A Master Arborist's Other Job: Feeding Dawson County

By Tim Costley, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist #SO-1925B, founder of Superior Arbor Management in Dawsonville, Georgia.

A few weeks back I stood in front of the Hall County Master Gardeners Group at Brenau University, talking about tree health. Halfway through, a woman in the second row asked me a question about root systems, and I caught myself answering it with a lettuce story.

That's the thing most of my tree customers don't know about me. I'm a master arborist by trade, and by certification. But when I'm not looking at your oaks, I'm in a greenhouse. My wife Tina and I run Costley Family Farms right here in Dawsonville, on land our family has farmed for five generations. Tree guy by day, farmer the rest of the time.

It turns out those two jobs are the same job. Let me show you what I mean, photo by photo.

The Talk I Give in Every County

I get invited to speak at agriculture meetings and arborist groups across North Georgia. Hall County one month, somewhere else the next. The Brenau talk covered proper tree care, tree health, and what it takes to keep a landscape safe as trees get older.

What the Master Gardeners Asked

Master gardeners ask better questions than most. Not "how much does removal cost," but "how do I know my tree is struggling before it shows?" That's the right question. By the time a tree is leaning, dropping big limbs, or growing mushrooms at the base, it's been sick for a while. A professional arborist consultation catches trouble while it's still cheap to fix.

My answer to that woman in the second row came from the greenhouse. Here's why.

What a Master Arborist Learns From a Head of Lettuce

Our greenhouse grows hydroponic lettuce year-round. If your kid eats a salad in a Dawson County school cafeteria, there's a good chance we grew it. We supply local restaurants too.

People laugh when they hear an arborist grows lettuce. But walk those rows with me and you'll see it. A head of lettuce tells you everything through its leaves: too much heat, not enough nitrogen, water trouble at the roots. It can't talk. It shows you.

Your trees do the same thing, just slower. Discolored leaves. A thinning crown. Bark pulling away where it shouldn't. A lettuce crop fails in days, so a farmer learns to read plants fast. I bring that same reading to every tree health assessment we do. Sap flow is sap flow, whether the plant is eight inches tall or eighty feet.

🥬 From the Greenhouse: A lettuce plant and a red oak run on the same basic system: roots, water, nutrients, light. The difference is timescale. Lettuce shows stress in 48 hours. A tree can hide it for three years. That lag is exactly why trees need a checkup before they look sick, not after.

Five Generations in the Same Dirt

The farm isn't a hobby. It's the family land, worked by five generations of Tina's family before the greenhouse ever went up. Summer brings blackberries, blueberries, and garden vegetables alongside the lettuce.

After the Marine Corps, I settled in Dawsonville, married Tina, and started studying arboriculture in 1999. The tree business grew out of the same instinct as the farm: take care of living things properly and they take care of you. Superior Arbor Management has built its reputation across North Georgia on that one idea, which is why homeowners in Dawsonville, Dahlonega, Gainesville, and Cumming call us when a tree worries them.

The Farmers Market We Helped Start

I was one of the folks who helped launch the local Dawsonville Farmers Market. Now our son Ian sometimes helps me, selling the berries we pick that same week.

Why a Tree Guy Cares About a Farmers Market

Because it's the same community. The family buying Ian's blueberries on Saturday is the family whose white oak I'm assessing on Tuesday. When you live where you work, farm where you live, and your name is on both signs, you don't get to do sloppy work. Everybody knows where to find you.

Tina Runs the Show

None of this works without Tina. She helps run the business, and that's a full-time job on its own: scheduling, customers, the books, keeping two operations moving at once. We've been married more than 30 years. She's the reason the trucks roll out on time and the reason your call gets answered by a person.

🌳 Canopy Check: Do this before the next storm season. Stand at the base of your biggest tree and look up. Cracks in the trunk, dead branches hanging in the canopy, roots lifting out of the soil, or a new lean all mean it's time to get an arborist's eyes on it. Ten minutes now beats a tree on your roof in July.

What Two Jobs Teach You About One Thing

Here's what lecturing in multiple counties, growing lettuce for a school system, and 26 years of tree work all come down to: plants tell you the truth if you know how to listen. Most tree emergencies I get called to were visible a year earlier. Someone just didn't know what they were looking at.

That's the real service an arborist provides. Not the chainsaw. The reading. The chainsaw is just what happens when the reading comes too late. If you'd rather stay ahead of it, request a visit and I'll walk your property with you the same way I walk my lettuce rows.

Rooted in Dawsonville

Trees, lettuce, berries, kids at a market stand: it's all the same work in the end. Put down roots, tend them honestly, and stay long enough to see what grows. Our family has done that here for five generations, and we plan on a few more.

If you've got a tree you're unsure about, call Superior Arbor Management at 404-600-0453. I'll take a look myself.

FAQs

What's the best way to find a master arborist near me?

Check credentials first, not ads. Look for ISA certification, and for bigger decisions, an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, the highest credential the International Society of Arboriculture offers. Verify the number on the ISA website, then read local reviews. There are only a small number of Board Certified Master Arborists in Georgia, so proximity plus that credential narrows the list fast.

How often should trees get a professional health assessment?

Every two to three years for mature trees near your home, and right away after any major storm, construction near the root zone, or visible change like thinning leaves or fungus at the base. Trees hide stress for years, so scheduled checkups catch structural problems while pruning or treatment can still solve them.