GET QUOTESDeadwood Removal: Enhance Tree Vitality and Promote Healthy Growth
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Edited by Ali Lijee Edited by Ali LijeeMake TreeMend your first choice for deadwood removal. We have qualified local tree surgeons and arborists.
Trees accumulate deadwood, which can become unstable and potentially cause significant damage or injury. That’s why it’s essential to prune it to keep your tree healthy and looking great, using professional deadwood removal services.
Table of contents
- What is deadwood removal?
- Why is deadwood removal needed?
- How to identify a tree’s deadwood
- The deadwood removal process
- Professional deadwood removal vs DIY: how to decide
- How to get deadwood removal near you
- Deadwood removal in the UK: frequently asked questions
- Get a deadwood removal quote today
What is deadwood removal?
Deadwood removal is the process of removing dead or dying branches from a tree. As the name implies, deadwood includes “dead wood” and to most tree surgeons it’s often lumped in with dying and diseased wood that must be pruned for safety reasons and for the vitality of the tree.
All trees accumulate deadwood over time, especially as they age but also due to external influences. Insufficient sunlight to inner branches on dense tree crowns, rain entering the tree’s heartwood, pests and diseases afflicting the tree, animals or fungi damaging the tree, or physical damage such as vehicle impacts can all cause deadwood.
Deadwood poses many hazards to people and property underneath as it becomes brittle and can fall at any time. Moreover, it prevents new, healthy growth from coming through and can introduce the healthy limbs of the tree to further infestation from pests and diseases.
Deadwood removal vs tree pruning: what’s the difference?
Deadwood removal is a form of tree pruning, and it’s often performed whenever a property owner has their tree pruned by default. In other words, tree pruning often means pruning away deadwood as well as removing diseased branches to restore the tree’s vitality.
The difference is in the intent. Whereas deadwood removal has the specific goal of pruning away deadwood, pruning might be done for other reasons than just that. Pruning might be desired or needed for creating clearance underneath the crown (crown raising/lifting), increasing light penetration and decreasing wind resistance (crown thinning), or reducing the size of the crown to increase the tree’s structural integrity (crown reduction).
In summary, deadwood removal is a specific service that is usually included by default in routine tree pruning - but not always.
Why is deadwood removal needed?
Deadwood removal is a common service provided by tree surgeons in the UK. Some of the reasons why it’s needed include:
- Personal safety: deadwood is brittle and can fall at a moment’s notice, potentially causing damage to property or injury or death to people underneath the tree.
- Improving tree vitality: the removal of dead, dying, or diseased branches will allow for new, healthy growth to come through and to improve the tree’s vitality significantly.
- Containment of disease: deadwood can harbour many pests and diseases, so the removal of deadwood is a great way to help contain them from spreading further.
- Aesthetics: deadwood removal can make a tree look much healthier and more appealing, whilst allowing its fruit or leaves to develop fully and uniformly into a beautiful crown.
Benefits of deadwood removal
Similar to the reasons mentioned above, deadwood removal has many key benefits:
- Improved safety: trees which have had their deadwood pruned away will be much safer around property and for passersby underneath.
- Restores the tree’s vitality: once deadwood has been removed, the tree will begin to heal any wounds and produce new growth and fruit in areas where deadwood used to be.
- Aesthetics: deadwood removal helps tree crowns look fuller and more naturally beautiful.
Deadwood removal is essential for safety, tree health, and aesthetic reasons
How to identify a tree’s deadwood
Depending on the species of the tree, identifying deadwood could be quite easy or a little more challenging to the naked and untrained eye. Generally, some of the telltale signs of deadwood on a tree include:
- Leaves: either the leaves (for deciduous trees) have wilted or no longer grow during the spring when they should otherwise.
- Fungi: mushrooms and other fungal growths often occur on deadwood.
- Bark: if the bark peels apart or is coming loose, it could be because there is decay or deadwood underneath.
- Feel: deadwood will commonly feel rough, and it is often dry and brittle to the touch.
- Noise: a light tap with something hard should produce a solid sound, but deadwood should emit a dull sound.
- Colour: deadwood will usually look a little greyish or brownish, often darker than the rest of the tree’s colour.
In many cases, when you see a few of these signs, it should be fairly obvious that you’re dealing with deadwood. A qualified arborist can usually detect deadwood on various species just with the naked eye alone.
There are many telltale signs of deadwood on a tree and most are easy to spot
The deadwood removal process
The deadwood removal process is often the same as the tree pruning process, whereby a tree surgeon selectively prunes away buds and limbs from the tree. In this case, the tree surgeon is looking for deadwood and removing either in part or in whole.
The process involves either hand tools such as loppers or a chainsaw and the tree surgeon will usually climb the tree with rope or with a mobile elevated work platform to remove deadwood in and around the tree’s crown.
Quite often, the innermost branches and twigs inside of the crown of leafy deciduous trees fail to get enough sunlight and die off. Evergreens bear foliage year-round, but they too can accumulate deadwood.
