Tree Trimming in Greece

Greece is the largest suburb in Monroe County by population, spread out across the northwest side with development that started in the 1950s and continued through the 1990s. It's a blue-collar and middle-class suburb with a lot of ranch homes, raised ranches, and split-levels on standard residential lots. The tree stock here is largely from the original subdivision plantings, which puts a lot of it in the 40-to-60-year range right now. There's more volume of tree work here than almost anywhere else in the county.

Branches that hang over roofs or power lines in Rochester don't stay put through a lake-effect winter. The snow loads here can hit 40 inches in a single storm, and a limb that looked fine in October can split and come down on a fence or car by January. Neighborhoods like Irondequoit and the South Wedge have a lot of older maples and oaks — trees planted 50 or 60 years ago that are now big enough to cause real damage if they're not kept up.

We climb the tree or use a bucket truck, make cuts at the right collar — that's the raised ring where a branch meets the trunk — so the tree seals itself over time without rotting. We don't top trees, because topping kills the structure and leaves stubs that rot out in a few years, which means you'll pay more to deal with the mess later.