Recycle Your Christmas Trees

6 Ways to Recycle Your Christmas Tree
By Vanessa Richins Myers


1. Find Your Local Recycling Center

Photo © Flickr user 0ccam
Many cities now have recycling services that will pick up your Christmas tree or provide drop-off locations. The tree may be used by local organizations for the other ways suggested here. You can find a location near you by checking Earth911's database.

2. Make Your Own Mulch

Photo © [Natural Resources Conservation Service, Missouri]
If you have access to a wood chipper, you can make your own garden mulch. Use a saw to cut the Christmas tree into smaller pieces to fit into the chipper. The wood chips can be used around your plants, in your compostbin, and for garden paths.

3. Provide a Bird Habitat

Photo © Flickr user audreyjm529
If you have the room in your backyard, Christmas trees make excellent bird habitats. Remove all of the decorations. Make sure there is no tinsel or flocking.

You will need to secure the tree by using the stand or stakes and twine. Provide the birds with food by making pine cone bird feeders, using suet holders, and hanging strings of popcorn or fresh fruit.

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Monster Tree Service Featured on Investors.com

Monster Tree Service has been featured on Investors.com titled, Top Entrepreneurs Follow Inspiration With Execution. The article discusses how Josh began Monster Tree Service, what spurred the idea, and why he is franchising. To read the full article click here or continue reading below.

A mix of the creative and the sensible builds strong businesses. How entrepreneurs put sturdy legs under cool ideas:

• Show spirit. Wine should be a feel-good product. That was the vision Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey had for Barefoot Cellars.

In "The Barefoot Spirit," the pair write about the distance they traveled between launching from a laundry room in 1986 and being purchased by E.&J. Gallo Winery nine years later.

Charitable organizations gave the grape smashers an early lift. Barefoot's founders donated bottles to nonprofits they believed in, worked at their events and talked about the causes — and their wine.

Supporters became patrons.

"One of the reasons we wrote the book is to show American businesses that worthy cause marketing really works and can actually be more effective than advertising," Houlihan told IBD.

• Keep them juiced. Barefoot's top salespeople sometimes earned more than the co-founders.

Harvey says the pay-for-performance approach attracted go-getters rather than clock punchers.

"You are paying too much for labor when you pay for attendance alone," he said. "It's their production you really want, because that is where your profits come from."

• Follow the vine. Harvey tells business owners to create a graphic of the money trail — going backward from the customer's wallet through marketing, distribution and production.

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How Professional Tree Services Can Help With The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

The article, Save Damaged Trees and Your Limbs, Too, that was published in the Home and Garden section of the New York Times talks about how homeowners should look into professional tree services to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. To read the full article see below or click here.

Save Damaged Trees and Your Limbs, Too

By: BOB TEDESCHI

I’ve done a lot of dumb things to shave a few dollars off the yard-maintenance budget, but I set a personal stupidity record six years ago when I strolled into my backyard with a borrowed chain saw and not a shred of safety gear or training.

I emerged intact, but only after nearly sawing into my thigh, risking my eyesight with flying wood chips and escaping a few other situations that I only now recognize as perilous.

So in approaching the splintered mess that Hurricane Sandy left in my yard, I vowed to be a little smarter. I sought advice from arborists, tree-removal experts and a chain-saw maven who helped me understand which damaged trees I should — and shouldn’t — cut, which ones I might save and how to identify the trees that might fall at the hands of Andrea, Barry, Chantal or any of next year’s storms.

The good news is that most reputable tree services will offer free evaluations and estimates, so it makes little sense to attempt a potentially hazardous tree removal before finding out how much it would cost to have it done professionally. And even if you have no fallen trees, these services will frequently help identify potential problems and offer tips on how to keep more of your trees upright longer.

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Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree News

Westchester/Rockland Newsdaily published an article (originally published on The Associated Press) about the Rockefeller Center christmas tree. The article goes in to detail about people who visited the tree during the tree lighting ceremony  To read the full article click here or continue reading below.

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ushered in by Rod Stewart, Cee Lo Green
By: The Associated Press

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday helped light the Rockefeller Center tree, an 80-foot Norway spruce that made it through Superstorm Sandy.

Thousands of onlookers crowded behind barricades on the streets that surrounded Rockefeller Center. A video screen was provided for those who did not have a direct line of sight of the tree, which was illuminated with more than 30,000 lights and topped by a Swarovski star.

"It makes me want to sing and dance," said Zuri Young, who came several hours early with her boyfriend to watch the lighting for the first time.

MORE: Poughkeepsie to host tree lighting tonight
PHOTOS: Rockefeller tree lighting | Christmas trees of Rockefeller Center

"I've heard a lot about it. I was kind of sick of staying home and watching it on television," the 19-year-old nursing student from Queens said.

