Tree Service in Millbury, MA

Tree Service in Millbury often comes back to the Blackstone River. The river runs through and drains the town, and for two centuries it powered Millbury's textile mills, armories and factories. Today the river corridor holds willows, silver maples, cottonwoods and box elders, trees that love wet ground and grow quickly, with wood that tends to break. Homes along the low ground, and the older streets that climb away from it, see many of the same problems: big, brittle limbs over roofs and trees that lean toward the water.

An old manufacturing town

Millbury was the North Parish of Sutton until it was incorporated on June 11, 1813. John Singletary started a mill on Singletary Brook in 1735, and the S & D Spinning Mill he built around 1753 is described as one of the oldest continuously operated mills in the country. Asa and Elijah Waters later built mills along the Blackstone that made guns and scythes, and erected an armory in 1808. The houses built for that workforce stand close together on small lots, often with a single large tree in the back that has outgrown the space.

Wet ground and roots

River valley trees growing in wet or saturated soil have shallower root systems. After long rain, they are more likely to tip over in wind than the same tree on drier ground. If a tree near the river has started to lean, or the soil has lifted on one side of the trunk, treat it as urgent. Millbury's history also includes the Worcester Flood Diversion Channel, built under the Flood Control Act of 1944, a reminder of how much water this valley moves.

Who lives here

The Census reports that about 20.2% of Millbury residents are 65 or older, and 91.4% lived in the same house a year earlier. Many owners have known their trees for a long time and can tell us when a limb first cracked or a lean got worse, which is useful when we assess a tree.

What we do in Millbury

• Removing fast-growing, brittle riverbank species near houses
• Thinning and reducing heavy limbs over roofs
• Sectional removals on tight lots in the older neighborhoods
• Stump grinding after removals
• Clearing storm debris and hung limbs
• Checking ash and oak for pest damage

Spongy moth years

In 2017, gypsy moth caterpillars (now called spongy moth) defoliated about one million of Massachusetts' three million acres of forest, with the main pockets in Worcester County between Palmer and Hopkinton. Oaks hit several years in a row, especially during drought, can die back from the top. If your oaks have thin crowns or dead upper limbs, they may still be carrying damage from those years.

Call for a visit

Call (508) 731-3691 or use the form. We will look at each tree, explain what we see, and give you a written estimate with cleanup included. Get a free estimate