Dead & Hazard Tree Removal in Escondido, CA

Dead and hazard tree removal is a different job from taking down a healthy tree. In Escondido's heat, a tree that dies in spring can be bone-dry and brittle by fall, and dry limbs snap without warning under a climber's weight or a gust of Santa Ana wind. The longer a dead tree stands, the more of it has to be taken down with a lift instead of a climber, and the more care it takes to lower each piece. Removing a declining tree early is usually safer and cheaper than waiting until it is fully dead.

What kills trees here

Drought is the background to most of it. Escondido averages about 15 inches of rain a year, and its driest recent rain year, 2013 to 2014, brought only 5.75 inches. Trees weakened by dry years are easier targets for insects and disease. Two pests matter most in this part of San Diego County. The goldspotted oak borer attacks coast live oaks, California black oaks and canyon live oaks; UC IPM says trees about 18 inches across and larger are the most likely to be killed. The invasive shot hole borer, which in San Diego County is the Kuroshio shot hole borer, carries a fungus that kills branches and whole trees in hosts including avocado, California sycamore, box elder, willow and coast live oak.

Signs a tree may be a hazard

• Dead or leafless sections at the top of the crown, or the whole crown thinning at once
• Small D-shaped exit holes and dark wet stains or red sap on an oak trunk
• Dark stains, sugary crusts or tiny round holes on avocado, sycamore or box elder bark
• Cracks in the trunk or a split where two stems meet
• Mushrooms, conks or soft wood at the base
• A new lean with soil lifted or cracked on the opposite side
• Woodpeckers stripping bark from one tree more than others

Handling infested wood

Where borers are involved, what happens to the wood matters as much as the cut. UC IPM advises against moving oak wood from goldspotted oak borer-infested trees: season it on site for two years, cover it with clear, sealed plastic tarps of at least 6 mil in full sun for two years, or grind it, and cut stumps flush because larvae can survive in them. UC guidance for shot hole borer is to chip infested wood to pieces smaller than 1 inch and to clean pruning tools between trees. We plan the cleanup around those steps instead of hauling infested logs across the county.