The tree came from the Mount Olive, N.J., home of Joe Balku. Balku lost power and other trees during the storm at his residence about an hour outside of Manhattan.

The tree was taken from his home in November. It had been there for years, measuring about 22 feet tall in 1973 when Balku bought the house. It's now 50 feet in diameter and weighs 10 tons.

"It's an experience that I cannot get back home," said Freyja Shairp, a 22-year-old from Sidney, Australia, who is working in the U.S. temporarily. She said she hadn't planned to come, but was in the neighborhood.

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Finding Strength and Solace in a Tree

American Forests Magazine has featured an article called, Finding Strength and Solace in a Tree. The article talks about Evelyn Thompson Lawrence's story about Sallie's Crying Tree. To read the full article see below or click here.

Finding Strength and Solace in a Tree
By: Jeff Kirwan

Evelyn Thompson Lawrence’s story is about Sallie’s Crying Tree, a large white oak growing near the town square in Marion, Virginia. This remarkable woman has spent a lifetime reminding people that this tree — and others like it — represents our history and must be preserved.

Lawrence often says that if the Crying Tree could talk it would tell us that slavery was brutal, that people were sold like horses and dogs, that life was especially hard on black men and women. But it would also tell how valiant people are, how former slaves built communities and how their descendants are today’s leaders.

Marion is not the obvious place to expect this kind of lesson. A small town, it is nestled in the valley between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia. It is a gateway to Jefferson National Forest and Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. Hungry Mother State Park is nearby. The town is known for its Appalachian culture and music, but not for its once-thriving, African-American community.

(Read More)

Monster Tree Service Featured on Mo.com

Monster Tree Service has been featured in an article posted on Mo.com. The article features a Q&A between Mo and Founder and CEO of Monster Tree Service, Josh Skolnick. To read the full article click here.

Monster Tree Service

Written by MO

Monster Tree Service (MTS) is professional tree restoration, pruning and removal service founded in Fort Washington, Pa. MTS provides skilled, reliable tree management experts to assist customers with the best possible tree care solutions, while giving prospective franchisees a rock solid reliable system to duplicate and grow their businesses.

Founded by Josh Skolnick in 2008, MTS quickly became a multimillion dollar business built on fast and trustworthy service customers could rely on for safe and solution-oriented tree care. It has since become a franchise opportunity for business professionals seeking a duplicable system designed to meet the high-demand service of tree care. For further information, visit the website at www.whymonster.com.

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White Birch Trees: Beautiful Bark, No Bite

Life123.com has an article about the history and uses of birch trees. To read the full article see below or click here.

White Birch Trees: Beautiful Bark, No Bite
By: Kim Willis

Birch trees have been long been a popular landscape choice. There are species of birch growing throughout North America, Europe and temperate Asia. Birch trees have a graceful shape, interesting bark and good fall color. They are not the best choice for all landscapes, but if the conditions are suitable, there are few trees prettier than a birch.

North Americans tend to think of birches as clumps of small trees with white, peeling bark. These clumps were widely planted as landscape trees before the arrival of the Bronze Birch Borer. This destructive beetle attacks and kills many types of birch trees, but white-barked birches from Europe are the most susceptible. However, there are many types of birch and some are very resistant to borers and are seldom attacked if they are healthy.

Birch trees are generally small, 20 to30 feet tall and pyramidal in shape. There are some weeping varieties. Birch leaves are thick, glossy and dark green in a rough triangle shape. There are some cultivated varieties with purple or reddish leaves. Birch leaves are lighter on the reverse side, have serrated edges and are arranged alternately. Some varieties have deeply lobed leaves with a lacy appearance. Fall color of birches is generally a good, clear yellow. Birch trees have both male and female flowers; the male flowers are long, dangling and generally in clusters of threes. The female flowers are much smaller and rounder. The pollen of birch trees is highly allergenic to people with seasonal allergies.

The bark of birch trees is the reason many are planted as landscape trees. When young, most birch trees have brown bark, but as some age they may get various shades of white, yellow or red bark that peels and curls, revealing contrasting colors beneath it.

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When Autumn Leaves Fall

When autumn leaves fall
By: Katia Hetter

(CNN) -- A new crispness in the air. The red, orange and yellow of the leaves changing colors. The crunch of the first few leaves on the ground.

On that inevitable march toward winter, there are still a few weeks for the casual and determined leaf peeper alike to enjoy the leaves changing color before they fall.

Never mind that it happens every year. "It's because it's fleeting is why it's new every year," says Mel Allen, editor of Yankee Magazine. In each of his 33 years at the magazine leaf peeping has been a fall cover story.

First day of autumn: Share your photos with iReport

"It's fall and the leaves are becoming beautiful; apple orchards; and the hawks are flying overhead. It's a sensual experience," he says.

"If you were to talk to someone in New Orleans who had had 33 Mardi Gras, they'd still be excited about it," says Allen. "This is our party."

