the past about trees you had
planted, uh, and you arenow climbing and and uh and and trimming
and taking care of those trees stillto this day. Let's talk a little
bit about the size of a treewhen it goes in the ground, and

(07:29):
then kind of that potential in tenyears where it is and what goes on
in those years. Yes, uh, Well, you know a lot of
people and we get this request,you know often enough that they want to
pick their size the tree put inand they want the larger the better.
Sure, well again, you knowbuy or beware. Larger isn't always better,

(07:54):
you know, with our legacy trees. Uh. You know, truth
be told that it's a fairly newnursery stuck and so our stock is you
know, about inch and a quarterinch and a half caliper eight ten feet
tall. But don't let that confuseyou with something that's two inches and caliper
and you know, ten to twelvefeet tall. The stress of harvesting that

(08:20):
ten to twelve foot tree and themethods that are being used there, you
may be inheriting at a minimum transplantstress and at a maximum you you know,
it might not be properly trained prune. There might be a lot of
different things that could occur, andit might be planted too deeply in the

(08:41):
sight just in the nursery process,that that root flare that we value so
highly as arborious might be buried quitefar in the ball. And so uh.
And then the other question I liketo two answers. You know,
what's the tree look like in tenyears? You know, so many people

(09:01):
are like, oh, I wanta bigger tree now. Well, that
mentality is the same thing about,well, don't cut any branches off my
tree. I like how it looksright now. Well, we aren't.
We aren't working for a tree rightnow, we're working for a tree in
ten years. What's the tree goingto look like in ten years? You

(09:22):
know, in our Legacy Tree program, we offer a five year warranty,
which means we're going to come inthere once a year, quite likely on
most species, three to five timesin five years. We're going to touch
that tree, and we're going toprune it, and we're going to direct
it. And a directed tree canbe markedly taller and more well established than

(09:43):
an undirected tree. And so youknow the importance of that pruning. And
likewise, the Legacy Tree platform establishesthe tree so much better because there's no
transplant strass with with how the nurseryprocess has has gone and so uh and

(10:05):
and the other exciting news as timegoes on, our platform does allow for
growing the tree within the platform.And so right now we're putting in twenty
four by thirty two platforms into theinto the ground, and we can put

(10:26):
in thirty two by forty eight andthey're working on prototypes of seventy four by
six ninety six. Uh, andso that could be a thirty five forty
foot tree. Wow. And soI'm really excited about this legacy tree platform,

(10:50):
not only for you know, thetrees we have right now that in
ten years are going to look greatin the landscape because they're going to get
established well and they're going to betrained and and for the few sure some
of these trees that maybe carry overto next year, we're going to upgrade
them and they're going to be biggerbecause we're growing them for growth and they're

(11:11):
going to be a bigger platform.And in the long term, which I
have a long term philosophy. Longterm, we're going to have some really
great specimens. They are quite large, but you can have the assurance that
everything's been done right to that point. And so a lot of good things
on the horizon and currently with you. Best time Planet Tree is today.

(11:37):
It's always other than ten years ago. It's always exciting hearing what you have
going on at Ham's Arborcare. It'sa great day, as Kevin mentioned,
great day to get that tree planted, great day to have if you've got
those cherries in your yards, well, you want to make sure that they're
doing well. If you've got concernedor questions. It's always important to of
course to take care of that tree. They love to work you. Love
to talk to you at Ham's Arborcare. Love to get to know you and

(12:00):
your trees. I got six sixfive nine six five three nine six.
That's eight six six five nine six, five three nine six More information online
hams Arbercare dot com. That's hA MMS Arbercare dot com. Kevin,
It's always great chatting you than myfriend. You enjoy this most beautiful day.
Thank you, Sean Kevin Hamir takecare of my friend, Kevin Ham.
Hams Arborcare News comes your way nextyear at thirteen ten w y ba