Tree Trimming & Pruning in Springfield, MO

Tree trimming and pruning in Springfield is mostly about weight and clearance. A mature oak or silver maple that spreads over a roof carries a lot of leverage on its long limbs; add a quarter inch of ice in January or a 60 mph gust in April and those limbs are the ones that crack. Good pruning removes the dead wood first, shortens or thins the heaviest limbs so they carry less load, and lifts the canopy away from roofs, chimneys, driveways and the service wire to your house. Done correctly, a tree comes out of pruning healthier and safer and still looks like itself.

What correct pruning looks like

The tree care industry follows the ANSI A300 standard for pruning. In practice that means cuts made just outside the branch collar, never flush with the trunk and never leaving long stubs; reduction cuts back to a side limb big enough to take over; and no climbing spikes on a tree that is staying. It also means no topping. City Utilities, whose arborists follow International Society of Arboriculture practice, notes that topping and rounding over weakens trees and pushes fast regrowth back toward the wires. A topped tree grows a crown of weakly attached sprouts that fail easily in the next storm.

How much can come off

Removing too much live wood at once stresses a tree, especially in a Springfield summer, when the city averages around 40 days at 90 degrees or hotter. A general rule in the industry is to take off no more than about a quarter of the live canopy in one season, and less on old or stressed trees. If a tree needs more than that, we spread the work over two or more seasons and tell you why.

Common pruning jobs here

We see the same jobs over and over: dead limbs out of big white and black oaks; silver maples thinned before they drop branches on a roof; sycamores cleared from gutters; pin oaks and sweetgums raised over driveways; Callery pears with crowded, splitting forks reduced or, more often, recommended for removal. Young trees in newer subdivisions benefit most from structural pruning that sets up a single strong leader before bad forks form.

Service lines and City Utilities

If limbs are in the wire from the pole to your house, City Utilities considers that the owner's responsibility. CU will disconnect and reconnect that service line for free with two business days' notice, which lets the limbs be cut safely. Anything near the primary lines on the poles goes through CU's Tree Management office first.