Talking Trees with Davey Tree

1d ago

Luke Brunner, Detroit arborist and business developer in Detroit, talks about what it takes to care for trees during the wintertime, including snow and ice protection, pruning, mulching and general planting tips. In this episode we cover: Should I leave the snow and ice on my tree? (0:58) Should I treat young trees and mature trees differently in winter? (2:26) Growing trees meant for different climates (3:06) Oak and elm damage and pruning (7:02) Maple and pine damage and pruning (11:00) Do arborists work in severely cold weather? (12:36) What Luke does as a business developer at Davey (13:45) Volcano mulching (14:57) Mulching trees in winter (17:17) Luke's green giant arborvitaes (18:32) Why this job is right for Luke (21:11) Shoutout for Detroit (21:50) To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. To learn more about winter tree care, read our blogs, Tree Care: Winter Tree Protection for Roots, Trunks and Branches , Don’t Skip a Winter Tree Inspection: Why Cold Weather Reveals Hidden Tree Risks , Seasonal Tree Care Checklist: How to Keep Trees Healthy This Winter and Protecting Newly Planted Trees from Frost & Cold Winter Weather . Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Dec 11

Dr. Dan Herms, vice president and general manager of the Davey Institute, takes us through Davey's newly completed SEED Campus. Since its opening in August 2025, several programs, trainings and initiatives have started taking place there, which is strengthening safety, training and research in the green industry. You can watch this podcast in video form to see the completed property come to life. Watch the YouTube video, Tour the Completed SEED Campus with Dr. Dan Herms . In this episode we cover: What does SEED stand for? (0:46) Climbing center (1:12) Sustainability (1:36) SITES certification and the stormwater retention program (2:00) Dan's feelings about the SEED Campus opening (2:42) Research initiatives (3:09) Arboretum (3:48) The Davey Institute offices, classrooms, archives and event center (4:17) Golf greens (5:16) Bog (5:41) Training programs at SEED (6:38) Utility training (7:29) Canopy walk (8:21) Greenhouses (9:28) Tree research plantation (9:54) Why is SEED important for Davey's clients? (10:35) What's next for the campus? (11:11) What are Dan's hopes for the future of the SEED Campus? (11:54) To watch Doug's tour of the property with Dr. Herms, watch the video on YouTube here . To learn more about the SEED Campus, visit www.Davey.com/SEED . To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Dec 4

Throughout the Talking Trees podcast, we’ve asked Davey employees questions like "How did you become an arborist?" and "Why is this job right for you?" In this special episode, we’ve compiled eight arborists' inspiring answers that share the journeys that brought our team to where they are today. In this episode we cover the stories of: Brad McBride, district manager of Davey's West Cleveland office (0:46) Chelsi Abbott, plant pathologist with the Davey Institute (2:04) Aaron Hoot, district manager of Davey's Dallas office (3:47) Jason Parker, district manager of Davey's Warminster office (6:49) Kevin Sproule, assistant district manager of Davey's Edmonton office (7:54) Taylor Judd, sales arborist at Davey's East Denver office (9:02) Joe Berg, district manager of Davey's East Bay office (11:05) Natascha Batchelor, sales arborist at Hartney Greymont, a Davey company, in Cape Cod (12:31) To learn more about careers at Davey, visit www.Davey.com/Careers . To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Nov 20

Jacob Ryg, district manager of Davey's South St. Paul office, debunks common winter tree care myths and shares practical tips to keep your landscape healthy throughout the season. In this episode we cover: Does a tree need water in the winter? (0:45) How much watering does your tree need? (1:58) Minnesota's season so far (2:30) Should all pruning wait until spring? (2:52) Snow and ice damage trees (4:38) How to manage wet snow on trees (5:22) Prune before winter sets in (6:33) Can tree care wait until spring? (7:34) Tree wraps (9:20) Should you let trees heal themselves? (11:05) Don't rake up all your leaves (12:29) Prairie lawns (14:57) Plants and grasses for prairie lawns (16:44) Environmental impacts of prairie lawns (18:42) To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Nov 13

Matt Scott from Davey's Raleigh office talks all about tree pruning, including best practices, safety, ideal times to prune and why a certified arborist is best for the job. In this episode we cover: What can homeowners prune themselves? (0:46) Assess if your tree needs pruning or not (1:42) Safety while pruning (2:57) Teaching clients to prune from the ground (4:00) When is the right time to prune a tree? (5:45) When to prune an oak or elm tree (7:28) The worst things homeowners can do to trees (8:22) Have a certified arborist prune your trees (9:24) (20:45) The importance of the right tools (10:43) Pruning cuts (12:36) Fixing bad pruning mistakes (14:40) The artistry of pruning (18:15) To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. To learn more about pruning and tree care, read our blogs, What is Pruning? Importance, Benefits & Methods of Pruning , Signs Your Trees Need Pruning and our other pruning blogs. Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Nov 6

Lou Meyer from Davey's Mid-Atlantic region talks all about the sweet gum tree, including its biology, unique features and pros and cons. In this episode we cover: Sweet gum's spiky seeds (1:35) Why are they called "sweet gum?" (4:12) How large do they get? (6:00) Sweet gums aren't planted much (7:03) What to do about your sweet gum's surface roots (9:07) Where do they grow? (10:52) Are the black gum and sweet gum related? (11:39) Sweet gum identifying features (12:42) Crafts with sweet gum seeds (14:54) Fruit regulators (16:00) Do sweet gums belong in the forest? (18:15) To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. To learn more about tree species, read Davey's Tree Identification blogs , such as Tree Identification: Do I Have a Sweetgum Tree and more. Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Oct 30

Michael Cassidy, sales arborist at Davey's West Columbus office, shares his list of scary movies featuring spooky trees, eerie forests and creepy plants just in time for Halloween. In this episode we cover: Doug's favorite horror movie (1:22) Doug and Michael's Halloween traditions (2:40) Scary movies with scary trees and plants Pumpkinhead (4:34) The Wicker Man (5:01) Ernest Scares Stupid (6:02) Blair Witch Project (7:26) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (8:13) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (11:39) Color Out of Space (12:06) Moonstruck (12:38) Midsommar (13:14) Jumanji (14:02) Predator (15:01) Alien (15:44) Wrong Turn (16:41) The Watchers (17:02) The Evil Dead series (17:35) Gaia (19:57) The Wizard of Oz (20:27) To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. To learn more about scary trees and plants, read Davey's blog, Zombie Trees: What You Need to Know . Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!

Oct 23

Sam Heywood, area manager for Davey Resource Group (DRG), talks about urban forestry and answers listener questions about planting native species in urban environments and how climate change is affecting the species we plant. In this episode we cover: What is DRG? (0:48) Tree inventories (2:01) How did Sam start working at Davey? (3:55) Why should we have trees in cities? (4:45) DRG's impact on urban forestry (7:17) Listener questions Ecological benefits of native trees in urban environments (9:08) Tree that provide ecological benefits in urban environments (15:42) How do Davey arborists plan to keep the benefits of urban forestry alive throughout the years? (17:53) Lifespan of urban trees (21:20) DRG's work to help cities with their trees (22:35) Sam's favorite trees (24:17) To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code. To learn more about DRG's work with urban forestry, visit our webpage, Urban & Community Foresty Services . Connect with Davey Tree on social media: Twitter: @DaveyTree Facebook: @DaveyTree Instagram: @daveytree YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com . Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com . We want to hear from you! Click here to send Talking Trees Fan Mail!