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The Tree Masters Hertfordshire Advice Centre is written for people who have a specific question about a tree, a hedge or a garden and want a straight answer before they ask anybody to quote for the work.
It is arranged two ways. Below are the questions that come up most often, answered directly. Under those, the advice is grouped by service and by town, so you can read around whichever job you are considering or find the guidance written for your part of Hertfordshire.
Nothing here is a sales page. Where the sensible answer is to leave a tree alone, or to cut a hedge later in the year rather than now, that is what it says.
Call 07388 094829 to discuss a job, or message us on WhatsApp.
Start With the Question You Have
Is this tree dangerous?
The honest answer is that most trees people worry about are not about to fall down, and a few that nobody has noticed are. The things worth reacting to quickly are a lean that has appeared or increased, soil lifting or cracking on the opposite side to the lean, a split where two stems meet, fungal brackets growing out of the trunk or root flare, and large dead limbs over anything you care about. A tree that has simply grown big, or that drops leaves and small twigs, is behaving normally.
Do I need permission before the work starts?
Sometimes, and it is much easier to find out first. A Tree Preservation Order can apply to a single tree, a group or a whole woodland, and it makes most work an offence without consent. Separately, any tree above a modest size inside a conservation area is protected and the council normally has to be given notice. Both are checked with the district or borough council, and the check is free. Hedges are generally outside both, though trees grown up within a hedge line are not.
Tree Surgery · Hedge Maintenance
Whose tree is it, and what am I allowed to cut?
Where a neighbour's tree or hedge grows across the boundary, you are generally entitled to cut back what overhangs your side, up to the boundary line and no further, provided the tree is not protected. What you cut back remains the owner's property in law, which is why the material is usually offered back rather than simply taken away. The practical advice is the same every time: tell them before it happens, not afterwards.
Hedge Maintenance · Ivy Removal
What is this likely to cost?
Price follows access far more than it follows size. The same tree in an open garden with the vehicle on the drive and in a terraced back garden reached through the house are two completely different jobs, because the second one is roped down in small pieces and carried out by hand. When you send an enquiry, the three things that make a quotation accurate are where a vehicle can park, the width of the narrowest point the material has to pass through, and a photograph.
Stump Grinding · Garden Clearance
When in the year should this be done?
Tree work can be carried out in most months, with a few sensible preferences by species. Hedges are the real seasonal constraint: birds nest in them from roughly March to August, it is an offence to damage an active nest, and that governs when a hedge can be cut hard. Turf goes down best in the cooler, damper halves of the year when it does not need watering daily to establish. Clearance and stump grinding can happen whenever the ground is workable.
Will it just grow back?
It depends entirely on what it is. Cut a stump off at ground level and many broadleaved species will throw up a ring of regrowth, which is why grinding out the stump settles it. Cut the canes off running bamboo and you have removed this year's growth and nothing else, because the plant is the rhizome network underground. Sever ivy at the base and it does die, though the dead material stays where it is until somebody takes it off. Knowing which of these you are dealing with is most of the decision.
Bamboo Removal · Stump Grinding
If you are not sure which of these your situation is, send a photograph. It is usually quicker than describing it, and it costs nothing to ask.
Advice by Service
Each service has its own set of guides covering the decisions that come up most on that kind of job.
Tree Surgery
Pruning, reductions, dismantling and removal, and the questions of safety and permission that come with them.
- When Should a Tree Be Pruned in Hertfordshire?
- Tree Removal or Tree Reduction: Which Is Right for Your Garden?
- How Much Does Tree Surgery Cost in Hertfordshire?
- What Happens During a Tree Removal?
- Can Overhanging Tree Branches Be Cut Back?
- How to Tell When a Tree Has Become Unsafe
- What Is Crown Reduction and When Is It Used?
- Tree Work Before Selling or Renting a Property
- Can Tree Surgery Be Carried Out in a Small Garden?
- What Happens to Branches and Timber After Tree Work?
Hedge Maintenance
Trimming, reductions and overgrown boundaries, and the timing that the nesting season imposes on all of it.
- How Often Should Garden Hedges Be Cut?
