Woodsman Company • HUTTO

Woodsman Company • HUTTO

Written by Beth Wade Friday, 13 June 2008

As the weather begins to warm up and Central Texans head outside to take care of the yard, Josh Richards is there to help with tree maintenance in Hutto and the surrounding areas.

Richards opened the Woodsman Company, a professional tree service that specializes in tree trimming and removal, in 1984.

Brian Lawrence, who grew up in Taylor and graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a degree in urban forestry, is also a certified arborist. He began working for Richards in 2007.

“I have always been outdoors, working with pretty much anything outdoors,” Lawrence said. “Urban forestry deals with the forestry in the city.”

As arborists, Richards and Lawrence are able to help residents plan where to plant trees, which trees grow best in the area and how to care for the trees.

“We do a lot of pruning, which is usually good for the tree, for its structure and health,” Lawrence said. “A lot of times people have questions about their trees. A certified arborist can give them an idea of what needs to be done.”

Lawrence manages a three-man crew, which completes jobs for residential and commercial sites. After making sure the crew is set to work, Lawrence continues his day by visiting customers to determine the best way to work with their trees, he said.

The crew helps customers with tree trimming, planting, thinning, cleaning, lot clearing and stump grinding, in which the stump is ground to or below ground level, killing it to prevent re-growth.

“There is only so much you can take out of a tree before it is going to hurt [its] health,” Lawrence said. “If you take out more than 15 to 20 percent of the canopy, that is going to hurt the tree because the leaves are what is putting energy back into [it]. That is what is keeping the tree alive.”

Although Woodsman Company can do tree removal, Lawrence said it is the last alternative.

“If someone wants to remove a tree, I usually try to talk to people about the benefits of keeping the tree,” Lawrence said. “People will complain about the leaves falling. That might be the only reason they want the tree removed, but that should be the last [thing we do].”

Richards also operates a palm tree nursery in Taylor where Canary Island Date Palms and Desert Fan Palms are both available for wholesale. He began growing the palm trees after he had a difficult time finding locally grown palms to plant on his property. The locally grown trees have adapted to the Texas weather, Richards said.

Tree-Trimming Practices

For tree pruning, the Woodsman Company uses the American National Standards Institute A300 as its standards. Pruning techniques, including cleaning, thinning, raising and reduction, may be used to keep trees healthy, safe and good-looking.

Cleaning – Gets rid of dead, dying or diseased branches and clears areas from the top of the tree that are crowded and weakly attached

Thinning – Removes select branches from the tree to increase the amount of light and air movement through the tree top; also reduces weight on limbs and helps keep the tree’s shape

Raising – Takes the lower limbs from the tree to make room for buildings, vehicles and pedestrians

Reduction – Reduces the tree’s size, often for utility line clearance; can mean reducing the height or spread of branches

Source: Woodsman Company

Woodsman Company, 205 East St., 846-2535, www.texastreetrimmers.com, www.centraltexaspalmtrees.com