Tree Surgeon Westmeath

Tree surgeons in Mullingar, Athlone and across Westmeath

Westmeath is the lake county, and its trees reflect that. There are lakeside trees around Lough Ennell, Lough Owel and Lough Derravaragh, birch and conifers on the edges of the midland bogs, old estate trees around Belvedere and Tullynally, and a huge number of trees in the housing estates of Mullingar and Athlone that were planted as saplings twenty years ago and are now pressing against houses.

5 County Tree Surgeons covers the whole county for tree removal and pruning, stump grinding, hedge cutting and storm clean-up. We look at what the tree needs and what you need from the space, recommend the least drastic option that actually solves the problem, and give you a clear quote covering the work, the timber and the clean-up.

• Licensed and fully insured
• Free quotes, often from photos
• Tight access in estate gardens is no problem
• Logs left for firewood or everything taken away

Estate gardens in Mullingar and Athlone

Mullingar and Athlone both grew quickly in the 2000s, and many of the estates built then were planted with birch, cherry, whitebeam, maple and leylandii. Twenty-odd years on, a lot of those trees are bigger than anyone planned for: shading back gardens, scraping roofs and windows, filling gutters with leaves and lifting paths and driveways with their roots.

Most of this does not need a tree removed. A crown reduction or crown lift often solves the light and clearance problems, and keeps the screening that made the tree worth planting in the first place. Where a tree really is in the wrong place, we dismantle it in sections and carry everything out through the side passage, so nothing is dropped near the house, the car or the neighbours.

One thing to check first: if the tree is on a green area or roadside verge in an estate that has been taken in charge by the council, it belongs to Westmeath County Council, not the residents. Contact the council about those trees rather than cutting them yourself. Trees inside your own boundary are your responsibility, and for overhanging branches from a neighbour's garden, a conversation before any cutting saves a lot of trouble.

Bog edges, birch and conifers

Large parts of Westmeath, especially in the west and south around Moate, Kilbeggan and Rochfortbridge, border raised bog and cutaway. Birch colonises these areas quickly, and plenty of rural homes now have dense birch stands growing right up to the garden. Conifer windbreaks are common on bog-edge sites too.

Both bring specific problems. Birch is a short-lived tree, and as it ages it is prone to decay fungi such as birch polypore, the white hoof-shaped brackets you see on the trunk. Once those appear, the timber is usually well rotted, and the tree can snap without much warning. Peaty, waterlogged soil also gives roots a poor grip, so both birch and conifers on bog edges are vulnerable to blowing over in storms.

If you have birch or conifers within falling distance of your house, sheds or a road, look for brackets on the trunk, dead tops, a new lean or cracked ground at the base. Thinning out the oldest and weakest trees nearest to buildings is usually the sensible first step.

What affects the cost of tree work in Westmeath?

A birch in an Athlone back garden with no side access can take longer than a much bigger tree on an open farm near Castlepollard, because every piece has to be lowered and carried out by hand. That is why we price each job on the site, not on height alone.

• Size, spread and condition of the tree
• Access, especially narrow side passages in estates
• Houses, cars, sheds, wires or water underneath
• Ground conditions on bog-edge or lakeside sites
• Whether timber and brash are removed or left
• Whether stump grinding is included

Neighbours on the same estate often book together, and grouping several trees or a hedge and a stump into one visit is usually better value than separate callouts.