Response to Bartlett Owner Comment:
You stated several inaccuracies in your response. You claim, "the peeled bark in your picture is fresh and occurred when the stem failed or when the contractor made a chainsaw removal cut." That is not the case. The chainsaw simply made the existing split more obvious, exposing the long line of decay behind it. Several tree companies that gave me a fallen tree removal estimate commented that the tree failed due to this internal decay and not because of ground saturation from the rain. In fact, when you diagnosed my tree in 2016 with Phytophthora, the bark was already beginning to peel at the base, and there was a vertical line of decay visible on the trunk. I videotaped your visit in 2016, and the attached photo from from that video shows the decay.
You commented, "I am sorry we cannot guarantee against storm damage and unforeseen internal decay." Of course you cannot guarantee those things, but you convinced me you could treat a disease that cannot be treated. Research indicates phytophthora canker cannot be treated. Furthermore, the saturation that finally knocked over the tree during the extended rain entered mostly downward into the trunk instead of from the ground below. A few of the tree removal contractors also commented that most of the water damage came from above, much of it from the honeybee hive.
You claim, "Internal decay in this situation was caused by armillaria, not the phytophthora canker we treated." Once again, research indicates phytophthora canker cannot be treated. Phytophthora canker also causes root rot. I somehow let you convince me that you could save my tree with treatments while monitoring its progress. I also made it clear on my contract that I be informed when your worker would come apply the treatments so that I could be there to inspect the tree with him. Unfortunately for this year's treatment, your employee showed up unannounced, so I was not there to address issues, such as the increasing line of splitting bark or other warning signs.
I take responsibility for agreeing to pay for treatments after I found an authoritative research site that indicated the tree would fail from phytophthora canker. What a shame that my family spent $1,580 on this tree, which was a threat to safety and also a nuisance due to the catkins dusting with pollen and clogging the gutters, excessive acorn and leaf droppings, and oak galls. I noticed Bartlett is no longer top-rated, and commission-based work creates aggressive sales tactics.
Original Review:
My family had used Bartlett's services for years, so when they convinced me to treat a towering white oak stricken with Phytophthora canker disease in 2016, I made a very costly ($11,000+) mistake. Before agreeing to the treatments, I emailed their licensed tree expert, indicating my research showed: "Even the Maryland Extension Service indicates there are no cures once the tree or shrub is infected and the fungi cannot be eliminated from the surrounding soil once the tree or shrub is removed."
The Bartlett tree expert replied with an email, "We can suppress Phytophthora (both root rot and canker) to manageable levels with treatment. Once it is under control we typically monitor the disease and retreat when necessary."
But Bartlett failed to monitor the disease and was still treating our diseased oak in 2018 when it fell. There were warning signs Bartlett should have seen when they treated the tree in 2018, such as the long line of peeling bark (rotting inside) for six feet from the base of the tree. After the tree fell, it was especially evident the entire core had been rotting for years behind the long line of cracked bark. It fell after several days of rain, but not from the soggy ground making the roots unstable (we had been checking the ground around our large trees daily). It fell from years of internal rotting and the recent deluge of water entering the trunk from the cracked bark and other known cavities, including a honeybee's nest. The photos speak a thousand words.
Shame on me for falling for Bartlett's sales tactics instead of listening to scientific research two years earlier. We would have paid less than a third of the cost and much less hassle to cut it down at the time Bartlett started "treatments" in 2016. Hard lesson learned.
Our total cost for this diseased tree was over $11,000, beginning with Bartlett's "treatments." Add to that the complicated fallen tree removal using a crane from a neighbor's yard, stump removal, fence reinstallment, etc. Finding a licensed tree care specialist to agree to remove the fallen tree, scheduling, and costs were a nightmare, and our dog was without a fence for several weeks.
Bartlett is careful with pruning large limbs and smaller bushes, but you can get a much better price for those services from another certified tree expert. Stay away from their expensive treatments and instead research the problem for alternate solutions. read more