Pruning · Trimming · Removal · Stump grinding

The most valuable thing in your yard, and the easiest to ruin

A mature tree is worth more than everything else on the property put together, and unlike turf or beds you cannot put it back. A bad prune is not something that grows out. It is a decision the tree carries for the rest of its life.

Most of the damage we see was done by somebody with a saw and good intentions — a tree topped to “keep it down”, limbs cut flush against the trunk, or a canopy lifted so high the tree is a lollipop with nothing left to feed it. And in North Texas there is a season when cutting an oak at all is a genuinely bad idea.

We prune, shape, remove and grind stumps. Where a tree needs an arborist’s report or specialist work beyond that, we will tell you rather than take the job.

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What we do

Tree work we perform

Structural pruning of young trees

The highest-value work there is, and almost nobody asks for it. Correcting form in the first ten years — a single leader, well-spaced scaffold limbs, no competing co-dominant stems — prevents the failures that split a mature tree in a storm twenty years later.

Crown cleaning

Removing dead, dying, broken and rubbing limbs. It is the least dramatic pruning there is and usually the only pruning a healthy mature tree actually needs.

Crown raising & clearance

Lifting the canopy for mowers, walkways, drives, and clearance off a roof or gutter — taken far enough to solve the problem and no further.

Shaping & thinning

Selective reduction to balance a lopsided canopy or ease wind load, done at the branch collar so the tree can close the wound properly.

Storm & hazard limbs

Hanging limbs, split unions and damage after North Texas weather. Handled promptly, because a hanger over a drive is a liability not a landscaping issue.

Tree removal

When a tree is dead, structurally failed, or in genuinely the wrong place. Taken down in a controlled sequence with the surroundings protected, and the debris removed.

Stump grinding

Grinding out the stump and surface roots below grade so the area can be re-turfed or planted rather than left with a hump and a hole.

Debris removal & clean-up

Wood, brush and chips taken away and the site left clean. What a crew leaves behind is most of what you remember about the job.

Clearance for construction

Protecting and pruning what stays before hardscape, irrigation or landscape work goes in around it. See hardscape and design & installation.

Two things we handle elsewhere.

Planting a new tree is part of our landscape design and installation work — species, placement and planting depth get decided with the rest of the plan. Feeding and treatments for trees and large shrubs run under our application programs, on a licensed applicator’s schedule.

Read this before anyone prunes your oak

Oak wilt is real, and the calendar matters

Oak wilt is a fungal disease that spreads between oaks through beetles carrying spores to fresh wounds, and through connected root systems between neighbouring trees. It kills red oaks quickly and it is established across much of Central and North Texas.

The practical consequence for a homeowner is simple and widely agreed on here:

Avoid pruning oaks from February through June. That is when the beetles that carry the fungus are most active and fresh cuts are most attractive to them. Mid-winter and mid-summer are the safer windows.
Paint every wound on an oak immediately — pruning cuts, and any damage from storms, equipment or construction. Immediately means within minutes, not at the end of the day.
That includes accidental wounds. A mower strike or a trencher clipping a root is an entry point in exactly the same way a pruning cut is.

If you take one thing from this page: if a contractor offers to trim your oaks in April and does not mention wound paint, do not let them.

Ask us about your oaks

How trees get ruined

Four things a good crew will not do to your tree

If you know these, you can judge any bid you are given — including ours.

Topping

Cutting the main leaders back to stubs to reduce height. It does not make a tree safer. It forces weak, fast regrowth from the cut ends, which is far more likely to fail in a storm than what was removed — and it disfigures the tree permanently. If somebody offers to top your tree, that is the end of the conversation.

Flush cuts

Cutting tight against the trunk removes the branch collar, which is the tissue the tree uses to seal the wound. A flush cut leaves a hole the tree cannot close. Cuts belong just outside the collar.

Lion-tailing

Stripping the interior growth out and leaving foliage only at the branch tips. It looks tidy and it loads the ends of long lever arms while removing the growth that supports them. It makes limb failure more likely, not less.

Over-raising

Lifting a canopy far higher than needed for clearance. The lower limbs are a young tree’s main food source and its trunk-taper builder. Strip them and you get a tall, thin, top-heavy tree that never develops a proper trunk.

Removal

When taking it down is the right answer

We would rather prune a tree than remove it, and we will say so. But some trees should come out:

Dead, or declining past the point of recovery
Structurally failed — a split union, a major cavity, significant lean with root plate movement
Genuinely in the wrong place — too close to a foundation, over a roof it will always threaten, or a species that was never right for the spot
Storm damaged beyond sensible repair

Removal is a sequencing job as much as a cutting one: access planned, drops controlled, and turf, irrigation heads, hardscape and fences protected on the way. We take the debris with us and grind the stump below grade so the area can be turfed or replanted rather than left as a hump.

Ask about insurance. Every time, from everybody.

Tree removal is the highest-risk work performed in a residential yard. Ask any company for proof of liability and workers’ compensation cover before they climb anything. If a bid is dramatically cheaper than the others, that gap is usually the insurance.

Got a tree you are not sure about?

We will look at it and tell you honestly whether it needs pruning, removal, or leaving alone.

Get an Estimate Call (972) 240-8082

FAQs

Tree questions

When is the best time to prune?

For most trees, the dormant season — roughly mid-winter — because the structure is visible and the tree is not under stress. For oaks specifically, avoid February through June because of oak wilt, and paint every cut immediately whatever the season. Dead and hazardous limbs come off whenever they are found.

My tree is too big. Can you just cut the top down?

No, and nobody reputable will. Topping produces weak regrowth that fails more readily than what was removed, and it permanently disfigures the tree. If a tree is genuinely too large for its position, the honest options are a proper crown reduction where the species allows it, or removal and replanting with something suited to the space.

Do I need to paint pruning cuts?

On oaks in this region, yes — immediately, on every wound, including accidental ones. On most other species, wound paint is generally unnecessary and trees seal better without it. Oak wilt is the reason for the exception and it is a good one.

How deep do you grind a stump?

Below grade and out far enough to take the surface roots, so the area can be topsoiled and turfed or planted. Tell us if you intend to plant a new tree in the same spot, because that needs more material taken out than simply making the lawn flat.

Can you work around my sprinkler system?

Yes, and it matters more than people expect — stump grinding and removal access are both good ways to destroy irrigation lines and heads. Because we hold the irrigation licence in house, we know what is likely to be down there and we repair it ourselves if something is hit.

Do you feed trees or treat them for disease?

Feeding and treatments run through our application programs under a licensed applicator rather than as part of pruning work. Tell us what the tree is doing and we will point you to the right one.

Do you plant trees?

Yes — as part of landscape design and installation, where species, placement and planting depth are decided along with everything else. Planting depth in particular is the most common reason a young tree in North Texas never thrives.

Let’s talk

Get an estimate

Tell us about the tree — roughly how big, how close to the house, and what is worrying you.

Prefer to talk? Call (972) 240-8082, Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Tree Services