Figuring out what's actually wrong.
Pests, pathogens, soil problems, decline syndromes — we diagnose what's happening before we recommend a treatment.
"What's wrong with my tree?"
It's the most common call we get — yellowing leaves in July, bark splitting after a hot summer, branches dying back from the tips, sap on the trunk that wasn't there last year. Most of the time, the symptom you're seeing isn't the actual problem. It's the tree's response to a problem that started months or years ago.
Real diagnosis means working backward — site history, watering practices, recent construction or grade changes, weather events, and only then the visible symptoms. We've seen plenty of trees treated for the wrong disease (or for a disease they didn't have) because the diagnosis was rushed.
Our diagnostic visits are billed flat — usually $185 — and the report includes observations, suspected causes, and a treatment plan if treatment is warranted. If the answer is "this tree is past saving," we'll tell you that too, and explain why.
What our diagnostics cover.
Most calls come back to one of these. The trick is knowing which one — and how it interacts with everything else going on.
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Pest identification
Borers, scale, aphids, mites, and the seasonal pests we see across southern Idaho. We identify the species and stage so the treatment actually works.
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Fungal & bacterial issues
Cytospora canker, fire blight, verticillium wilt, root rots. Many tree problems look similar from a distance — diagnosis is half the battle.
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Decline syndromes
Trees rarely die from a single cause. We work backward through site conditions, water history, and visible symptoms to find what's actually happening.
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Soil & root-zone analysis
Compaction, drainage, pH, and nutrient deficiencies. We can pull samples for lab analysis when the visible symptoms aren't telling the whole story.
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Treatment recommendations
Often the answer isn't a treatment — it's a watering change, a mulch ring, or a structural pruning plan. We're honest about when interventions help and when they don't.
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Plant health care plans
For high-value or sentimental trees, we build multi-year plans: scheduled inspections, soil amendments, targeted treatments, and pruning windows.
Diagnostic — FAQs
How is this different from a risk assessment?
Risk assessment is about failure potential — could this tree fall and hurt someone or something? Diagnostic work is about health — what's making this tree look bad, and can we fix it? They sometimes overlap (a sick tree often is a risk), but the focus is different.
Can you save a tree that's already showing decline?
Sometimes. Trees in the early stages of most diseases can recover with proper treatment and improved care. Trees with significant decay, severe root damage, or advanced disease often can't — and we'll tell you that straight. There's no point spending money on a tree that's already past the line.
Do you do injections and trunk treatments?
Yes — for the conditions where they're actually effective. We use micro-infusion and macro-infusion equipment for systemic insecticides, fungicides, and growth regulators. We don't recommend trunk injections lightly — they wound the tree and shouldn't be the default for every issue.
I think my tree has fire blight / borers / scale — what now?
Start with a photo. Send a few clear shots of the affected area along with a wider view of the whole tree to our intake line. We can often identify the issue from photos and tell you whether you need a site visit or whether it's something you can handle yourself.