Caring for this city’s trees
Our aim is to look after the city’s trees for generations to come, ensuring a healthy and beautiful environment for our children to enjoy. We work to ensure humans and the infrastructure we create can co-exist with the trees that are vital to our existence.
Services at Hickson Wardle
Hickson Wardle Treecare offer a wide range of services according to what’s needed for any given tree in its specific environment. This section describes in brief some common techniques in arboriculture.
We give knowledgeable advice on the tree work required, taking into account factors such as species, age, vigour, previous work done, and the tree’s immediate environment - always considering the long-term health of the tree.
HWT offer an emergency service in response to storm damage.
Techniques
Planting / Replanting
Hickson Wardle Treecare are more than happy to advise on which tree species are suitable and/or viable when replanting is desired.
Dead Wooding
Removal of dead, diseased or damaged branches to ensure long and healthy life for any given tree.
WHY?
To eliminate risk of injury or damage to property by falling dead wood.
Crown Lifting
Removal of the lower branches of the tree.
WHY?
Sometimes an aesthetic practice but, in some cases, a legal requirement, if the tree is impinging on a public footpath or carriageway.
Crown Thinning
Thinning out the tips of branches, without altering the tree’s silhouette.
WHY?
With wind resistance minimised, less strain is put on the tree. This practice also allows more light to shine through the canopy.
Crown Reduction
Typically, the removal of up to 30 per cent of the tree’s overall leaf coverage, reducing height and spread of the canopy.
WHY?
To reduce “end loading” of branches and reducing risk of failure, or to maintain a tree’s size in relation to its surroundings.
Pollarding
Regular removal of upper branches, promoting a dense “knuckle” of foliage.
WHY?
This maintains a solid framework and is ideal for a tree growing in restrictive surroundings.
Crown Restoration
Corrections to storm damage or previous tree work.
Removal / Felling
Sometimes there is no other option but to fully remove a tree.
Stump Grinding
This involves grinding down the bulk of a stump to below ground level.
Arboricultural reports
Hickson Wardle Treecare can help with various written reports, ensuring that a tree owner/site manager has fulfilled their duty of care. This guarantees the trees on your site have been assessed appropriately, and then given relevant management plans with a works timescale and reinspection period. We can carry this out for individual trees or for larger public sites such as schools and hospitals.