Trees need regular pruning in order to fend off disease, maintain their attractive shape, and prevent branches from falling on your home and outbuildings. Unless you have a lot of experience pruning trees, you're usually better off hiring a tree care company to handle this task for you. But not every pruning company offers the same level of service. Here are four questions to ask a pruning company before hiring them to care for your trees.

1. Are your tree care technicians certified?

The best tree care companies employ individuals who are known as Certified Arborists. These people have attended programs in which they've learned exactly how to care for trees. They've learned not only how to make trees look good, but also how to keep the trees in their best health. Certified Arborists even undergo continuing education to keep them up-to-date on the latest trends in tree care and advancements in the field. You definitely want your tree care tech to be a Certified Arborist because they are more likely to notice problems with your trees before they become too serious.

2. How often do you clean your equipment?

One of the risks of pruning trees is that you can introduce fungi and bacteria to the tree through its open wounds. To prevent such diseases, the shears and other tree care equipment should be sanitized after every tree. Make sure the company you hire uses these good sanitary practices.

3. Do you offer any services other than pruning?

Some tree care companies only offer pruning, while others offer additional services like fertilizing, bracing and cabling, and insecticide spraying. Ask what services your company provides. Doing so may save you the labor of applying fertilizer or insecticides yourself -- or calling a second company to do so.

4. What do you do if you discover that a tree is diseased?

Some tree care companies have a policy that dictates that they will not leave a tree with certain diseases standing. This may be the case with walnut blight or thousand cankers disease since these diseases are very contagious. Make sure you know what the tree company's policy is regarding diseased trees, so you're not surprised if they inform you that they have to take one of your trees down.

If you ask the questions above, you will learn a bit more about the tree care company you're about to hire and their policies. For more information, contact a company like A Advanced Tree Services.