When should you trim trees before hurricane season?

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30. The best time to get your trees ready is before it starts, not when there’s already a storm on the map and every tree crew in town is booked.

Get on the schedule early

Late winter and spring are the sweet spot. The weather’s easier to work in, crews have more openings, and the work is done well before the first storm. Waiting until a storm is a few days out means you’re competing with everybody else who waited.

What to have taken off

The goal of a pre-season trim is to remove the parts of the tree most likely to break:

• Dead wood. Dead limbs are brittle and are usually the first thing to break.
• Limbs over the roof. Anything that could land on the house, or rub the roof in wind.
• Cracked or split limbs. Weak spots get weaker in high wind.
• A heavy canopy. Thinning a dense tree lets wind move through it instead of pushing against it like a sail.

Don’t over-cut your palms

You’ll see palms cut down to a few fronds sticking straight up. It’s often called a “hurricane cut.” But a palm’s green fronds are how it feeds itself, and stripping them off stresses the tree.

A good palm trim takes the dead, dying and hanging fronds and the seed pods, and leaves a full, healthy green crown. See how we trim palms.

Have the big trees looked at

If you have a big tree close to the house, before storm season is the time to have someone look it over for rot, cracks and lean. Here’s what we look for.

Ready to get on the list?

Call 941-504-8190 or send the estimate form. We’ll come look and tell you what your trees need, and what they don’t.