Don't Wait For Dead Tree To Kill Someone

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Now that they've all leafed out – or they didn't – you can finally assess the damage our rough winter did to your trees. If a tree has no leaves, or lots of deadwood and bare branches, you want to take action to keep people, pets and property safe.

Oddly, sometimes the trees that look the worst can be the least dangerous in certain situations - as we've seen this summer, winds with heavy gusts often take down some of the healthiest trees that are full of leaves, since their large canopies can act like a sail, lifting a tree out of the ground and across the landscape. But, no one can predict when a clearly dead branch or tree will fall.

So, for any tree you can't safely prune from the ground, call in an arborist to tell you what can stay, what has to go, and what options you have for how to take down a doomed tree.

And also, start talking about what you want to replace it with. Autumn is the perfect time to plant a tree, so you have a couple of months to decide.