Different shades of red, orange and yellow

While evergreen trees such as pines and spruces have foliage that has evolved to survive extreme temperature changes, deciduous (broad-leaved) trees have evolved to drop their leaves and go dormant for the winter, says Ed Sharron, a science communication specialist with the National Park Service's Northeast Temperate Network in Vermont.

"It's such stark contrast," says Sharron, who's based at Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. "There are different shades of green, of course, when you start to get that variation of oranges and reds and purples and greens all together. It's pretty spectacular."

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Greener Ideas Publishes Story About Urban Trees Lowering Crime Rates and Boosts Economies

Greener Ideas published an article featuring new research that confirms urban trees can lower crime rate and boost economies. The article gives specific examples from research studies. To read the full article click here or continue reading below.

Research Confirms Urban Trees Lower Crime Rate, Boost Economy
By: Contributing Authors

Environmental concerns don’t simply address issues of pollution (airborne, noise or visual pollution). Indeed, these are all important aspects worth addressing, especially when it comes to living in urban areas. However, recent studies undertaken in several states across the U.S. indicate that city areas with a large number of trees also boast other benefits.

A study compiled by Harvard University, titled Benefits of Urban Trees, indicates that there are a lot more benefits to planting trees in cities and other urban areas than would first meet the eye. For one thing, trees also spectacularly help reduce crime, increase safety ratings in public urban areas and also help build stronger, more united communities. The study cites research undertaken by the University of Illinois, whose results show that urban areas with trees constantly rate lower in levels of fear, incivility, violence and aggression. According to “The Power of Trees”, by Tina Prow, homes with trees planted in the yards outside tend to report fewer cases of physical violence. In facts and figures, 14 per cent of those who live in barren, non-green areas have confessed to threatening their children with a knife or a gun, compared to 3 per cent of people who live in green areas. Since fewer instances of violence and domestic abuse happen in areas with urban trees, it is safe to surmise that trees can even lower the toll taken on a given community’s social budget and decrease the number of calls for emergency help made to the police.

One example in favor of this finding is the initiative taken by the city of Chicago in 2005. City officials allotted $10 million of Chicago’s entire yearly budget for the planting of twenty thousand trees, as a direct effect of the research polls and studies cited above, undertaken by Sullivan and F.E. Kuo.

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With the Right Mentality, Money Really Does Grow on Trees

Monster Tree Service has been featured in Forbes.com. The article discusses Josh Skolnick's entrepreneurial story, sharing how he got involved in the tree maintenance industry. The article discusses how Josh saw a need and created a solution, which led to the creation of a multi-million dollar national brand that now offers franchising opportunities. The article applauds Josh as a great example of a hard working young entrepreneur. For the full article see below or click here.

With the Right Mentality, Money Really Does Grow on Trees

By: Cheryl Conner

For every millennial worker (or manager) who has complained about lack of ease, the hard economy, or the trials of working with a challenging customer, here’s a motivational story for you.

In 2008, Josh Skolnick, now 28, was a 25-year-old career landscaper who had started a multi-crew lawn service while still in high school. He was no stranger to hard work, and his innate proclivity to entrepreneurship was clear even then. But it was the challenge of dealing with the hard demands of a customer that led to his most profound business win.

A particularly challenging customer was constantly asking Josh to get rid of the dead trees in his yard. The request was clearly beyond the scope of his business. He had no experience in tree trimming or felling. Yet the client continued to press his demand.

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Advice for Picking the Perfect Tree

Tallahassee Magazine has an article about how to pick out a perfect tree for you. The article discusses how to properly chose and site trees that can add pleasure and value to your home. To read the full article click here or see below.

Advice for Picking the Perfect Tree

By: Audrey Post

Advice for Picking the Perfect Tree

Q: What are the best trees to plant in the home landscape? We recently bought a newly constructed house on a large lot in an upscale subdivision, but it’s pretty wide open with just a couple of pine trees. Also, are there any tips on how to plant a tree?

Good for you! Trees enhance property both aesthetically and financially, so they’re a smart addition to your yard. Proper planning and planting will give you years to enjoy your trees and help you avoid problems that can cost additional time, labor and money. They can also help reduce your energy bill. In the South, trees planted on the west and northwest sides of houses have the most impact on your energy consumption.

First, you need to check to make sure there aren’t any restrictive covenants on your property or in your neighborhood that would limit your choices. Those should have been spelled out when you closed on your home purchase, but check your paperwork.

The next step is to figure out why you want trees. Seriously. Most people have a function in mind when they want to add trees to their yard, and the best trees for them are the ones that fulfill that function. Do you want shade for the house? Would you like a privacy screen from the neighbors’ view? Do you want to provide a haven for wildlife? Do you envision trees that bear fruit as well as provide visual interest? Once you know why you want trees, and you’re not limited to just one answer, you’re better prepared to select and site your trees.

