Tree Trimming & Pruning in Wichita, KS

Tree trimming and pruning in Wichita has two jobs: keeping limbs off the house, fence and alley line, and making a tree less likely to break when the wind comes up or ice coats the branches. Good pruning takes out dead and crossing wood, shortens the long, heavy limbs that act like levers in a storm, and keeps the tree's natural shape. Bad pruning, like topping or stripping out all the inner branches, weakens the tree and makes it grow back thicker and weaker than before.

What good cuts look like

The industry standard for tree pruning in the United States is ANSI A300. Its basic ideas are simple: cut back to a branch or the trunk instead of leaving stubs, make cuts just outside the branch collar so the tree can seal the wound, and take no more live crown than the tree needs to lose. On a mature shade tree, that usually means a modest amount of thinning and shortening rather than a dramatic haircut. Topping, which cuts big limbs back to stubs, is not an accepted pruning practice.

Pruning for Wichita weather

Wind and ice are the main reasons Wichita homeowners call for trimming. The NWS Wichita office has written up ice storms in 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, and straight-line wind events nearly every summer. The limbs that fail are predictable: long horizontal limbs over a roof, upright stems joined in a tight V with bark pinched between them, and branches with old cracks or decay. Shortening those limbs and thinning the crown so wind passes through it lowers the load on the weak spots.

Timing

Late winter, while most trees are dormant, is a good time for structural pruning: you can see the whole branch framework, and the cuts start to close as growth begins in spring. Oaks are the exception to keep in mind. K-State advises avoiding oak pruning in late spring, when sap from fresh wounds can attract beetles carrying the oak wilt fungus. Oak wilt has been found in pockets in the eastern third of Kansas, so it is a reasonable precaution here. Dead or cracked limbs over a house can be removed any time.

Clearance around homes and lines

We cut limbs back from roofs, gutters, chimneys, driveways and walkways, and raise low branches over sidewalks and the street. Branches near power lines are different. The wires to your house and the lines down the alley carry live current, and work near them belongs to the utility or to crews qualified for it. If your trees are in the lines, call the electric company first; once the line is clear, we can do the rest of the pruning.