Tree Removal & Tree Felling West Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire

CHAS approved, Foremans Tree Specialists Ltd are happy to provide our professional, insured tree felling and tree removal services in West Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and throughout the South-East. 

We’ve helped numerous clients in Horsham, Crawley, Chichester, Billingshurst, Dorking, Liphook, Haslemere and Reigate to name but a few and have built an excellent reputation as reliable and honest local tree surgeons.

Needless to say, whether you’re looking to fell and remove a tree for safety, practicality or purely aesthetic reasons, Foreman’s Tree Specialists can undoubtedly facilitate your requirements.

Our team of NPTC qualified tree surgeons will begin by making a thorough safety assessment and identify the most appropriate way to remove the tree while minimising the risk of impacting the surrounding area. 

There are in essence two methods of felling a tree, the less common straight felling and the more common sectional felling (also known as dismantling). There are good and bad points to each method, and we will discuss these in greater detail below.

Directional Felling, Straight Tree Felling or Whole Tree Felling

With straight tree felling, a cut is made at the base and the entire tree is allowed to fall in its entirety. We use a selection of industry approved tools and techniques to control the direction and landing position of the fell. 

Due to the premium of space in the UK, whole tree felling is generally only utilised for small to medium-sized trees. In built-up locations, Larger trees require too much space and the risk of damage is too high for them to be felled in one section. Where space is not an issue, straight tree felling is much safer and more time-efficient than sectional dismantlement.

Our skilled arborists have straight felled a considerable number of trees in a variety of locations across West Sussex, Surrey and the South. With that in mind, you can rest assured that whether you have a small ornamental tree in your garden or an enormous oak on a development site, we can get it removed safely with minimum fuss.

Dismantling, Sectioning or Sectional Tree Felling 

The art of sectional felling requires the dismantling of a tree in sections; our arborists climb the tree and use a combination of roping and rigging methods to guide each part down to ground level.

We utilise this felling technique in urban or built-up areas, where buildings or property could be at the risk of damage. Dismantling takes significantly more time than straight felling, but if carried out correctly, it’s by far the safer option. Experienced professionals must carry out this type of work due to the dangers involved with climbing and dismantling problematic trees.

Foremans Tree Specialists Ltd have a wealth of experience in sectional tree felling, and we’ve removed trees in even the most awkward locations across West Sussex, Surrey and the South East.

After a tree is straight felled or felled in sections, we always ensure we leave your garden as tidy as possible. We remove all arisings from the site and dispose of them in a responsible and environmentally friendly manner. We often recycle logs for firewood and use woodchip for gardens, allotments, biomass or equestrian purposes. If you would like to keep any of the arisings, please discuss this with us during the consultation period.

In addition to removing your tree/s, we can also remove the tree stump/s using one of our hi-tech stump grinders. You can learn more about our stump grinding services by visiting our tree stump removal page here. 

With our yard based in Surrey and our office in West Sussex, we are perfectly situated to provide tree felling in Horsham, stump grinding in Crawley, tree removal in Chichester or any of the surrounding locations. 

Contact a member of the Foremans Tree Specialists Ltd team to discuss your requirements and arrange a free consultation partnered with a no-obligation quotation.

Tree Pests, Diseases & Harmful Fungi

Across the United Kingdom, there has been a considerable rise in the number of reported tree pests, diseases and harmful fungi.

If not dealt with correctly, these pests, diseases and fungi, may take hold and spread rapidly, causing significant losses to our vital and cherished trees. Sadly, now that these threats are here, it’s doubtful we will ever get rid of them.

With that in mind, we must identify and deal with these pests, diseases and fungi before they spread and cause further damage.

Foremans Tree Specialists Ltd’s experienced tree surgeons are incredibly knowledgable in this field, keeping up to date with current data on new threats, outbreaks and up to date treatment processes.

If you have any concerns regarding the health of a tree or have suspicions that suspect it has fallen victim to a harmful pest, disease or fungi, contact a member of the team today. We’ll quickly be able to identify the threat and be happy to advise on a schedule of works to save the tree and stop the spread to any surrounding trees.

As your helpful and local Horsham tree surgeons, we’ve put together a list of common pests, diseases and fungi along with some tips on how to identify them. 

Diseases and Fungi

Infections of the fungal kind are incredibly complicated to irradiate as the fungus can often survive the winter months laying dormant in leaf litter. In the summer months, potentially thousands of these fungal spores could be let loose and carried by the wind infecting vulnerable trees in their path. 

Spores can travel a long distance on the breeze before landing on leaves or wounds and starting untold damage on trees across the local area.

Ash Dieback

Ash dieback is spreading at a rapid rate and is now a severe problem for ash trees throughout the UK.

