We get to the root of the issue!

About Kristy Garland

Nearly a decade of hands-on tree care experience, from the field to company operations.

Root Cause was founded by Kristy Garland, an ISA Certified Arborist, horticulturist, licensed pesticide applicator, and plant health care professional with nearly a decade of experience in the tree care industry.

Kristy began her arboriculture career in April 2016 at Cassity Tree Service in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, through her college horticulture practicum. The internship was designed to expose her to all areas of professional tree care, while her primary work quickly became plant health care and pesticide application. By July 2016, she had become a full-time member of the company.

In 2017, Kristy became Cassity Tree Service's Pesticide Coordinator, taking responsibility for pesticide and plant health care operations. When treatment work did not require her elsewhere, she continued working alongside the tree crew, gaining hands-on experience with pruning, removals, cabling and support systems, ground operations, equipment, routing, job coordination, client communication, diagnostics, and virtually every part of professional tree care.

In November 2021, after more than five years of field experience and increasing responsibility, Kristy transitioned into the role of Chief Operating Officer. Her responsibilities expanded to include employees, scheduling, payroll, hiring, discipline, licensing, pesticide compliance, regulatory requirements, client concerns, vendor relationships, office operations, financial administration, job coordination, and the day-to-day operation of the company.

Kristy's experience gives her a perspective that reaches far beyond a single part of the industry. She understands the diagnosis, the treatment, the tree, the crew performing the work, and the information a client needs to make an informed decision.

She earned a two-year degree in Horticulture and Landscape Design from Gateway Technical College, continued her education in arboriculture, became an ISA Certified Arborist, and became a certified and licensed pesticide applicator.

Root Cause was created around one simple principle: find the actual problem before selling the solution. A declining tree does not automatically need an injection. An insect does not automatically require pesticide treatment. A struggling tree does not automatically need to be removed. Sometimes the real problem is underground, environmental, structural, or the result of several factors working together.

Root Cause combines hands-on tree care, plant health care, diagnostics, horticulture, pesticide knowledge, and years of real-world industry experience to determine what is actually happening and recommend what makes sense.

Diagnose. Educate. Solve at the Root.