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Monster Tree Service Featured on CNN Money

Runs a tree-clearing business

Name: Josh Skolnick

Pay: $250,000
Age: 29

When I was 10 or 11 years old I had my own little business pushing a lawn mower for people, and I continued with landscaping through middle school and high school. [By 2005, I had my own] mulch business. I had about 385 residential clients.

[One day], someone called and said they had a dead elm near their pool that no one would come cut down and remove. So I went out and [hired a contractor for the day to] cut down the tree. While I was out there, all the neighbors saw what I was doing and started asking me to cut down their trees, too.

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Diane Mastrull: Montco Tree Business Seeks To Go National

Monster Tree Service has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The online article discusses Josh Skolnick's entrepreneurial story, starting when he created a lawn care and snow-removal company while still in high school.  It also discusses how Skolnick got involved in the tree maintenance industry, ultimately building a multi-millionaire dollar company, Monster Tree Service. See below for the full article.

Diane Mastrull: Montco Tree Business Seeks To Go National
By: Diane Mastrull, Inquirer Columnist

Growing a tree-service business that now has more than $1 million in revenue and is on the verge of something way bigger - becoming the first U.S. franchise of its kind - is not at all what Josh Skolnick had planned when he responded to a call for help four years ago.

Skolnick was just doing a favor for a frantic father of young girls when the Fort Washington native responded to a request in June 2008 to take down a dead elm.

Back then, trees weren't Skolnick's thing. Lawns and mulch were.

By the time he graduated from Upper Dublin High School in 2002, Skolnick was "making over six figures" from a lawn-cutting/snow-removal business he had started when he was 10 or 11.



When most of the Fort Washington native's friends were in college, Skolnick was investing $200,000 in a high-powered mulch blower, sensing opportunity in commercial mulch installation.

It was a solid hunch. By spring 2005, he owned three machines and was "blowing mulch from Long Island, N.Y., to Northern Virginia." By 2007, Skolnick had national accounts installing not only mulch, but playground chips as well.

"It was so large, I ended up selling my landscaping business," Skolnick said, declining to disclose how much he got for it in deference to the local buyer's privacy.

Which brings us to the call in 2008 from the former lawn-care client with the 70-foot elm that needed to be brought down before it fell down. Skolnick said he referred him to two tree-removal specialists who turned out to be either disinterested or too expensive.

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Tall Trees May Have Sparked Evolution of Gliding

The gliding animals of south-east Asia have something in common with the Himalayas. Both owe their existence to the collision of India with Eurasia around 50 million years ago. In the wake of the continental clash, tall tropical trees spread from the subcontinent and began to dominate Asian rainforests, providing a perfect environment for the evolution of gliding.

South-east Asia's rainforests are famed for their exceptional variety of gliders. Geckos, Draco lizards, flying squirrels, colugos and frogs have all taken to the skies, suggesting the adaptation evolved several times in the region. Now a study by Matthew Heinicke at the University of Michigan at Dearborn and colleagues has found evidence to support a link between the adaptation and the forests' unusual vegetation, which is dominated by dipterocarps – trees that grow unusually tall and typically mature to lack any branches on the lower 30 metres of their trunks.

"It makes more energy sense for a small animal to glide between trees than to climb all the way down one tree and then climb back up another," says Heinicke.

Heinicke and his colleagues looked at the evolutionary history of the animal groups that contain one or more gliding species. Their analysis suggests that gliding evolved independently eight times in the forests, and that six of those evolutionary events occurred between 20 million and 50 million years ago – the time during which dipterocarp trees were first able to spread from India across southeast Asia.

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Trees Need Constant Care, Especially During Summer

Monster Tree Service was featured in an article that discusses the founding of Monster Tree Service, which services Montgomery and Bucks county. Josh Skolnick, founder of Monster Tree Service, gives readers tips for protecting trees during the summer storm season and remind home owners the importance of tree upkeep to limit the damage caused by storms. The article also provides preventative tips, as well as what to do after a storm hits.

Who says money doesn't grow on trees?

What do trees and coins have in common you say? Coins have been mysteriously appearing in trunks up and down the UK country and have people talking! Read the full article posted on the U.K. website, mailonline.com.

Who says money doesn't grow on trees?
By: EMMA REYNOLDS

They say money doesn't grow on trees. But it certainly appears to do so on the mysterious coin-studded trunks dotted around the UK's woodland. The strange phenomenon of gnarled old trees with coins embedded all over their bark has been spotted on trails from the Peak District to the Scottish Highlands. The coins are usually knocked into felled tree trunks using stones by passers-by, who hope it will bring them good fortune. These fascinating spectacles often have coins from centuries ago buried deep in their bark and warped by the passage of time. The tradition of making offerings to deities at wishing trees dates back hundreds of years, but this combination of the man-made and the natural is far more rare.

