Pine Tree Removal in Marietta, GA

Pine tree removal deserves its own page in Marietta. Loblolly and shortleaf pines grow fast and tall across the Piedmont, and many Cobb County lots still carry the pines that were growing there before the houses went in. Decades later, those pines tower over roofs, carry almost all their weight in a small crown at the top, and sit on shallow roots in clay. They can live a long time in that spot, but when one is dying, damaged or attacked by bark beetles, it becomes a problem quickly, and a dead pine near a house should not wait long.

Bark beetles: what to look for

The Georgia Forestry Commission describes three bark beetles that kill pines in Georgia. Southern pine beetle leaves dime-sized white to yellow pitch tubes that look like popped popcorn in the bark crevices, with S-shaped galleries under the bark, and it can kill large numbers of healthy trees in a short time. Ips engraver beetles leave similar pitch tubes, sometimes orange-pinkish, on the bark plates, start their attacks well up the trunk, and go after pines stressed by drought, storm damage or mechanical injury. Black turpentine beetles attack from the ground up to about 12 feet, with larger, often purplish pitch tubes an inch or more across. Other early signs are brown boring dust on the bark and around the base, small entrance holes, and green needles on the ground. GFC notes that severely stressed trees may not form pitch tubes at all, so dust and holes may be the only signs.

Why speed matters

Beetles that finish one tree move on to others nearby. GFC recommends that pines severely damaged by wind, lightning, fire, disease or insects be promptly removed or destroyed because they become breeding material, and it does not recommend chemical control for Ips or southern pine beetle infestations in forest conditions. For black turpentine beetle on a newly attacked individual tree, GFC describes spraying the trunk from the base to the highest pitch tube with an approved insecticide, which a licensed applicator can do. A pine that has turned yellow or red at the top is usually past saving.

Lightning, drought and storms

Tall pines are the highest points on many lots and take their share of lightning, which often leaves a spiral strip of bark torn off down the trunk and can kill the tree or open it to beetles. Long droughts, like the 2006 to 2008 drought that led to a statewide outdoor watering ban in 2007, stress pines across the region. And after heavy rain, a tall pine on soaked clay can uproot whole. Any of these is a reason to have a pine near the house looked at.

How a tall pine comes down

In an open area, a pine can sometimes be felled in one piece. Near a house, it is climbed and taken apart: the limbs are removed going up, then the top is cut out, and the trunk is cut down in sections, each one dropped into a clear landing zone or lowered on a rope. Pine wood is heavy when green, and a section several feet long can weigh hundreds of pounds, so rigging matters. Where there is no safe place to land anything, a crane is sometimes the safest way to lift sections over the house.

Pine wood and stumps

Pine is soft and resinous, which makes it a poor choice for indoor fireplaces, so most people have the logs hauled away or cut for an outdoor fire pit. Pine stumps grind quickly and are worth removing near the house, since decaying stumps can attract wood-boring insects.