Ash dieback is a fungal infection, and in the summer can be easily recognised by dark patches on its leaves. In early autumn, the leaves will be blackened and wilted. You are also likely to find dark brown diamond-shaped lesions where branches meet the main stem of the tree. 

Ash dieback is usually fatal for the tree concerned with fungal growth. The fungus restricts the tree’s ability to transport water around its system, resulting in extensive dieback starting at the tree’s extremities.

Dutch Elm Disease

The fungus that is responsible for this disease is called Ophiostoma Novo-Ulmi. Similar to other fungal infections, it causes leaves to fall early and become discoloured yellow, but dutch elm uniquely also makes the twigs of the tree bend in a downwards direction. Some refer to this as in a ‘shepherd’s crook’. 

Elm bark beetles commonly introduce the Ophiostoma Novo-Ulmi when feeding, and once established, the fungus releases toxins that suppress or block the free flow of water around its system. 

Horse Chestnut Bleeding Canker

This disease is one of the easier ones to spot; in the summertime, you will notice cracks in the bark oozing a reddish-brown liquid. If this is the case, your horse chestnut has likely been infected by this bacterial pathogen which obstructs the tree’s water transportation system. Usually speaking, cankers are not an issue that needs addressing immediately, but the disease can multiply and spread across the tree resulting in more severe problems.

Dothistroma Needle Blight

Only affecting pine trees, this fungal infection causes its needles to turn brown with yellow spots or reddish-brown colour and fall from the tree. This results in the branches only having needles at the end, in what we describe as a ‘lion’s tail’. The discolouration and shedding of the needles weaken the tree’s capacity to photosynthesise, putting its health at risk.

Pests

The main pests in the UK are bugs, beetles and borers, and they cause harm to trees through their eating habits and reproductive activities. Some cause purely aesthetic damage, while others can put the general health and mortality of the tree at risk.

Oak Processionary Moth (OPM)

For now, in the UK, OPM is only found in London and its surrounding counties. The main concern for the tree is not the moth but the caterpillars the moth develops from. Present in April and May, the caterpillars march around oak trees in a uniform and processionary manner, hence their name and form webbing nests that attach to the stem or sturdy branches. The main risk to the tree is the caterpillars’ insatiable appetite; they will happily strip the tree of its leaves, hindering its ability to photosynthesise. With that said, OPM caterpillars pose no real risk to the trees’ long term health; the real problem lies with the tiny toxic hairs they have on their bodies. The small hairs they shed can be very harmful to humans and other animals, causing rashes, sore throats and breathing difficulties.

If you see OPM nests or caterpillars, we suggest staying well clear and keeping pets and children away from the area. You should also report the sighting to the forestry commission via their website and consult a local tree surgeon if you wish to have them removed.

Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner

As the name would suggest, this pest is only a threat to horse chestnut trees. The horse chestnut leaf miners leave small tracks inside the leaves of the tree as the larvae eat away at them to they can develop into the tiny brown and white moths. 

If you see that individual leaves on your horse chestnut are going falling off or going brown prematurely, then it’s best to check for the tell tail leaf track left by the miner larvae.

Eight-toothed spruce bark beetle

To date, the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle has only been sighted in the county of Kent, but like any pest, it could spread anywhere, so best to stay vigilant. You can identify the infestation of this beetle if you find 20mm to 25mm holes in the bark, and sawdust under trunks or branches. The eight-toothed spruce bark beetle is approximately 5mm long, cylinder-shaped, shiny blacky brown in colour with small brown hairs. They bore holes into the tree, creating chambers to house their larvae. The chambers become more expansive as the larvae grow, which can cause damage to the tree’s water transportation system, resulting in dieback.

Elm Zig-Zag Sawfly

The Elm zig-zag sawfly lays its eggs on the perimeter of the leaves, and when the larvae hatch, they munch across the leaves in a zig-zagging manner. The population of the elm zig-zag sawfly can rise both quickly and significantly; this will cause extensive damage to many of the leaves, in turn, weakening the tree.

Oriental Chestnut Gall Wasp

The gall from an oriental gall wasp looks like an irregular bulbous growth found at a leaf’s base or on the stalk. The galls will begin a green or pink colour and go brown throughout the summer. It’s the wasp’s larvae that are responsible for the galls, and they may cause premature leaf death or dropping.

Conclusion

Our list, while helpful, is by far no means extensive, and there are many other diseases, fungi and pests which may be detrimental to the health of your trees, hedges and plants. We aren’t trying to scare you, we suggest staying vigilant and if you suspect you may have a problem call in the experts to help diagnose, treat and prevent anything from spreading further, putting other trees at risk.

Contact Foremans Tree Specialists Ltd today, and we’ll assist you in identifying your issue and advise on the next best steps to take.