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Madagascar's Bid to Save It's Majestic Baobab Trees

CNN posted an article about Madagascar's struggle to save the majestic baobab trees. Environmentalists are saying that activities like slash-and-burn agriculture and logging for timber and fuelwood and charcoal production are all destroying the island's beautiful rainforests and their endemic biodiversity. Read the full article here. 

Madagascar's bid to save its majestic baobab trees

By: By Errol Barnett and Teo Kermeliotis, CNN

With their unique shape and imposing stature, the majestic baobab trees have been an icon of Madagascar's landscape for centuries, unmovable symbols of the tropical island's luscious scenery.

Six out of the eight species of the long-lived tree are endemic to Madagascar, the island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa.

The stunning country is home to a rich ecosystem that boasts an incredible mosaic of animal and plant life evolved for tens of millions of years in complete isolation. As a result 90% of Madagascar's wildlife exists nowhere else on the planet.

In the midst of it all, the mighty baobab has stood tall for generations, its barrel-like trunk reaching a height of 18 meters.

Often described as "the upside down tree" due to its unusual shape -- the tree's branches look like roots sticking up in the air -- the baobab has sparked many legends throughout the centuries. An ancient myth has goes that when the gods planted the trees, they kept walking away so they placed them upside down.

Read related: Madagascar's 'lemur lady' on saving endangered animals

Communities in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, have long been benefiting from the deciduous trees -- their fruits are edible, their leaves are used for medicinal purposes, while their large trunks are often excavated to serve as shelters or store water during dry periods.

"There are many interactions with the life of community living around forest," explains botanist Jimmy Razafitsalama.

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Research On Wood Formation Sheds Light On Plant Biology

ScienceDaily.com has a story about how scientists at North Carolina State University have discovered a phenomenon never seen before in plants while studying molecular changes inside tree cells as wood is formed. Read the full article here.

Research On Wood Formation Sheds Light On Plant Biology

By: ScienceDaily.com

In research published online inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Aug. 20, the team found that one member of a family of proteins called transcription factors took control of a cascade of genes involved in forming wood, which includes a substance called lignin that binds fibers together and gives wood its strength.

The controller protein regulated gene expression on multiple levels, preventing abnormal or stunted plant growth. And it did so in a novel way.

The controller, a spliced variant of the SND1 family, was found in the cytoplasm outside the cell nucleus. This is abnormal, because transcription factor proteins are always in the nucleus. But when one of the four other proteins in its family group was present, the spliced variant was carried into the nucleus, where it bound to the family member, creating a new type of molecule that suppressed the expression of a cascade of genes.

“This is nothing that’s been observed before in plants,” says Dr. Vincent Chiang, co-director of NC State’s Forest Biotechnology Group with Dr. Ron Sederoff. Chiang’s research team was the first to produce a transgenic tree with reduced lignin. High lignin levels are desirable for lumber, but lignin is removed during the process of making paper or manufacturing biofuels.

Sequoya. Scientists at North Carolina State University have discovered a phenomenon never seen before in plants while studying molecular changes inside tree cells as wood is formed. (Credit: © Galyna Andrushko / Fotolia)

Monster Tree Service featured in Philadelphia Business Journal

Monster Tree Service was recently featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal in an article titled, "Trees need chopping and pruning so he created a Monster." The article discusses how Josh Skolnick got involved in the tree maintenance industry, founding a multi-millionaire dollar company, Monster Tree Service. Josh discussed the immediate success he saw with the company and why he decided to offer franchise opportunities. The article discusses the process for getting involved in franchising with Monster Tree Service, and why now is such a good time to be involved in the franchising industry.  Click here to read the entire article or begin below.

Trees need chopping and pruning so he created a Monster
By: John George

FORT WASHINGTON — Don’t tell Josh Skolnick money doesn’t grow on trees.

The 28-year-old entrepreneur’s business, Monster Tree Service, has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise providing tree-maintenance services to thousands of Philadelphia-area customers.

Now, Skolnick is offering Monster Tree Service franchises.

(Read More)

What Is a Tree Worth?

The Wilson Quarterly highlights how trees brighten city streets and delight nature-starved urbanites in the article, What is a Tree Worth. You can read the full article here.

What Is a Tree Worth?

By: Jill Jonnes

On April 8, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt, attired in a dark suit and top hat, could be found in Fort Worth, Texas, where youngsters looked on from a nearby window as he shoveled soil over the roots of a sapling. It was Arbor Day, which schools across the nation had recently begun commemorating, and the ever vigorous president was demonstrating his hands-on love of trees. For Roosevelt, Arbor Day was no publicity stunt. In an address to America’s schoolchildren a couple of years later, he celebrated “the importance of trees to us as a Nation, of what they yield in adornment, comfort, and useful products.” He saw trees as vital to the country’s well-being: “A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as hopeless.”

