Tree Trimming & Pruning in Valley Stream
The cheapest storm insurance a seventy-year-old maple can get: deadwood out, weight off the limbs hanging over the roof, clearance from the house, and the whole thing done before the wind does it for you.
What pruning actually fixes
- Deadwood. Dead limbs come down on their own schedule, usually in wind, usually onto something. Getting them out is the single highest-value cut on a mature tree.
- Weight over the roof. Long horizontal limbs over the house carry enormous leverage. Reducing them back to a strong lateral takes the load off before a nor'easter tests it.
- Clearance. Limbs rubbing the roof, the gutters, or the siding; canopy grown into the service drop. PSEG trims around the primary lines on a four-year cycle - they do not touch the drop to your house, and a branch sawing on it in every wind is how you lose power on a clear night.
- Structure on younger trees. Fixing a bad crotch or a second leader on a twenty-year-old tree is a small cut now or a split trunk later. Bradford pears are the textbook case.
- Light and air. Thinning a dense canopy lets wind pass through instead of catching it like a sail - the difference between a tree that bends in a storm and one that goes over.
The trees we are usually up in
Norway maple, silver maple, London plane, pin oak, red oak, the odd big spruce, and the Bradford and Callery pears that went in everywhere in the 80s. Most of it was planted in the two decades after the war and is now at exactly the age where a good prune every few years is the difference between keeping the tree and removing it. The Sandy salt hit the London planes hard along the south side - a lot of what looks like deadwood in those is exactly that, a decade later.
How we cut, and what we will not do
Proper cuts at the branch collar so the tree closes the wound. No flush cuts, no stubs, no climbing spikes on a tree that is staying - spikes are for removals. No topping, ever: it is illegal inside the Village without a permit, and the flush of weak growth it causes is more dangerous in a storm than the tree you had. And nobody on our crew works within ten feet of the primary lines - that is PSEG's territory by law, and we coordinate with them when a tree is in it.
Before storm season, not after
Hurricane season peaks August into October and nor'easters run through the winter. The pruning that prevents a claim happens in the months before, when a crew can schedule it at a normal price, not the week after Isaias when every truck in Nassau is spoken for. If you have a large tree over the house and you are not sure about it, a look costs nothing and usually ends with "prune these three limbs" rather than "take it down."
Pruning questions
When is the best time to prune on Long Island?
Late winter, February into March, for most of what grows here - the tree is dormant, the structure is visible without leaves, and it heals fast in spring. The one hard rule: do not prune oaks from April through July. Oak wilt has not been confirmed in Nassau yet, but it is in New York, it spreads through fresh cuts in those months, and we are not going to be the reason it arrives.
Can you just top the tree so it stops growing over the house?
We will not, and inside the Village it is actually illegal without a permit - Chapter 90 treats topping as substantially altering the tree. Topping also does the opposite of what people want: it forces a burst of weak, fast growth that is more storm-prone than what you started with. Crown reduction done properly gets the height and weight off while keeping the tree sound.
How much does trimming cost?
In Nassau, $200 to $1,200 per tree depending on size, how much is coming off, and whether it is a ladder job or a climb. A big maple over the roof with a lot of deadwood is the top of that range. We quote per tree, in writing, after looking at it.
Past the point where pruning helps? See tree removal. Otherwise call (516) 555-0100 for a free look at what is hanging over the house.