Tree removal
Have a 50 foot evergreen in the back garden that needs taking down. Does anyone have feedback on Urban arborists or prospect trees ? Also – if anyone has ball park cost for this I’d appreciate.
Have a 50 foot evergreen in the back garden that needs taking down. Does anyone have feedback on Urban arborists or prospect trees ?
Also – if anyone has ball park cost for this I’d appreciate.
In case anyone back checks this post – removal of the tree is approx 1100. Both Urban arborist and propest trees very similar.
OP: It is not often that I am inspired to quote song lyrics, but for you, this exception (from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi):
“…They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum. 
And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em. 
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? 
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. …”
For better or worse, as owner you control your backyard. By the same token, for better or worse, you can’t control the responses to your post. You only wanted comments that would help ballpark your eradication? Too bad. I wonder if you realize that most commenters to your post–some of them maybe even your across-the-fence neighbors–are replying with far more restraint than you will apply to your tree. What distinguishes you from previous renovators who thought their homes would be modernized and beautified once all remnants of architectural detail were removed? Nothing you’ve written indicates your tree is diseased or damaged. On the contrary, you wrote it blocks too much light, and takes up too much space. No matter what size your tree, it is hard to imagine it’s trunk occupying much more than 9 square feet. What essential piece of furniture fits in that space that doesn’t fit elsewhere? A table? A lawn chair? Some other manufactured design wonder that reached maturity in 50 hours or 50 days, and will be discarded in how many years?
I don’t support name-calling, nor do I support the suggestion that a class at NYBG qualifies a poster to dismiss the wisdom of generations that came before. Not even 60 years ago, there were still farms in Brooklyn. Approx. 50 years ago, empty lots dotted the landscape of my Brooklyn childhood, also filled with Monarch butterflies, nighttime fireflies, and crayfish in the BBG’s streams. The immigrants of earlier generations were hardly ignorant gardeners. That’s why the backyards of Brooklyn are filled with fruit trees and grape arbors. Vegetable gardens and victory gardens sustained families from these same backyards and rooftops, long before green roofs and green walls became a necessary remedy to the destruction of green space. With no details on which to base your opinion, KG, to suggest that buzz-cutting an apparently healthy tree is a defensible antidote to the “ignorance” of the people who planted and cared for it, is an argument which is beyond the beyond.
Kgal, note that OP has given NO reasons for his decision. Is it diseased? Ratty? Towards the end of its life? Is he replacing it? Why not reveal the reason so us tree-lovers don’t dump on him? Building an extension is my guess, and I must admit I’m not too sympathetic with that.
ownhs, we don’t even know the girth of the tree. Many evergreens are skinny and tall, and what’s wrong with them in a typical bs backyard?
While I don’t second calling people names, OP is clearly not straining for understanding of his viewpoint.
I look forward to having OP keeping us posted on the kill details.
I’m with kensington gal. A 50 ft tree is completely oversized for a 20 ft wide lot. Assuming someone is going to pave over the yard or build an extension after they cut down the tree is what’s really idiotic. Maybe the OP wants some sun to grow some vegetables. If you want shade, plant your own tree, buy an umbrella, or go inside.
Our neighbor used Family Tree Service to cut down a very large tree. Since it was partially on our property, we had to deal with them as well. They were courteous and professional and did a good job of getting it out and cleaning up. They were charging $2500, I think, plus whatever for stump removal. Not sure about $$ because I wasn’t the one hiring them.
As to the folks calling the OP an “idiot”, unless you know the circumstances for wanting the tree removal, you really don’t need to comment on the validity of it. I spoke to the tree guy the neighbors used (and I’ve completed the landscape design program at NYBG so I’m a little knowledgable) and he told us that a great number of trees in Brooklyn were nearing the end of their life span, hastened by years of owner neglect. They were also planted at a time when little thought was given to the size the mature tree would be. Back in those days tree species were planted that would never be recommended now due to size, tendency for weak limbs, invasive roots, etc. Getting rid of a tree that endangers your house or sewer or cannot be anything other than ratty looking due to years of neglect and disease is not a crime. And evergreens can look very misshapen and sparse if not cared for over the years. They don’t regenerate growth like some deciduous trees. Their needles really require constant cleaning out of gutters. He could be surrounded by neighbors with trees, that when added to his own, completely block all light. For all we know, the OP could be planning to plant a more size appropriate tree that will be safer for his property, more attractive and give them more of the light he wants to enjoy HIS backyard. His right and depending on circumstances, could be the smartest thing to do.
I hope OP talks to whatever arborist he chooses and gets a recommendation for a new, more appropriate tree as a replacement. It would a greener, more neighborhood friendly thing to do and add value to his property, but it is HIS choice. I wouldn’t be all that keen on a backyard completely in shade because some well meaning but unknowing person 50 years ago made a really stupid choice in tree species. Calling the OP names is rude.
You’re an idiot for removing a 50′ evergreen in the backyard. You have a built in privacy screen. I have one about that size in my backyard and I love it. Who wants to see the neighbors? Not me.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts, even if some didn’t help with arborist recomendations. I’ll post when I have the estimates in which will hopefully be by close this week.
CMU: Though there was a recent thread about mulberries, I suspect from your post that your neighbor’s trees were Ginkgos. The tree itself is considered a living fossil, with fan-shaped leaves that turn quite yellow in autumn. The female trees (yes, there are also males) drop particularly malodorous seeds in the fall (though the hard, rather than fleshy, part of the seed is used throughout Asian cuisine, and also revered in traditional medicine).
Yes, I was quite teed off when our immediate neighbor cut down 3 of those stinky-berry trees (can’t remember name.) While I used to curse the berries each year, now all the great feeling of being in a tree house while on our deck has gone.
Yeah, wish NYC had an ordinance against cutting down any trees except for good cause, like some cities have.