What a busy season it has been! We at New Leaf continue to be humbled by the call for our services and thrilled that we are able to engage with so many of you in the care of your trees and properties.
And we continue to value the talent and work ethic that our wonderful crews bring to the job every day.
With fall now here, I want to offer an update on the state of our business, and plans for the coming seasons.
The increasing demand this summer has continued to extend wait times. At the moment, we are currently booking 4 to 5 months out after a proposal is accepted. As many of you have mentioned, being busy is a good problem to have. The increased demand does, however, put a lot of strain on our system in terms of responding to seasonally dependent work, as well as storm damage and other emergency situations. Please be assured that when emergency situations arise, we remain committed to expeditiously servicing the needs of our current clients. We would respectfully ask that we all be understanding of schedule shake-ups in these situations.
Previously, as you may have noticed, we added an exciting feature to our website: a link to a special page for online scheduling of in-person consultations. We offer one-on-one arborist consultations to discuss and evaluate your trees, answer any questions or concerns, then formulate action plans. Short in-person meetings intended to price out individual tree removals or pruning work are also available. On the linked website page, you can input your information and select a preferred date and time slot for your specific area. We can then email back and forth to confirm and elicit any further details. This feature has been so well received and utilized that our availability for such meetings is already mostly booked through the end of this year (!). However, we will certainly make additional time available for current clients regarding work that is seasonally dependent, such as ornamental and fruit tree pruning, oak pruning, and winter property work. Please reach out to us via email if there is work you would like to discuss, and provide as much information as you can, including pictures. In some instances we may be able to forego a consultation meeting in order to speed up the process.
As a further feature of our service for anyone interested, we will compile a list of yearly reoccurring maintenance needs. Again, if you are interested please email us!
In the aftermath of the wet summer, we have received inquires from homeowners regarding wilted, browning, and early-dropping maple leaves. Two common fungal issues that are the primary causes for this situation are tar spot and anthracnose.
Tar spot appears as small, raised black spots scattered across the surface of the leaf. Tar spot does not usually have an adverse effect on the long-term health of trees.
Anthracnose is a fungus that tends to attack plants in the spring when the weather is cool and wet, primarily on leaves and twigs. Cool, rainy weather creates perfect conditions for the spores to spread. While stem infections by anthracnose fungi are common, maple anthracnose almost always affects only the foliage. In general, anthracnose fungi does not present a major threat to established, healthy trees. Proper pruning techniques to allow for more air and light movement can lessen chances of fungal outbreaks going forward, as well as properly disposing of diseased plant material.
We would like to thank all of you for your continued support. We appreciate the feedback we have been getting. We look forward to a strong finish to the year.
Stay safe!
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