For centuries, tree lovers mighty and humble have planted and nurtured trees—elms, oaks, ginkgoes, magnolias, apples, and spruces (to name but a handful of America’s 600-some species). “I never before knew the full value of trees,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1793. “Under them I breakfast, dine, write, read, and receive my company. What would I not give that the trees planted nearest the house at Monticello were full grown.” But trees were often taken for granted in a new nation that seemed to have a limitless supply.

Then along came Julius Sterling Morton, a nature lover who moved to Nebraska in the 1850s, briefly edited the state’s first newspaper, and soon entered politics. He conceived of an annual day of tree planting, inaugurating a tradition that was rapidly adopted around the country and then the world. (Today, Arbor Day is observed nationwide on the last Friday in April, though individual states mark it on other days.) In 1874, when Nebraska proclaimed Arbor Day an official holiday, The Nebraska City News rhapsodized about trees: “The birds will sing to you from their branches, and their thick foliage will protect you from the dust [and] heat.”

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Monster Tree Service in Smart CEO’s Start-Up Magazine

CEO and Founder of Monster Tree Service, Josh Skolnick, has been featured in Smart CEO’s Start-Up issue. The article discussed Josh’s background owning a lawn care service and the evolution that led to eventually founding Monster Tree. After putting together the tree service side of his business pretty much piece by piece, Josh was able to sell residential services and took the right advice from people who really knew the industry to get the business going. In the first year in business, Monster Tree built a million dollar business with just residential tree care. One of the smartest decisions that Josh made was to focus on building the business opportunity, not just focus on working in the business. Read the article here.

Start Me Up
By: Lindsay Eney

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Which Trees Offset Global Warming Best?

About.com features an article by Earth Talk about how some trees are better than others at absorbing carbon dioxide. You can read the full article here.

Dear EarthTalk: Which trees are best to plant to help combat global warming?
By: Tim C., Perrineville, NJ

Trees are important tools in the fight to stave off global warming, because they absorb and store the key greenhouse gas emitted by our cars and power plants, carbon dioxide (CO2), before it has a chance to reach the upper atmosphere where it can help trap heat around the Earth’s surface.

All Plants Absorb Carbon Dioxide, but Trees are Best while all living plant matter absorbs CO2 as part of photosynthesis, trees process significantly more than smaller plants due to their large size and extensive root structures. In essence, trees, as kings of the plant world, have much more “woody biomass” to store CO2 than smaller plants, and as a result are considered nature’s most efficient “carbon sinks.”

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), tree species that grow quickly and live long are ideal carbon sinks. Unfortunately, these two attributes are usually mutually exclusive. Given the choice, foresters interested in maximizing the absorption and storage of CO2 (known as “carbon sequestration”) usually favor younger trees that grow more quickly than their older cohorts. However, slower growing trees can store much more carbon over their significantly longer lives.

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How a Tree Grows - All About Tree Growth

How Much of A Tree is Actually Alive? Learn more in this article featured on About.com, part of the New York Times Company. 

How a Tree Grows - All About Tree Growth

By: Steve Nix

Very little of a tree's volume is actually "living" tissue. Just 1% of a tree is actually alive and composed of living cells. The major living portion of a growing tree is a thin film of cells just under the bark (called the cambium) and can be only one to several cells thick. Other living cells are in root tips, the apical meristem, leaves and buds.

The overwhelming portion of all trees is made up of non-living tissue created by a cambial hardening into non-living wood cells on the inner cambial layer. Sandwiched between the outer cambial layer and the bark is an ongoing process of creating sieve tubes which transport food from leaves to roots.

So, all wood is formed by the inner cambium and all food-conveying cells are formed by the outer cambium.

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Monster Tree Featured in Philadelphia Business Journal

The headline says it all! Monster Tree has been featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal. You can read the article here.

Trees need chopping and pruning so he created a Monster
By John George

Don’t tell Josh Skolnick money doesn’t grow on trees.

The 28-year-old entrepreneur’s business, Monster Tree Service, has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise providing tree-maintenance services to thousands of Philadelphia-area customers.

Now, Skolnick is offering Monster Tree Service franchises.

Not bad for somebody who never actually pruned or chopped down a tree himself. While a student at Upper Dublin High School, Skolnick started his own lawn-care service.

“I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of elderly people,” Skolnick said. “They all had lawn services.”

(Read More)

What’s really killing Texas trees?

In an article for AgriLife Today, Dr. Eric Taylor, Texas AgriLife Extension Service forestry specialist, says that there are many factors that have been killing trees in Texas lately, beyond drought. Read more to see how preventative maintenance can stop many of these problems!

