Unpopular opinion: I told a client to cut down their sick maple instead of trying to save it

Casey Bennett · 2026-03-26T12:10:08.321182+00:00

They had a 40-foot silver maple with major girdling roots and advanced fungal rot in the trunk. The choice was a $5,000 cabling and soil treatment plan that might buy it five years, or removal for $2,800. I picked removal and laid out the safety risk clearly. They were mad at first, but a month later thanked me when their neighbor's similar tree dropped a huge limb in a storm. When a tree is that far gone, is removal actually the more responsible call?

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Unpopular opinion: I told a client to cut down their sick maple instead of trying to save it | Arborists - Guest Forum