Tree Trimming and Pruning

The cheapest tree work you will ever buy is the trim that keeps a big tree from becoming a removal. Weight comes off the over-long limbs, deadwood comes out before it lands on something, and the roofline gets its clearance back.

What a proper trim covers

• Deadwood removal. Every mature tree grows some; over a patio or sidewalk it is a liability with a timer on it.
• Thinning and weight reduction. Wind blows through a thinned crown instead of against it. On the big soft maples in Connersville's older blocks, that difference decides whether the next storm takes a limb or the whole union.
• Clearance cuts. Limbs off the shingles, out of the gutter line, and away from the chimney. Squirrels use touching branches as a highway to your attic; a few feet of clearance closes the bridge.
• Young tree structure. Ten minutes of correct cuts on a young maple saves a thousand-dollar problem thirty years out.

Why nobody here will top your tree

Topping, cutting the whole crown flat, is the worst thing you can legally do to a tree. Every stub rots, the regrowth attaches weakly, and in a few years the tree is taller, uglier, and more dangerous than before. Plenty of topped trees around the county prove the point. If a tree is truly too big for its spot, the honest answers are a proper reduction to lateral limbs or replacement with a species that fits.

Timing and price

Late winter is prime pruning time for nearly everything, and the only right time for oaks, which should not be cut April through October because oak wilt is present in Indiana. Hazard limbs come out whenever they are found. Trims typically run $200 to $700 a tree depending on size and scope, quoted in writing first. Call (765) 377-1534.