What's Really Killing Texas Trees?
By Robert Burns

Although drought is often the cause, trees can die for other reasons besides lack of soil moisture, said Dr. Eric Taylor, Texas AgriLife Extension Service forestry specialist, Overton.

“Drought is the primary contributor to tree kill, but it may not be exactly the way you might be thinking,” Taylor said. “You may find this hard to believe, but relatively few trees likely died directly from dehydration in 2011. Instead, the 2011 drought severely weakened mature trees, making them susceptible to opportunistic pathogens like hypoxylon canker and insects like pine bark engraver beetles.”

He said that in most instances, the trees that died in 2011 were already stressed from a number of pre-existing environmental factors such as overcrowding, growing on the wrong site, age, soil compaction, trenching or inappropriate use of herbicides. If not for these factors, a large proportion of the trees that died might have recovered from the drought.

“This is an important concept to remember because our best defense against drought is to promote a tree’s health and vigor through proper care and management,” Taylor said.

(Read More)

Monster Tree Featured in Bensalem Patch

Monster Tree Service was featured this week in the Bensalem Patch. The article shares some helpful tips and tricks for maintaining tree health especially during summer thunderstorms. Click here to read the entire article.

Trees Need Constant Care, Especially During Summer
With the summer storm season in full swing, many people are prepping their homes to prevent any potential damage that could happen from a particularly nasty weather event. And while making sure the roof is in good order and that your doors and windows have proper sealing, many people don’t even think to make sure their trees are ready for summer weather too.

Yes, there are steps every homeowner can (and should) take to make sure the beloved trees on their property have the best chance of surviving a summer that has so far seen an increase in heat, fire and thunderstorms. Josh Skolnick, founder of Monster Tree Service, a professional tree service that services Montgomery and Bucks Counties, shared some of his expert insights on the topic.

(Read More)

Thousands Still Without Power After Powerful East Coast Storms

The storms that rocked the east coast last weekend and downed many trees, leading to damaged power lines, homes and roads, are a powerful reminder that even the simplest of preventative tree maintenance could come in handy as the U.S. prepares to experience more powerful storms throughout the summer. Read more from the Huffington Post.

East Coast Storms: Residents Struggling As Power Outages Continue

By Matthew Barakat, Associated Press

Across the eastern U.S., people are struggling through a third day of sweltering heat with no electricity. Their groceries are long gone, either used up in weekend cookouts or left to spoil in useless refrigerators. The usual frozen treats people turn to on a hot summer day have melted away.

The basics of daily life are difficult: Washing machines won't work without electricity, leading to some creative wardrobes. Bottled water has gone from luxury to necessity for people whose underground wells aren't pumping.

Storms that swept across the area late Friday left 22 people dead, and nearly 1.8 million people remained without power Monday evening. Utility companies say it could be days before the lights are on again.

(Read More)

Monster Tree Service Featured in Turf Magazine

Monster Tree Service was recently featured in Turf Magazine in an article titled,“Why Not Add Tree Services, Too?.” The article discusses how landscaper Josh Skolnick stumbled into the tree maintenance industry, founding a multi-millionaire dollar company, Monster Tree Service. Josh discusses franchise opportunities, and why someone with a landscaping company would benefit from integrating Monster Tree Service into their current business. Click here to read the entire article.

Why Not Add Tree Services, Too?

By Ron Hall

In June 2008, a client asked landscape professional Josh Skolnick to take down a 70-foot-tall elm tree. Skolnick, 25 at the time, had never taken down a tree before. But, since he constantly told clients "we're a full-service company," he hired an experienced tree contractor to remove the elm.

That's when he discovered an opportunity. Leaving the arborist to dismantle the tree, he literally went door to door offering tree removals and related services in the suburban Philadelphia neighborhood where his Skolnick Landscaping had been providing landscape services. In just four hours he sold $20,000 in tree work.

Suddenly, Skolnick was in the tree business.

(Read more)

Monster Tree featured on the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal website

Monster Tree Service was recently featured on the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal website in an article titled,“Tree service franchise looks to expand into Central Pa.” The article discussed how Monster Tree Service came to be, the aggressive expansion plans within Pennsylvania, as well as throughout the East Coast, and business opportunities for entrepreneurs wanting to own their own business as well as people already involved in the tree care industry. Click here to read the entire article.

Tree service franchise looks to expand into Central Pa.  

By: Jason Scott  

A Montgomery County tree-management company that recently made the move to franchising has set its sights on growing up and down the East Coast, including in Central Pennsylvania.

Four years ago, repeated customer inquiries about tree services prompted landscaper Josh Skolnick to make the move into the tree maintenance business.

Without ever felling a tree himself, Skolnick launched Monster Tree Service, an executive-style model that gives budding business owners an opportunity to hire experts in the trade. It also gives local professionals the option of marketing their services under a brand.

