Should I remove dead trees in my yard?

When you landscape a yard, it never seems complete without a nice, big, shady tree to hang a tire swing from or build a treehouse in. They’re sturdy, they’re hardy, and they bring an extra aesthetic and dimensional pop to your yard that you can’t always get with shrubs and flowers. But trees, just like all other organic matter, can still succumb to a whole list of afflictions that cause them to die – sometimes in obvious ways, and sometimes in more subtle ways.

When you know you have a dead tree, or even a dying tree, on your property, though, action needs to be taken.

In a forest or a heavily wooded area, these dead or dying trees are also called snag trees, and can be very helpful to the environment – so much so that there are certain amounts of snag trees often required to be left standing. This is not, however, the case when it comes to dead trees in your yard. Here’s 5 reasons why you need to remove dead trees from your yard – the sooner the better!

Why You Should Remove Dead Trees From Your Yard

1. They’re a Safety Hazard

This is the first and most important reason for you to remove dead trees is because they pose a safety risk. As trees die and begin to decompose, they also begin to lose their structural integrity. The root system holding them in the ground will likely rot away, the bark will become loose, and the wood that once made it strong crumbles.

That means that the treehouse you built becomes more liable to fall, and anyone standing near or under the tree at any point in time is taking a huge risk of falling branches. Your house is put in the danger zone should any branches or the entire tree uproot itself in a storm, and you’ll be held responsible if any cars or houses are injured in the process as well.

2. They Can Attract Pests

If you thought that your living trees were the home to a variety of insects before, you won’t want to do any exploring in your dead ones. Dead wood is an especially attractive place for insects to make their home, as the wood becomes more malleable and more easily moved – and sometimes eaten – by certain species. Some of the most dangerous pest species that can end up doing a lot more damage than taking up residence in your dead trees include:

Ants, especially carpenter ants
Wasps
Bees
Wood-Boring Beetles
Termites

These pests can very quickly invade your home and healthy trees and threaten their integrity, as well as accelerate the rate at which the dead tree is decomposing, which makes it even more of a safety risk.

3. They Can Infect Other Trees

Whether by infectious tree diseases or invasive pests, dead trees have a high potential of passing both the afflictions they died from or what they developed as an effect of death on to other trees. This, then, multiplies your risk of dead and unstable trees and the amount of pests on your property that can develop into an outbreak if not controlled.

This was seen with the Emerald Ash Borer, which is an invasive insect that has wiped out a huge population of Ash trees in the Midwest because control methods were not studied and implemented quickly enough. When you have a dead tree, the best defense is to remove it as quickly as possible to prevent any risk of infection or pest spread.

4. They Can Devalue Your Property

While most people think that this reason doesn’t apply to them if they aren’t actively trying to sell their house or land, it’s actually pertinent to all home owners. Anyone who has ever planted a sapling or had to treat and care for trees knows that these plants are long-term investments. In order to take into consideration your property value, you have to think in terms of the ‘big picture.’

Trees can get very big, and they play an important role in the ecosystem of your yard. Even if you aren’t planning on selling your house in the near future, keep in mind that it will take some time for that ecosystem to recover from the loss of even one tree. This, combined with the time that it will take for the area to heal in terms of aesthetics, requires some forward thinking. You might need a stump grinded down, your grass will need to regrow where falling branches may have damaged it and where the stump used to reside, and you’ll likely have A LOT of yard work and waste to clean up after the fact – all of which contributes to the property value.

5. They Can Cost You a Lot In the Long Run

As the culmination of what most of the previous reasons revolve around, dead trees will end up costing you much more than a tree removal service will if you choose to wait. Reconstruction costs if the tree falls on a house or fence, insurance if it falls on a car, a lower property value, pest removal services if pests that made a home in your dead tree invade your home, and more tree removal services if disease spreads to the surrounding trees – it can all be avoided by early detection and early removal.

Don’t wait for these costs to pop up, and when you suspect a tree on your property has died, get an expert opinion or a removal service so that you can avoid all these unnecessary costs in the long run. And then after, when you need a yard waste removal service, give Moon Dumpsters a call! We deliver dumpsters from 6-40 ft for however big your tree removal waste may be!

Consider renting a Moon Mini Dumpster, no matter what size project you choose to undertake. Our driveway dumpsters come in 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 30, and 40 cubic yard capacities. Affordable and lightweight, a dumpster will be delivered directly to you and placed on boards for surface protection. We are environmentally-friendly, locally-owned, and willing to work with any time frame. Give us a call at 502-547-1974 to learn more!