Levy Tree Care

01/29/2026

If you know any women interested in a one-day, introductory chainsaw class, please share this with them. The Women's Environmental Institute is in North Branch. Thanks!

10/14/2025

If you're interested in buckthorn management, here is a free webinar scheduled for tomorrow 15 October.

Monthly forums address issues in urban forestry, arboriculture, and research. Forums are typically held on the third Thursday of the month. To view past presentations, visit the Forum Presentations...

04/03/2025

Good morning, Duluth! Looks like our April blizzard is over. If you have a moment before you head off to work, check the trees in your yard to look for any tree branches that are excessively laden with snow. this is the snow that breaks branches. It's heavy, wet, sticks on the branches for a while.
White, red and Scotch pines are conifers especially prone broken branches after a storm like this. So get out there and lighten the load! Here are some photos from yesterday afternoon: a before and after, and two "this is really heavy!" photos of the same tree at a bus stop.

02/05/2025

What might appear in the kitchen sink if your wife is an arborist.

02/04/2025

If you know any women who are interested in learning about chainsaws, their maintenance, use, etc., have them check out this upcoming class at the Women's Environmental Institute.

Date: 29 March.

Course Description: If you don’t already love your chainsaw, you will after this class. We will focus on chainsaw safety and operation, and briefly touch on maintenance. We will discuss finding and caring for PPE (personal protective equipment) that fits you properly, creating and maintaining a sa...

10/16/2024

16 Oct Update on the 10th Street Silver Maple:

I spoke with our City Forester this morning. He agreed to take this tree off the removal list for the time being, and to schedule a dead-wood (sanitation prune) removal this winter.

If anyone is able to water this tree between now and when the ground freezes, she would surely appreciate the attention. She has a lot of self to keep hydrated going into dormancy. Organize yourselves to avoid overwatering.

The City Forester and I discussed reasons for removal, including general characteristics of silver maple trees, this tree's location, its life history, associated risks and hazards - and I made a case for retention.

There is an area of arboriculture that addresses Retrenchment Pruning and Veteran or Ancient Tree Preservation. Most of the work in this area is on what we in the profession call "landscape" trees, as contrasted with boulevard trees.

When I am at this year's American Society of Consulting Arborists (ASCA) conference I will ask two of the leading experts in ancient tree preservation (Neville Fay and Phillip Van Wassenaer) about our 10th Street tree for insights to share with our City Forester.

Tina Marie Higgins Wussow
Ryan Jones-Casey
Leah Gruhn

10/12/2024

We all know how dry it is, which feels crazy after the incredibly wet spring we had this year.

Your trees will benefit tremendously from regular, slow watering from now until the ground freezes. Roots are physiologically active until the ground freezes even after leaves are gone. Conifers keep there leaves throughout the winter and really, really need to be well hydrated going into the dormant season.

Use a soaker hose (~ $19 at Menards) if you can. Ironically dry soil is hydrophobic until it wets up, so you don’t want to have the water running off the surface of the ground instead of soaking in around the tree’s base.

Here are some photos showing just how dry the ground is. The dirt has shrunk away from the bases of these trees so much that I can get my fingers in the crack between the trunk and the ground.

Duluth Area Gardeners

10/10/2024

Update on the elder Silver Maple tree: it is not on the removal schedule until after the City Forester returns next week. In the mean time, since we no longer have a Tree or Urban Forest Commission, I suggest contacting your city councilor to express your interest in preserving this tree for a while longer.

I am available and interested in contributing my professional opinion and expertise as needed.

Ryan Jones-Casey
Tina Marie Higgins Wussow
Melody McKnight

03/26/2024

If you can manage another “to do” in your brain today, along with “shovel for the fifth time, wondering when the snow plow will come, and what your kid will do on day two of no school” give your trees a look.
They’re getting a pretty huge weight load with all this wet snow. If you can reach the branches, shake off as much snow as your can to avoid a break. Use your hand, a broom, a snow shovel.
This branch is over the roof of my porch. If I can get the window unfrozen I’ll lighten the load.

01/30/2024

Here’s an upcoming chainsaw class for women - 30 March 2024. Early registration now. https://w-e-i.org/event/women-and-chainsaws/

01/30/2024

Early registration is live for this Women and Chainsaws class at the WEI farm in North Branch, MN. The class takes place on Saturday 30 March.

Course Description: If you don’t already love your chainsaw, you will after this class. We will focus on chainsaw safety and operation, and briefly touch on maintenance. We will discuss finding and caring for PPE (personal protective equipment) that fits you properly, creating and maintaining a sa...