LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — With 2018 being Lexington’s wettest year on record, there are few more ready to say goodbye to the year than area tree service companies.
“It’s been a challenge, let’s put it that way,” said Dave Leonard of Dave Leonard Tree Specialists.
Leonard says that they’ve always kept an eye on the weather, but this year there were fewer work days and still much work to do.
“Normally, when we’re planting trees we have to call our clients and say, ‘Make sure you’re watering.’ This year we didn’t have to do that,” he said. “We work a lot with ropes and tree climbing and we don’t like to climb trees with slick bark and wet ropes, and so we try not to work in the rain.”
With so many soggy days, they even bought new equipment to help them get out onto wet grounds when they have to, but it is not just the companies that are affected, this much rain causes problems for the trees themselves as well.
“We’ve seen issues with tree diseases, we’ve seen issues with trees uprooting,” Leonard said.
Leonard said that the rain is good for growth, but he hopes 2019 is drier.
“We don’t know what to expect, all we can do is be prepared. We’re as prepared as we can be, but I would love to see more sunny days,” he said.
