Plant Health Care, guided by our ISA Certified Arborists.
This is your property. The trees on it should be healthy, and they should be safe. Our ISA Certified Arborist will come out, walk your property, and tell you what’s needed. So the right work gets done, on the right tree, at the right time.
- 4 ISA Certified Arborists
- 5.0+ Google Rating
- 500+ Properties Served
- Free Evaluations
You spot the tree that doesn't look right. Naming what's wrong is the hard part.
A crape myrtle with bark gone black and sooty. An azalea with leaves turned gray and stippled. A red maple that leafed out late and thin. You see it because you’re on the property all the time.
A thinning canopy can be insects. It can be a fungus. It can be root compaction left from construction four years ago, or soil that stays saturated long after the rain stops, which around here is most of the year.
From twenty feet away, all four of those look about the same. They need four different answers.
Nobody sorts that out from a distance, us included. It takes somebody standing at the trunk.
It's where life happens, whether that's your home or your business.
Your trees aren’t landscaping. The oak over the patio is why you can sit out there in August. The maple in the side yard is holding the swing. At your shop, the trees along the lot are the first thing a customer sees pulling in.
Trees do quiet work for the way you live. That’s also where safety comes into it. A tree in decline is a tree slowly turning into a hazard. Dead wood collects up in the canopy. A weakened limb settles over the driveway, or over the spot where the kids play, and it holds right up until the first real storm.
Catching a health problem early isn’t only about keeping a tree alive. It’s about not having to think about it each time the wind picks up.
The arborists behind our plant health care division
Most weeks, we're standing in a Chesapeake yard with somebody, working out which trees can be saved and which have to come down. Do that often enough and a pattern shows up. The trees we take down usually haven't failed suddenly. They've been declining quietly for years, from problems that respond well to treatment when they're caught early.
Nobody wants to lose the tree their kids grew up under. That's the part of this job we'd rather get ahead of.
That's why we built this division, and why Mekhi Knight leads it.
He isn't the only one you'll meet. Andrew Farnham, Cole Honaker and Paxton Stewart are ISA Certified Arborists as well, and all four of them work these calls. Four of our certified arborists on one team is unusual for a company our size in Hampton Roads. It's also the reason whoever pulls into your driveway is qualified to tell you what they're looking at.
Mekhi Knight
Plant Health Care Manager
- ISA Certified Arborist
- ISA Utility Specialist Certification
- Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech
Mekhi sets how we diagnose, what we recommend, and where we draw the line on treatment.
How our plant health care process works
Three steps. The first one is where the answer comes from.
Our ISA Certified Arborist walks your property
We look at the canopy, the trunk, the root flare and the ground around it, and we ask what's changed in the last few years. New grading, an irrigation line, a patio, a wet winter. And we'll tell you if anything has crossed from a health problem into a safety one.
We find out what's actually going on
Sometimes it's visible on the leaf or the bark and we can name it standing there. Sometimes the symptoms point underground, and that's when we pull a soil test. Soil testing isn't automatic. We pull one when what we're seeing points that direction.
We treat what the finding calls for
A targeted insect or disease treatment. Root zone work to relieve compaction. Fertilizer, when a soil test shows a real deficiency.
What tree and shrub care covers
It’s the preventive half of arboriculture. Here’s what that looks like on a Chesapeake property.
Insect and disease diagnosis and treatment
The ones we see most here are crape myrtle bark scale, gloomy scale on maples, lace bug on azaleas, and powdery mildew.
Soil testing and soil health
Run when symptoms point below ground, so we correct something we've measured.
Root zone care
Compaction relief where equipment or added grade changed how water moves through the soil.
Tree fertilization
Only where a soil test shows a deficiency worth correcting.
Ongoing monitoring
For trees we're already watching, so small problems stay small.
What we'll promise you up front
Our ISA Certified Arborist walks your property
What we saw, what we think it is, and what we'd do about it. Written down, so you can think it over without us standing there.
If your tree is fine, we'll say so
That's a real outcome, and it happens more than you'd expect. We'd rather tell you that today than sell you something and lose you for good.
You decide what happens next
We'll tell you what we found and what we'd recommend. Where it goes from there is your call, on your timing.
Serving Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach
We work across Great Bridge, Grassfield, Deep Creek, Hickory, Western Branch, Greenbrier, Riverwalk, Cahoon Plantation and Culpepper Landing, along with Suffolk and Virginia Beach. Homes, churches, schools, office parks and HOA communities.
Local knowledge matters more here than people expect. Our sandy clay holds water long after a storm passes. Newer neighborhoods sit on ground that construction equipment compacted and that never fully recovered. Coastal humidity keeps fungal pressure high most of the growing season. A tree service in Chesapeake VA that works these soils week in and week out reads those signs faster.
Tree and shrub care questions we get a lot
What is plant health care, exactly?
It’s the preventive side of tree care. Instead of waiting for a tree to become a hazard, we diagnose and treat what’s affecting its health, whether that’s insects, disease, soil or roots. Removal is what comes later, after a problem has run its course.
Can a sick tree actually become dangerous?
It can, and that’s usually how it happens. Disease and insect damage weaken wood from the inside, dead limbs build up in the canopy, and a tree that looked fine for years gives way in a storm. Most hazard trees were health problems first.
Do I have to sign up for ongoing visits?
Not to get started. We begin with a look and a recommendation, and often that means one visit and another look next season. If ongoing care makes sense for your property, we’ll walk you through what that would involve before you decide anything.
Do I need a soil test?
Only if your tree’s symptoms point that direction. Plenty of problems are visible on the leaf or the bark, and a soil test wouldn’t tell us anything we can’t already see.
Do my trees need fertilizer?
Only if a soil test shows something is missing. We check the soil before we recommend it, and if nothing is short, we’ll tell you that.
Do you treat shrubs as well as trees?
Yes. Azaleas, hollies, boxwoods and crape myrtles are among the most commonly affected plants here. Lace bug on azaleas is one of our most common calls.
Start with a look at the tree
If something in your yard or at your business doesn’t look right, have our ISA Certified Arborist come out and tell you what’s going on. The evaluation is free, and you’ll leave the conversation knowing whether it’s something to handle now or something to keep an eye on.