Moss Removal

B&T’s Tree Service is regularly contracted for Moss Removal when our customers trees accumulate so much moss that the photosynthetic process is inhibited, or the moss creates so much weight on the branches that the branches or limbs start to fail. If your trees are covered in moss and you are worried that it is becoming an issue, contact us today for a free estimate for moss removal. We will send a Certified Arborist to your property to inspect your trees and tell you whether you need the moss removed from your trees or not. B&T’s Tree Service does not spray chemicals on your trees canopy to remove the moss. We have a team of professional climbers that access tree canopies on industry specific climbing ropes and safety gear. Once in the top of the tree, our climbers pull out the moss by hand, drop it to the ground, and once out of the tree, all the moss is hauled away in our dump trucks. Moss removal can be a tricky and dangerous process, make sure you hire a Certified Arborist that is insured to perform your moss removal project.

Sometimes our customers simply do not want the moss in their trees. To them, it just looks unsightly and they prefer to have us perform moss removal on their trees. This is fine, just keep in mind that the moss does not always have to be removed.

The question we get the most is, will the moss kill our tree? The answer is no. Moss takes nothing from the trees, it simply uses the branches and foliage as an anchor point.

Spanish moss is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients (especially calcium) and water from the air and rainfall. Spanish moss is colloquially known as “air plant”.^[8]

While it rarely kills the trees, it lowers their growth rate by reducing the amount of light to a tree’s own leaves. It also increases wind resistance, which can prove fatal to the host tree in ahurricane.

In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show a preference of growth on Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) or Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) because of these trees’ high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) providing an abundant supply of nutrients to the plant,^[9] but it can also colonize other tree species such as Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), crepe-myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.), other oaks, and even pines.

Spanish moss shelters a number of creatures, including rat snakes and three species of bats. One species of jumping spider, Pelegrina tillandsiae, has been found only on Spanish moss.^[10]

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