Dobe on a branch

 

Austin Arborist Tree Service

Hello! I'm Nickey Bishop

I operate a tree service in Austin, Texas and am an Arborist. My service is known as The Tree Tender. Austin tree care is my focus, though I provide tree care for the surrounding area. I was a "certified" Arborist for over 15 years and then decided to stop paying the fee to keep my certification." I went to classes every year to maintain my certification for so many years I exhausted the curriculum and got tired of studying the same stuff again. I have by now learned a few things and I incorporate my knowledge into my service to the trees and my clients.

I started working in the tree industry in 1973 working for the "other guy." Over the years I got as far up in the hierarchy of that first company as I was going to go due to the fact that the owner's Sons-In-Law had all of the top positions and the owner had no intentions of putting his daughters husbands out. That owner helped me start a business of my own which didn't last long and I went to work for another guy until 1992 when I started getting jobs for myself and by 1994 I had established The Tree Tender formally. I have been working the the trees now for decades.

I take care of trees and I am in this business because I love trees and I feel much the same as a people doctor feels; satisfied by the wonderful thing I do to make a living. I like to be considered a tree doctor and I am by all rights a "tree hugger". Please, do not ask me to kill a living tree. I do not have the heart for it; even if it truly does need to be done. There are plenty of people who would love the job and they are welcome to it. However, if you want someone to care for your trees in the best possible way, I am the man for the job.

My company provides pruning, thinning, shaping, cabling, bracing, cavity treatment, ball moss removal, dead limb removal, mistletoe removal, diagnostics, consultations, and more. I studied Botany in college and my tree care is done with the latest scientific methods. In a nutshell, we climb trees to do what is necessary to help the trees.

Our work is governed by the fact that the only thing you take with you when you go is your honor. I seek to manifest the virtues and strive for perfection. I believe all things must be done right to the smallest detail, especially when they are done to a sacred living being as venerable as a tree.

I possess the necessary skill to climb the highest trees and work on any limb all the way to the end, even at my age, born in 1950, right in the heart of Texas. Sometimes people gather from the neighborhood to watch me climb trees. Other tree companies have hired me to climb a tree no one else had the courage to climb. It is thrilling to climb more challenging trees. I know you are wondering, so I'll just say it here; I have never had a serious fall, just one minor fall that didn't injure me. (I am knocking on wood as I write this.)

Since I started The Tree Tender, I have acquired so many tree patients that I am unable to even guess at the number. I do know I have over twelve thousand copies of the proposals I have done for people. I have thousands of satisfied customers and my business now perpetuates itself. I have only this website as advertising and get as much work as I can handle, which is not to say I do not want more clients.

The work I do for trees sometimes does not require follow up work for many years. Oaks that I have pruned have needed no further work for fifteen years. Some species require more frequent pruning but they are also the species that do not live long enough. So, I am always eager to meet new trees and their owners.

Mine is a small business and I plan to keep it that way. We can only do about two hundred thousand dollars worth of tree work a year of which I get about ten percent for my efforts. We hit that mark for the first time in 2007. Helping trees is no way to make a lot of money, but it is something I love to do. Most lines of work are too hard on the environment and living things, so, I will not endeavor in those areas. Caring for trees is just right for me. By keeping my business small, I am able to insure that the work done is of the highest quality. I can manage the crew and make sure everything is done safely. At most, I might add a two man crew to do the jobs that do not take long and I might add a soil and foliar analysis service with a crew that offers compost feeding for the trees. These things are something that I can keep my thumb on, so to speak, and still offer more help to the trees and the people.

This web site is the product of many long hours of study, trial, and error. I did it all myself and it will get better as I learn more about how to construct websites and become more adroit generating computer art. I will be adding pages as time permits and circumstances demand them. I want to make information available to anyone who is interested and to present it in an easily understood and enjoyable format. I have spent a long time getting my education in the science of caring for trees and I want to help you help your trees without you having to spend years and years learning. Hopefully, this site will provide you with enough information to take care of your trees requiring professional help only when climbing is required or trouble arises that is beyond layman ability.

Please, if you feel you can climb your own trees and do the work yourself, call me and talk to me first. I want to give you a few pointers at absolutely no cost to you. I can tell you how to make proper selections and cuts along with some safety tips. I know too many people who thought they could do it who ended up in the hospital. Climbing trees and cutting limbs is a job for professionals. It takes years of experience and training to gain the fundamentals of climbing and pruning, even longer to become proficient, and we do it with many aids such as climbing saddles, ropes, lanyards, ladders and more. I will gladly help you along, but you will have to contact me to get the help. I have trained more men and women to work in the trees than I could count, maybe over a hundred. I know what it takes to learn to do it. However, this site is intended to give you the information you need to hire a tree service and to do your part in caring for Earth's predecessors to man.