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The Cuts That Help, and the Cuts That Wreck Trees

Crown cleaning removes dead, broken and rubbing limbs. It's the single best thing you can do for an older tree, and the cheapest insurance against storm damage. Crown raising lifts the low stuff off your roof, driveway and sightlines. Crown thinning opens the canopy so wind moves through it instead of shoving on it like a sail. Reduction shortens overextended limbs back to a proper lateral, not to a random stub.

Then there's the stuff we refuse to do. Topping, where a tree gets decapitated flat, triggers a panic flush of weak sprouts that snap in the next storm. Lion-tailing strips all the interior growth and leaves tufts at the limb ends, which looks tidy for a month and ruins the limb's taper forever. If a company offers to "top" your tree, close the door.

Structural Pruning: the Cheapest Money You'll Ever Spend on a Tree

Got a young oak or elm planted in the last ten years? Two or three structural prunes in its first two decades, picking one dominant leader and spacing the scaffold limbs, prevent almost every expensive problem mature trees have. It's an hour of work. We wish more people knew about it, so here it is in writing.

Timing Matters in Houston

Oaks have an oak wilt window, see our oak trimming page. Crape myrtles get pruned in late winter, and pruned means thinned, not the chest-height amputation half this town performs every January. Pines want their deadwood out before beetle season peaks in summer. Fast-growing shade trees like ash and elm can be trimmed almost any time. Not sure? Call, describe the tree, we'll tell you when and what it needs.

A typical single-tree prune runs $250 to $800 depending on size and how much comes out. We quote firm before we start, and the quote includes haul-off, always.

Do you need tree pruning in Houston? Call (713) 275-0007 or send the quote form. Free estimates, no pressure, and we actually pick up the phone.