Tree Trimming in Penfield

Penfield is a growing suburb on the east side of Monroe County that built out steadily from the 1970s through the 2000s. It's a commuter town with a mix of newer subdivisions and older rural parcels that were converted to residential use. A lot of the lots here have a mix of mature trees left over from farmland and younger trees planted when the subdivisions went in. That combination means you often find old oaks and hickories sitting in the middle of newer neighborhoods.

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.