Tree Trimming & Pruning in Mobile, AL

Tree trimming and pruning on Mobile lots is mostly about getting ahead of the weather. After hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, University of Florida researchers found that properly pruned trees survived at about 73 percent, against 47 percent for trees that had never been pruned. The difference comes from removing dead and weak wood, reducing heavy limbs that act like sails, and dealing with forks that are likely to split, all well before June, when the season starts.

What good pruning looks like

The industry standard for pruning in the United States is ANSI A300, and Mobile's draft urban forestry code calls for trimming to that standard. In practice it means cutting a branch back to its point of attachment or to a lateral branch large enough to take over, never leaving stubs, and removing only as much live canopy as the goal requires. Typical jobs include cleaning out dead wood, raising low limbs over a driveway or street, reducing limbs that reach over a roof, and structural pruning on a young tree so one strong trunk leads.

What we will not do

Topping, cutting a tree back to stubs across the top, invites decay and a flush of weakly attached sprouts that break in the next storm. So does lion-tailing, stripping out the inner branches and leaving tufts at the ends. Both are common after hurricanes, when homeowners want a tree to look smaller fast. We also do not climb trees that are staying with spikes, which leave wounds up the trunk. If a tree needs to be cut that hard to feel safe, it may be a removal candidate instead, and we will say so.

Species decide the approach

Live oaks and southern magnolias hold up well in wind and usually need thinning at the limb ends and clearance work. Water oaks and laurel oaks, rated low for wind resistance, need closer attention to decay and weak forks. Pines usually need only dead or broken limbs removed, and are rated medium-low for wind resistance, so a tall pine close to the house is more often a removal question than a pruning one. Crape myrtles do not need to be cut back to knuckles each winter, a practice often called crape murder.

Permits for city trees

A tree in Mobile's public right-of-way is a city tree, and trimming it, even a limb over your driveway, needs a Mobile Tree Commission permit. The city fined a homeowner a base $722 in 2021 for cutting limbs off a city oak without one. Trees on your own developed lot outside a historic district can generally be pruned without a permit.