Tree Service in Blue Ash, OH

Tree Service in Blue Ash starts with a bit of irony. In 1797 the first settlers built Carpenter's Run Baptist Church out of blue ash logs, and the community took its name from that tree. Blue ash is a member of the ash genus, and the genus is exactly what emerald ash borer attacks. Today many of the dead or declining trees we are asked about in Blue Ash yards are ash of one kind or another.

What emerald ash borer does. The larvae feed under the bark on the tissue that carries water and sugars. The City of Hamilton's forestry office describes the insect as having spread throughout all of Ohio, with mortality among ash approaching 100%. Once an ash has lost much of its canopy, the wood dries and becomes brittle, which makes climbing it riskier and removal harder the longer it waits. If you have an ash that still looks full, it may be a candidate for treatment; if it has bark falling off and woodpecker damage, it is usually time to plan the removal.

The 1999 tornado. On April 9, 1999, an F4 tornado struck Blue Ash and killed four people. Residents who remember it often ask us to look at large trees near bedrooms or over the driveway, not because a tornado can be pruned away, but because ordinary summer thunderstorms are far more frequent and a tree with a cracked union or a heavy lateral limb is the one most likely to fail in them. We look for those defects and explain which ones can be fixed with pruning and which call for removal.

Homes and lots. Census estimates put Blue Ash's median owner-occupied home value at $403,200, with 64.9% of homes owner-occupied and 83.9% of residents in the same house as a year before. Many lots are wooded at the back with mature oaks, maples and the ash that remain, and the front yards carry ornamental trees planted when the subdivisions went in. Pruning the ornamentals is light work; the large backyard trees are where most of the planning goes.

What a visit covers

• Identifying ash and judging whether each one is treatable or should come down
• Checking large trees near the house for cracks, decay and weak branch unions
• Pruning for clearance over roofs, decks and the driveway
• Removing dead trees in the wooded back of the lot before they fall on a fence
• Grinding stumps so the area can be replanted or seeded

Summit Park and the old airport. The Cincinnati-Blue Ash Airport operated from 1921 until August 29, 2012, and the city then opened Summit Park on the property. It is a reminder that a good part of Blue Ash was open ground within living memory, and many yard trees in the newer neighborhoods are younger than they look, often planted in compacted fill. Young trees on compacted soil benefit from structural pruning early, before a weak fork becomes a big problem.

Call (513) 712-8578 or use the form. Mention any ash you know about and we will look at them first. Get a free estimate