The tree surgeon forms precise pruning cuts that remove the deadwood but without leaving too big a wound near live wood. For branches coming from the trunk, cuts are made outside the branch collar at an angle so that the wound can recover. For smaller branches, the cuts are ideally made at a 45° angle, a quarter inch beyond the bud/shoot.
What to do with deadwood
While the Arboricultural Association recommends leaving as much deadwood as possible and only removing parts that pose a risk, non-woodland trees (i.e. those in private or public gardens) with deadwood typically do pose a risk and a tree surgeon will generally remove as much deadwood as possible from these trees for this simple reason.
Deadwood is not healthy for living trees, but it is seen as an essential habitat for wildlife and insects. Moreover, deadwood is actually very healthy for living trees once it’s been pruned. Decaying and rotting deadwood fills the soil with nutrients, which is why retention of deadwood and controlled felling of dead trees are quite important in forestry and woodlands in general, but perhaps not practical for homeowners.
For deadwood on private garden trees which has attracted pests and diseases, it’s often best to have the tree surgeon remove it from your property and dispose of it on your behalf.
The process of deadwood removal entails the selective pruning of dead, diseased, or dying branches
Professional deadwood removal vs DIY: how to decide
Much like tree pruning, deadwood removal is a job that can sometimes be done yourself. DIY deadwood removal for small trees can help keep the trees healthy and safe, but try to avoid any pruning work that requires climbing or putting yourself in danger. More importantly, avoid pruning if you do not know how to make the correct types of cuts as you could end up causing wounds that are too large to heal and even putting the tree in more danger than it was in previously.
For these reasons, we strongly recommend that you leave the task of deadwood removal to a professional arborist or tree surgeon instead. Qualified tree surgeons have the tools, experience, and techniques needed to ensure that your tree is well cared for and that deadwood is thoroughly pruned away.
It’s recommended to use a professional tree surgeon or arborist for deadwood removal rather than DIY
How to get deadwood removal near you
All trees accumulate some amount of deadwood over time, especially as they become mature. It’s no surprise, then, that deadwood removal is one of the most commonly requested tree care services in the UK alongside tree pruning.
Finding a tree surgeon near you shouldn’t be a hassle. If you need the best-priced deadwood removal for your tree(s), performed by qualified arborists and tree surgeons in the UK, look no further than TreeMend.
Get no-obligation quotes for deadwood removal near you by using TreeMend
Deadwood removal in the UK: frequently asked questions
Why remove deadwood from trees?
Removing deadwood from trees helps make the tree safer for people and property underneath, it allows the tree to regrow new and healthy branches, and it makes the tree look better overall.
What are the benefits of deadwood?
Deadwood has many superb benefits to the ecosystem, such as providing shelter and food for insects and wildlife and feeding the soil underneath with rich nutrients. The Arboricultural Association recognises the important benefits of deadwood and recommends leaving as much as possible provided it does not pose a risk.
What causes deadwood?
Deadwood is most commonly caused by factors such as a lack of sunlight, ageing, poor soil quality and lack of nutrients, infestation of pests and/or diseases, accumulation of rainfall, branches or stems growing side-by-side with one another, direct impact causing cracks and damaging branches, and more.
What is the fungus in deadwood?
The fungus that often inhabits deadwood in a tree is called xylophagous fungus, or wood-decay fungus. It may be one of many different species of fungi, some of which are parasites to the deadwood whilst others will aggressively attack the live tree.
What breaks down deadwood?
The primary means of breaking down deadwood is from fungi. Many different species of fungi may inhabit deadwood and produce different types of rot. By releasing enzymes, the fungi attack the deadwood and break it down. Some fungi will decompose deadwood at specific stages only, others will attack living parts of the tree.
What are the benefits of log piles?
Log piles consisting of deadwood can be beneficial to the environment as they tend to attract insects, rodents and other wildlife by giving them shelter and/or a source of food.
How long do wood piles last?
A wood pile might last as long as a decade or more, depending on how big and how dense it is. With exposure to the elements, a wood pile will gradually rot and decay, decomposing until it has fully nourished the soil underneath.
Why is deadwood important?
Deadwood is important because it forms part of a natural cycle whereby decomposing deadwood nourishes the soil, which in turn feeds the roots of surrounding trees and allowing them to thrive and flourish. It also provides shelter and food for wildlife and a place for fungal growth to occur.
Are dead trees good for wildlife?
Yes, dead trees are good for wildlife. Small mammals can seek shelter in fallen trees and hollowed out trunks and branches of trees. They may also consume insects that will also be attracted to the deadwood.
How to manage deadwood?
For property owners with deadwood on trees located within private gardens or trees in public parks, deadwood should be managed by routine pruning from a professional tree surgeon or arborist. Deadwood in woodlands is often managed quite differently and it is often best to leave deadwood as it has fallen, unless it poses a risk. In this case, it may be best to gather it and deposit it in a larger pile somewhere else.
Get a deadwood removal quote today
Regular tree pruning is the most effective way to manage deadwood. You can easily find a local tree surgeon or arborist through TreeMend to ensure your trees receive expert care. TreeMend connects you with professional deadwood removal and tree pruning services offered by trusted UK tree specialists.