Living with trees
At Arbres et passion, we are trained and experienced pruners, putting our expertise to work to maintain the health of your trees for as long as possible. Servicing Vaudreuil, Valleyfield and the West Island, we take the time to fully understand your expectations and priorities, and evaluate the condition of your trees, whatever your pruning needs.
Maintaining a tree’s health offers several environmental benefits: improved air quality and a reduction in heat islands. We educate the public, cities, businesses and construction sites about the care and health of trees. Arbres et passion is a member of the Société internationale d’arboriculture Québec (SIAQ), which means you can count on a higher standard of quality and professionalism, backed by liability insurance. Jérémy Pharand, owner-pruner, is also a co-instructor for students studying arboriculture.
Tree pruning
Trees can offer you welcomed shade and privacy on your property. To maintain them in a safe condition and prolong their life, they must be properly pruned.
Caring for trees and shrubs may seem simple, but it is in fact quite complex. A tree’s growth is impacted to varying degrees each time it is pruned. It is therefore critical to trust this work to a qualified pruner who will take into account different factors, such as the surrounding environment, your goals and the state of the tree, to determine how best to cut the branches. At Arbres et passion, we take the time that is needed to accurately assess the situation in order to ensure that you enjoy the benefits of your trees for as long as possible.
We follow practices that respect the tree. This includes such practices as using vegetable oil to lubricate our chainsaws.
Why prune a tree?
Pruning stresses a tree. It is can be necessary, however, due to safety concerns or for the tree’s health. Pruning allows for the removal of dead or nuisance branches. It also improves the shape of a tree and promotes better ventilation and light penetration. For mature trees, a light maintenance routine is recommended for their care.
Working with spur-free cables
Pruning work is done with proper climbing techniques. We use cables suitable for elevated work that do not have spurs, since the latter dig into the trunk and cause “wounds” that can encourage the presence of insects, fungal spores and bacteria, which are the source of many tree illnesses. Spurs are only used when felling trees.
Topping: drastic and harmful
According to professional arborists, topping is a pruning technique that is highly destructive. It consists of the indiscriminate cutting of whole branches at the top of a tree right to their base, leaving only lateral and smaller branches. This technique reduces the life expectancy of a tree, exposes it to heatstroke, harmful insects and illness, and can even kill off parts of the tree.
Tree felling and stump removal
Do you have a tree on your property that needs felling? Work with a professional who has liability insurance. The advantages are many, especially when it comes to you and your loved ones’ safety. At Arbres et passion, we first do a detailed assessment of the tree’s condition to confirm that removal is indeed the best solution. If so, our expert team will carry out the work with proper equipment and techniques. The loss of a tree, as a result of a storm for instance, can diminish the attractiveness and comfort of your home. It is worth checking to see whether your home insurance offers compensation in such cases. Our specialists can determine the monetary value of the felled tree.
Situations in which a tree must be felled
Repurposing wood chips
All the debris obtained from felled trees is collected and used at our organic family farm. Your tree returns to the earth, helping to support our crops as organic material in our fields.
Our tools for felling trees and removing stumps
Bucket truck
Ensures work is carried out safely when it is too dangerous to climb a tree when pruning or felling.
Crane
Required for felling or pruning trees in tight spaces. It allows us to quickly and safely remove cut branches and trunks.
Grapple truck
Allows branches and stumps to be efficiently loaded on the truck without having to buck the entire tree on-site.
Stump cutter
Removes a stump once a tree has been felled. It is preferable to remove the stump in order to prevent regrowth or root rot.
Fertilization
Trees in the urban environment do not benefit from the natural cycle of nourishing compost from dead leaves or other plant material, since the soil around their base is typically trampled on and fallen leaves are collected in the fall. The addition of liquid fertilizer to the root system helps support the tree’s growth and health.
The advantages of fertilizing
The earth’s ecosystem is full of organisms that work together, and mycorrhizal mushrooms play a key role. Mycorrhizal fertilization allows a tree to absorb a greater quantity of nutrients and water and helps it to establish roots during planting or transplantation. It also contributes to the health of your trees by increasing their resistance to environmental stresses such as dry periods and illness. Mycorrhizal symbioses further help to maintain good soil quality and stimulate flowering and fruiting.
Emerald ash borer treatment
Tree are regularly attacked by insects and illnesses. Telltale signs such as defoliation of the crown, bark necrosis, withering leaves, appearance of mushrooms and dead branches can alert you to these attacks.
When to treat?
Emerald ash borer treatment is a preventative measure applied to ash trees. The treatment is delivered via injection and must be done in the summer months, throughout the tree’s lifetime. The frequency varies depending on the estimated population of the insect in your area. A treatment may be required yearly or every two years. Our team has the expertise to recommend the appropriate frequency for your trees and do the treatment.
Bracing
Bracing supports and reinforces parts of the tree that are at risk of breaking due to structural or other weaknesses. The installation of one or several braces greatly reduces the likelihood of branches or parts of the trunk breaking off, thus prolonging the tree’s life.
Fruit tree pruning
Fruit trees, such as apple and pear trees, need regular pruning to improve the quality and quantity of their fruit. Pruning exposes the ripening fruit to more sunlight.
When to prune fruit trees?
The best time to prune fruit trees depends mainly on your goals for fruit production. If you don’t want to hinder your harvest, you must prune before flowering but only once temperatures warm, generally after February. If you don’t care about the size of the harvest, you can prune your fruit trees at any time. Young fruit trees need to be pruned for shape, which will determine their structure over the long term. Entrust the proper pruning of your fruit trees to our team of arborists.
Testimonials
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Are you concerned about tree branches that are too close to your home? Do you want to allow more natural light to reach your backyard without cutting down trees? Whatever your goal, our team will take the time to understand your needs and recommend the best solution for you.
For tree pruning and felling in Vaudreuil, Valleyfield and the West Island, call on the services of a trained and experienced team, fully accredited and insured, that can guarantee all work will be done safely and expertly, with respect for the environment.