About Our Services

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR SERVICES GALLERY Hemlock Healers provides Tree Pruning/Removal and Forest Insect Disease Treatment in the Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee region

Forest Insect and Disease Control

Hemlock Healers offers services for treatment of Oak Wilt, Anthracnose, Powdery Mildew, Scales, boring insects, caterpillar issues and mites among others. Our employees are Certified Arborists and pride ourselves on professionalism and ethically informing clients on all their tree and plant care needs.

Invasive Plant Control

Hemlock Healers is experienced in dealing with a wide range of exotic plants, including; Kudzu, Oriental Bittersweet, Knotweed, Privet, Wisteria, Autumn Olive, Royal Paulownia, Mimosa, Tree of Heaven, Multi Flora Rose, Barberry, Miscanthus. We will come to your property and assess the problem and submit a recommendation for action. Please understand that most invasive treatments may be a 2-3 year process to eradicate the problem.

Hedge and Tree Pruning

We are experienced in pruning all hedges and bushes and will do this in a professional manner and will remove all chipping and debris. Tree pruning will be done by International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) standards. Our climbers WILL NOT climb trees with spikes/spurs and we also DO NOT Top trees. Topping is perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known. It is usually done to reduce the size of a tree. Often, homeowners top their trees because they feel that they have become too large for their property and are a hazard. However, topping will make a tree more hazardous in the long term and is very harmful to the health of a tree.

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW WE PRUNE TREES

Reasons for NOT Topping Trees

  • Topping often removes 50 to 100 percent of the leaf-bearing crown of a tree. Because leaves are the food factories of a tree, removing them can temporarily starve a tree. The severity of the pruning triggers a sort of survival mechanism. The tree activates latent buds, forcing the rapid growth of multiple shoots below each cut. The tree needs to put out a new crop of leaves as soon as possible. If a tree does not have the stored energy reserves to do so, it will be seriously weakened and may die.
  • Topping stresses trees. A stressed tree is more vulnerable to insect and disease infestations. Large, open pruning wounds expose the sapwood and heartwood to attacks. The tree may lack sufficient energy to chemically defend the wounds against invasion, and some insects are actually attracted to the chemical signals trees release.
  • Topping causes decay. The preferred location to make a pruning cut is just beyond the branch collar at the branch’s point of attachment. The tree is biologically equipped to close such a wound, provided the tree is healthy enough and the wound is not too large. Cuts made along a limb between lateral branches create stubs with wounds that the tree may not be able to close. The exposed wood tissues begin to decay. Normally, a tree will “wall off,” or compartmentalize, the decaying tissues, but few trees can defend the multiple severe wounds caused by topping. The decay organisms are given a free path to move down through the branches.
  • Topping creates hazards. The survival mechanism that causes a tree to produce multiple shoots below each topping cut comes at great expense to the tree. These shoots develop from buds near the surface of the old branches. Unlike normal branches that develop in a socket of overlapping wood tissues, these new shoots are anchored only in the outermost layers of the parent branches. The new shoots grow quickly, as much as 20 feet in one year, in some species. Unfortunately, the shoots are prone to breaking, especially during windy conditions. The irony is that while the goal was to reduce the tree’s height to make it safer, it has been made more hazardous than before.
  • Topping makes trees ugly. The natural branching structure of a tree is a biological wonder. Trees form a variety of shapes and growth habits, all with the same goal of presenting their leaves to the sun. Topping removes the ends of the branches, often leaving ugly stubs. Topping destroys the natural form of a tree. Without leaves (up to 6 months of the year in temperate climates), a topped tree appears disfigured and mutilated. With leaves, it is a dense ball of foliage, lacking its simple grace. A tree that has been topped can never fully regain its natural form.

Tree Removal

Our Certified Arborists are experienced at removing trees whether in a yard, when a simple drop can be done, or next to a structure where climbing and lowering is necessary, please see our photo gallery. All debris will be removed, chipped, or bucked for firewood at homeowner’s request.

Plantings

Hemlock Healers can take care of all your planting or design needs from one tree to elaborate landscape designs. All plantings are guaranteed for one year.

Stump Grinding

All sizes can be ground.

Soil Enhancements

Deep root soil enhancements are done with all organic products to stimulate growth and vigor of trees.

Getting Started with Hemlock Healers is easy — To schedule an appointment, please call us at the telephone numbers below or click here to contact us by email:

Cell:  (828) 734-7819
Click here to Contact Us by Email

Hemlock Healers, Inc.

Frank G. Varvoutis
P.O. Box 866
Waynesville, NC 28786