- Best Time of Year to Reduce an Overgrown Hedge
- How Much Does Hedge Cutting Cost in Hertfordshire?
- Can a Very Tall Hedge Be Reduced?
- What to Do When a Hedge Has Become Too Wide
- Hedge Maintenance for Rental Properties
- How to Keep Boundary Hedges Under Control
- Can Hedge Waste Be Removed After Cutting?
- Hedge Cutting Before Putting a House on the Market
- When Does a Hedge Need More Than a Simple Trim?
Stump Grinding
What grinding actually does, how deep it goes, and what to do with the hole afterwards.
- How Does Stump Grinding Work?
- How Deep Does a Stump Grinder Go?
- Stump Grinding vs Digging Out a Tree Stump
- How Much Does Stump Grinding Cost in Hertfordshire?
- Can You Lay Turf After Stump Grinding?
- What Happens to the Roots After Stump Grinding?
- Can Several Tree Stumps Be Ground at the Same Time?
- Is Stump Grinding Suitable for Small Gardens?
- Why Remove an Old Tree Stump?
- How Soon Can You Landscape After Stump Grinding?
Bamboo Removal
Running against clumping bamboo, why cutting it does nothing, and what removing it properly involves.
- Why Does Bamboo Spread So Quickly?
- How Do You Remove Bamboo Rhizomes?
- How Much Does Bamboo Removal Cost in Hertfordshire?
- Can Bamboo Grow Back After It Is Cut Down?
- Running Bamboo vs Clumping Bamboo
- How to Stop Bamboo Spreading Into a Neighbouring Garden
- Can Bamboo Be Removed Before Laying New Turf?
- Why Cutting Bamboo at Ground Level Is Often Not Enough
- How Long Does Bamboo Removal Take?
- What Should You Do With a Garden After Bamboo Removal?
Ivy Removal
Where ivy genuinely causes damage, where it does not, and why it is severed rather than pulled off.
- When Does Ivy Become a Problem in a Garden?
- How Do You Remove Thick Established Ivy?
- Can Ivy Damage Fences and Garden Structures?
- How Much Does Ivy Removal Cost in Hertfordshire?
- Should Ivy Be Removed From Trees?
- How to Stop Ivy Growing Back After Clearance
- Can Ivy Be Removed as Part of a Garden Clearance?
- What Is the Best Time of Year to Remove Ivy?
- How Long Does Heavy Ivy Removal Take?
- What Can Be Done With an Area After Ivy Has Been Cleared?
Garden Clearance
Scope, waste, access and the things worth agreeing before anybody starts pulling material out.
- What Is Included in a Garden Clearance?
- How Much Does Garden Clearance Cost in Hertfordshire?
- How Long Does It Take to Clear an Overgrown Garden?
- Garden Clearance Before Selling a Property
- Garden Clearance for Landlords and Rental Properties
- Can Trees and Hedges Be Dealt With During a Garden Clearance?
- What Happens to Garden Waste After a Clearance?
- Can an Overgrown Garden Be Cleared Ready for Turfing?
- Where Should You Start With a Neglected Garden?
- Garden Clearance Before a Landscaping Project
Turfing
Preparation, levels, light and aftercare - the four things that decide whether a new lawn holds.
- How Much Does Turfing Cost in Hertfordshire?
- How Should Ground Be Prepared Before Turf Is Laid?
- How Long Before You Can Walk on New Turf?
- How Often Should Newly Laid Turf Be Watered?
- Can Turf Be Laid After Garden Clearance?
- Can You Lay Turf After Stump Grinding?
- Best Time of Year to Lay New Turf
- How Long Does It Take for New Turf to Establish?
- New Turf vs Reseeding a Lawn
- How to Look After a Newly Laid Lawn
Advice by Town
Guides written for particular Hertfordshire towns, covering the ground conditions, boundary types and access constraints characteristic of each one.
All Our Services
Ask Us Directly
If the answer you need is not here, ask. A short description and a photograph are usually enough for us to tell you what the job involves and roughly what it will take.
Tell us what needs doing across Hertfordshire and we will quote for the work. Call 07388 094829, message us on WhatsApp or use the form below.