With fall rain showers and thunderstorms, the threat of broken tree limbs is always a danger. Whether you hear the loud crash as you’re sitting inside or you wake up to it after a stormy night, you won’t always have time to delay in dealing with the limb once you find it. (Especially if it’s blocking your driveway or laying on top of your car.)

In case you don’t know what to do with the limb or what can be done to salvage the beauty of your tree, we at Grade A Tree want to offer some tips to help you be prepared, just in case:

1. Check out the situation from afar. Do NOT approach the tree until you know there no power lines down around the area, and do NOT walk under the tree without making sure there are no limbs about ready to fall. Stay back and evaluate the situation before you step into a potentially fatal situation.
2. If the limb is large or hanging, or if there is chainsaw work that needs to be done, call a professional. (Yes, like us.) It can be dangerous to try and take care of large or precarious limbs on your own, and you may not have the right equipment. Instead of trying to deal with it, call a tree service that is equipped and trained to handle large or dangerous limbs.
3. If the damage is minimal and the limbs are small enough, you can work to remove them without professional help. The Arbor Day Foundation recommends trimming back jagged smaller branches to the point at which they join the larger branch to reduce the risk of limb decay. If a larger branch need to be trimmed back—generally to the trunk—let the professionals take care of it.
4. Trim back the broken or splintered bark. These can become nesting places for insects if you leave them unattended. Don’t trim back so far that you cut to the green inner part of the tree, but do remove the jagged pieces that have been split away from the trunk.

Don’t worry too much about the aesthetic appearance of your tree. While at first it might look a little bare with a missing limb, it will quickly restore itself to its former beauty if you let it grow and heal. Trees have an amazing ability to recover if they are healthy before the limb damage is done.

So, when high winds and rain strike this fall and you hear the crash of a tree limb outside your door, don’t panic. Know that there are ways to fix the problem and professionals to help you do it. Just give us at Grade A Tree a call at 816-779-4468 or schedule a free consultation.