120 articles from our crews
Cut English ivy on tree trunks at the base and leave the vines above to die on the bark. Do not pull them off, because that can peel bark and snap limbs.
For a tree in your own yard on an existing house lot, Waxhaw does not require a removal permit, and unincorporated Union County does not either. Street trees, recorded tree-save areas, and new development follow different rules.
Straight rows of small holes are yellow-bellied sapsucker sap wells, not bark beetles. Most trees tolerate light feeding, while pitch tubes, boring dust, or D-shaped exits point to insects.
Southern magnolias often drop their oldest interior leaves in October while the outer crown stays green, and that pile is usually normal. Brown new growth, scorched margins, or dead limbs are the signs that need a closer look.
Tree roots usually go around a sound foundation instead of breaking it. They widen cracks that are already there, and cutting a large root beside the house can make the tree unsafe.
Brown bags on Leyland cypress in October are evergreen bagworms full of eggs, not seed cones. Cut them off through early spring, since a spray usually misses and stripped wood will not grow new needles.
A Bradford pear usually fails at the trunk because tight upright crotches hold bark instead of a solid wood joint, so a mild or moderate storm can tear a main stem. Removal is the safer call when a crack already sits over a roof, driveway, or play area.
Learn how to identify Ips engraver beetles versus Southern Pine Beetle damage on Union County pines, spot early warning signs, and protect high-value trees.
Cracked trunks, codominant stems, root upheaval, and shelf fungi are the warning signs a Waxhaw tree may be hazardous. Learn when to get a professional assessment.
In Union County, late-summer oak browning is not always drought. Bacterial leaf scorch mimics thirst but is a fatal, insect-spread disease. Here is how to tell them apart, and what care actually helps.
