Remove It or Prune It? How to Decide What a Tree Near Your House Needs

A big limb hangs over the roof, or the tree by the driveway has started to worry you. Before you pay for a removal, settle a simpler question: is the problem the whole tree, or a few branches? The answer decides whether you need a saw at the base or a climber in the canopy, and sometimes it is neither.

The short answer

Prune when the problem lives in the branches: dead wood, limbs over the roof, a branch rubbing the house, clearance over the driveway or the power drop. Remove when the problem lives in the trunk or the roots, or when no amount of pruning makes the tree acceptably safe where it stands.

What good pruning does

Pruning takes out specific branches for a specific reason: clearance, dead wood, or better structure. Zeigler prunes for clearance and healthy structure, with no topping and no lion-tailing.

The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) explains how to shorten a branch without harming the tree: a larger limb “should be pruned back to a lateral branch that is large enough (at least one-third the diameter of the limb being removed) to assume the terminal role.”

Why topping is not pruning

Topping, cutting a tree’s branches back to stubs to make it shorter, is the shortcut to watch out for. ISA calls it “perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known.” It says topping “is not a viable method of height reduction and certainly does not reduce future risk. In fact, topping will increase risk in the long term.” The fast-growing shoots that come back below each cut are “weakly attached” and “prone to breaking, especially during windy or icy conditions.”

If a quote says “top the tree,” get a second opinion.

Side by side

	Pruning	Removal
Fixes	Dead limbs, clearance, one defective branch, structure	Trunk or root defects, a tree that cannot be made safe in place
The tree after	Still standing, same shade	Gone; the stump is ground or left
Done wrong	Topping, which ISA says increases risk	Damage to the house or yard on the way down

Choose pruning if

• The trouble is large dead branches or hanging limbs in an otherwise sound tree.
• You need clearance off the roof, the driveway or the power drop.
• A single branch has a crack or a weak attachment and the rest of the tree is sound.

Choose removal if

• The defect is in the trunk or the roots. ISA’s tree risk brochure lists cracks or splits in the trunk, cavities or rotten wood along the trunk, mushrooms at the base, and cracks in the soil that “may indicate soil heaving,” a warning sign “especially if the tree is leaning.”
• ISA’s own list of risk options ends with “Remove the tree. Some trees with unacceptable levels of risk are best removed.”

Neither, if

• The tree is fine. Plenty of trees that worry their owners are sound. Zeigler’s risk assessment gives you a written, prioritized list: remove now, monitor, or leave alone.
• The tree needs support, not cuts. ISA lists cabling and bracing to “provide physical support for weak branches and stems,” and notes that “such supports are not guarantees against failure.”
• Wires are involved. ISA’s advice is to “never attempt to remove branches or any tree part from or near power lines.” Call the utility first.

Questions to ask before anyone climbs

1. What exactly is wrong with this tree, and is it in the branches or the trunk?
2. Which branches are coming off, and why?
3. Will you top the tree? (The right answer is no.)
4. What is your Louisiana arborist license number? LDAF requires a license for anyone who makes recommendations on or carries out tree removal, pruning or trimming for a fee.
5. Is cleanup in the written quote?

Zeigler’s answers: a written risk assessment; no topping, no lion-tailing; LDAF License #2168; cleanup included in every quote.

Get an honest answer

Text a photo of the tree to 985-893-0991 or call. We serve all of St. Tammany Parish, the Northshore, the Southshore and Baton Rouge from our yards in Madisonville and Covington.