“You don’t have to know how to cut trees or climb trees,” Skolnick said. “You have to be willing to learn and manage a business.”

(Read More)

Monster Tree Service at IFE

Monster Tree Service will be exhibiting for the first time at the International Franchise Expo this weekend. The expo will be held from June 15-17, 2012 at The Javits Center in New York City. Stop by Booth 552, where you can meet Josh Skolnick, Founder of Monster Tree Service, and his team to learn about opportunities to franchise with MTS. ”This is the first time Monster Tree Service is exhibiting at IFE since we just entered franchising, so I’m excited to get in front of potential franchisees and show them what my business model has to offer them,” said Skolnick.

Monster Tree featured in Buffalo Business First

Monster Tree Service was recently featured in Buffalo Business First in an article titled,“Pa. tree service would like cut of Buffalo market.” The article discussed how Monster Tree Service is aggressively expanding into the Buffalo market, with potential to sell three to five franchisees in the area. Josh Skolnick discussed why the Buffalo market is a desirable landscape for his tree maintenance business and details about the business for prospective franchisees. Click here to read the entire article.

Pa. tree service would like cut of Buffalo market

By: James Fink

Monster Tree Service, a Pennsylvania-based lawn and tree care service, has identified the Buffalo Niagara market as one of the places where the company would like to expand.

Josh Skolnick, who founded Monster Tree Service four years ago, said the Buffalo area is perfect for his company’s expansion plan.

“There appears to be a lot of activity there,” Skolnick said.

(Read More)

Monster Tree Service featured on 1851project.com

Monster Tree Service was featured in 1851 as one of the top 10 franchises for entrepreneurs. Check out the complete article here!

http://www.1851project.com/the-top-10-franchises-for-entrepreneurs-under-30/

We are new and improved!

Check out the new and improved Monster Tree Service website at www.whymonster.com! We've revamped the look, feel, and functionality of the site to make it better for you, the consumer!

Money Grows on Trees

Entrepreneur Makes Money Grow on Trees: Monster Tree Service Branches Out with Franchise Launch: Landscaper turned tree trimmer brings skills, training and professionalism to high-demand fragmented industry


FORT WASHINGTON, Penn.—Josh Skolnick, a career landscaper who started a multi-crew lawn care service while in high school, was often asked by customers to address their tree problems. Having no experience himself, he regularly subcontracted the task of customers’ requests to tree specialists who could handle the job. Ever the entrepreneur, Skolnick quickly realized there was opportunity to capitalize by incorporating tree care into his business.

“I’d never removed a tree in my life, so I got others to manage that area of landscaping—until I saw the money they were making,” said 28-year-old Fort Washington-native Skolnick. “I thought, ‘What’s wrong here?’ If they can do it, so can I. There’s a tremendous amount of money in it and I wanted a piece of that pie.”

Four years ago, Skolnick founded Monster Tree Service (MTS) to augment his existing landscaping firm. Without ever pruning or removing a tree himself, he hired existing professionals to work under his brand and led the firm to become a highly profitable multimillion dollar business which has grown to multiple crews. With multiple experts in the trade to assist him, Skolnick developed a system he recognized as highly duplicable, so he moved to franchise MTS in April 2012.

“A lot of tree guys are fly-by-night companies that have a pickup truck, some ladders and saws and physically climb trees to do the work,” said Skolnick, adding that MTS crews use bucket trucks and cranes to take down large trees. He said very few of those companies know how to hire large crews, manage their books or even grow their firms to a size that would support long-term employees seeking security and benefits. Skolnick notes how marketing is an integral part of MTS, with many independent tree contractors underestimating the importance of grassroots marketing and losing out on profit potential and market ownership.

“I know that most of these guys—even if they’re good at what they do—will never make the money on their own that we could teach them to make from day one. We have it down to a system: how to manage crews, schedule them, buy or rent the right equipment, get customers and take care of them in a timely fashion.” Adds Skolnick, “We even have certified arborists on staff who know what customers’ trees need. Everything we do is completely different from the typical tree guys.”

Monster Tree Service uses state-of-the-art science and equipment to address tree issues ranging from restoration to difficult pruning to complete removal. Customers receive quick responses from fully uniformed staff operating branded trucks and equipment, and they’re charged competitive prices. “We hear all the time from our customers that we make this process easy for them. We give estimates in hours, not days, and that means a lot in the industry we’re in.”

As he seeks to expand his business in the Northeastern U.S., Skolnick said he’s looking for franchisees who know how to manage businesses and the crews that do the work—not be hands-on operators.

“I’ve built a substantial business without ever removing a tree myself,” he said. “I knew how to hire the experts that wanted to belong to an established business they were proud to work for and that they could rely on to keep them busy. That’s what we bring to an industry that lacks a high level of professionalism, and that’s why we know this will be a successful franchise concept.”