Tree Service Knowledge Base
Redwood Bark Beetle: What Bay Area Homeowners Should Watch For
The tallest trees on Earth often host a beetle about the size of a grain of rice within their bark. Known as the redwood bark
October 23, 2026
Providing the support and care your trees need can be challenging at times. Trees are complex, living organisms that interact with their environment in complicated ways. One day, your trees may look lush and vibrant, and the next, you may start noticing discolored leaves or mushrooms sprouting up at the base. That’s why it is always important to have someone you can rely on for guidance — a tree-care expert who can help you understand how to care for your trees, identify the pests and pathogens attacking them, and recognize when they’re hazardous. Fortunately, that’s not hard to find in the Central Coast region: Simply contact Adney Tree Service to schedule an assessment or evaluation by an ISA-certified arborist.
It takes a great deal of experience, knowledge, and training to earn the title of ISA-certified arborist — an achievement Adney Tree Service owner Kyle Adney is proud to have on his resume. And as a certified arborist, Kyle leverages his skills while leading a team of tree-care professionals and providing homeowners and property managers in the Central Coast area with expert guidance and advice.
Adney Tree Service is pleased to offer a variety of arborist services for homeowners and property managers in the Central Coast region. A few of the most common ways we’re able to help our clients include:
There are a number of benefits you and your trees will enjoy when you solicit the assistance of a certified arborist. A few of the most noteworthy advantages of working with the Adney Tree Service team include:
By having an ISA-certified arborist assess the trees on your property regularly, you’ll have a better idea of any safety issues your trees are presenting, so you can take steps to mitigate the danger. And this not only includes obvious things, such as large dead limbs, but also subtler things homeowners and property managers often miss, such as root problems.
One of the critical factors in treating trees for pests and disease is early detection, as this allows you to initiate a treatment regimen promptly. And while it’s difficult for homeowners and property managers to spot the early signs of trouble, certified arborists will often notice problems early, when treatment is more likely to be effective.
Unfortunately, trees do occasionally suffer from problems that necessitate their removal. And because permits are often required to remove trees in the Central Coast area, this can be a complicated process. But by partnering with an ISA-certified arborist, you’ll have no trouble getting the kind of report needed to obtain a removal permit.
Given their superior training and education, arborists can often help you avoid removals that non-certified “tree guys” find necessary. For example, typical tree workers may recommend removing a tree with co-dominant stems, but a certified arborist may be able to support the same tree with cables, thereby eliminating the need for removal.
A certified arborist may only spend a few hours on your property, but the advice he or she can provide can help guide your maintenance efforts all year long. Your arborist may, for example, recommend adding a layer of mulch around your trees or changing your irrigation, pruning, or fertilization efforts to achieve better tree health.
In addition to promoting better tree health and safety, arborists can also help you keep your trees looking better. From recommending pest-control strategies to halt branch dieback to pruning services that’ll keep your tree’s crown looking lusher and fuller, certified arborists have a number of tools they can employ to keep your trees looking their best.
It’s always wise to contact an arborist for an assessment or evaluation at the first sign of trouble. And that includes anytime you notice the following clues that something may be wrong:
Crown dieback is the term arborists use to describe the gradual death of tree limbs within the canopy. It may start with only a few leaves on a single branch or affect large portions of the canopy, but in either case, it’s important to have an ISA-certified arborist inspect the tree promptly for the best chance of a recovery.
Mushrooms, conks, and other signs of fungal activity are always cause for concern, and they should be examined by an arborist as quickly as possible. These kinds of fungal growths are a sign that decay is occurring within the tree, predisposing it to weakness and potential failure.
Large cavities can be caused by a variety of things ranging from wounds to wildlife activity. Not all cavities are problematic, but because they’re often associated with considerable internal decay, they should always be assessed by a certified arborist so that you can remove the tree if necessary.
Cracks in a tree’s trunk or primary limbs are serious hazards, as they indicate the tree (or some portion of the tree) is already actively failing. Not all cracks will require that a tree be removed, but you’ll need an arborist to assess the extent of the crack, consider potential mitigation options, and recommend a course of action.
Missing bark is a potentially serious sign that is often a bigger problem than many homeowners and property managers initially understand. The absence of bark not only leaves a tree defenseless in the face of pests, pathogens, and decay, but it may signal the presence of deeper health problems.
Anytime the soil around a tree begins showing troubling signs, such as heaving or cracking, it’s imperative that you have an ISA-certified arborist examine it immediately. These kinds of problems often indicate that the soil, root system, or both are already failing and presenting a serious safety risk.
Poor growth may not seem like a serious problem, but it’s often a symptom of failing health. These kinds of issues are important to address early, as this will not only give the tree the best chance of recovering, but they may also lead to larger (more expensive) problems to correct down the road.
Foliar discoloration is always an important symptom to watch for. Not all foliar issues are a threat to the long-term health or stability of a tree, but some can be quite serious and require immediate treatment. In all cases, it’s a good idea to have an ISA-certified arborist examine trees with discolored leaves promptly.
Many tree species shed their leaves each year, and the leaves of some will change color before falling to the ground below. But while seasonal leaf drop is normal and fall color is often a welcome sight during the autumn, both issues can be a sign of trouble if they happen during the spring or summer.
You and your trees deserve the best arborist service and guidance available, and that’s exactly the standard the professionals at Adney Tree Service strive to meet. But while it can sometimes be challenging to identify the best arborist in the Central Coast region for your needs, we feel that the following traits allow us to rise to the top:
Every tree, property, and client is unique, which means that no two arborist evaluations or assessments are the same. Each one presents a slate of unique challenges and demands a tailored solution. However, while we always customize our services to suit the specific situation we’re facing, we’ve developed a relatively consistent process over the last 10 years, which allows us to serve our clients well:
Contact us today to get the arborist assistance you need!
One of the biggest challenges in tree care is the fact that diseases and pests often go undetected for quite a while. So, by the time you start noticing leaf discoloration or mushrooms popping up around the base of your tree, the problem has already been present for weeks, months, or even years. This makes treatment difficult and helps to illustrate the importance of catching these kinds of problems early. Adney Tree Service’s arborist evaluations and assessments help you identify these tree-health threats early, when you will have the best chance of helping them enjoy a full recovery.
Our team is led by an ISA-certified arborist, ensuring that we have the training, skill, and expertise to provide artisan-caliber tree-care services.
We have a deep understanding of California’s native tree species, as well as the ornamental and exotic species commonly planted in the Central Coast region.
We have a proven track record of success stretching back over a decade, as well as a litany of positive ratings and reviews from former clients.
We are a full-service tree care team that offers all the services you need, eliminating the need for you to hire multiple tree-care companies.
We’re licensed by the state of California and fully insured, so that you can rest assured that you are working with professionals and fully protected.
We have been proudly providing arborist services for homeowners and commercial property managers in the Central Coast region since 2015. And whether you’re in Aptos, Scotts Valley, or anywhere in between, we make it easy to get the arborist help you need.
Have lingering questions about arborist assessments and evaluations? Curious to learn more about the ways Adney Tree Service can help you better care for your trees? We’ve gathered some of the most common questions we hear from our clients and answered them below.
The tallest trees on Earth often host a beetle about the size of a grain of rice within their bark. Known as the redwood bark
A tree can be gone for years while the fungus that killed it is still alive underground. Armillaria is a great example. This potentially lethal
Invasive shothole borers are no longer just a Southern California problem. In September 2025, officials confirmed the beetles in two trees in the Tannery area
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