Tree Trimming & Pruning in Saint Paul, MN

Tree trimming and pruning is the work that keeps a healthy tree from becoming a removal. In Saint Paul that mostly means three jobs: taking out dead and broken wood before it falls, cutting back limbs that rub a roof, hang low over the alley or crowd the service wire, and thinning or shortening heavy limbs so a tree carries less weight when snow and ice load it. Good pruning removes as little live wood as it can to get the result, and every cut is made where the tree can seal it over.

What a proper cut looks like

ANSI A300, the American standard for tree care, describes cuts made just outside the branch collar, the swollen ring where a limb meets the trunk, so the tree can close the wound. It rules out topping, the practice of cutting a crown back to stubs, because the regrowth is weakly attached and the stubs decay. On a mature tree, pruning usually means removing deadwood, reducing the length of a few heavy limbs back to a smaller branch, and thinning crossing or crowded branches, not stripping the inside of the crown bare.

Timing by species

In Saint Paul, timing is not optional for some trees. The city advises against pruning oaks from April through October because fresh wounds draw the beetles that carry oak wilt, and Forestry itself prunes oaks only in winter. Forestry also prunes honeylocusts in winter, when the risk of nectria canker is lower. Elms are best pruned in the dormant season too, since bark beetles that spread Dutch elm disease are active in the warm months. Maples, lindens and most other species tolerate pruning through more of the year, though winter is still when structure is easiest to see.

Clearance over roofs, alleys and wires

Limbs resting on shingles hold moisture and wear the roof, and branches over a garage drop debris into gutters. Low limbs over the alley catch garbage trucks and snowplows. For street-side work, Saint Paul Forestry keeps boulevard trees at about 14 to 16 feet over the street, and that is a sensible target for limbs over a private drive or alley too. The wire from the pole to your house is a separate matter: Xcel Energy asks homeowners to call 1-800-895-4999 to have it disconnected or de-energized before a tree worker trims near it.

Boulevard trees are the city's

Since January 2024, Saint Paul Forestry prunes boulevard trees on a cycle and no longer handles most complaint-based pruning requests. Residents can apply for a free permit to have a contractor prune a boulevard tree at their own expense; without a permit, the only work a resident may do on a boulevard tree is removing suckers from the base. If the tree you want trimmed stands between the sidewalk and the curb, we will raise the permit before quoting.

Young trees

The city has replanted thousands of boulevards where ash came out, and many homeowners have planted new yard trees too. Structural pruning in the first ten or fifteen years, choosing one leader and spacing the main limbs, prevents the weak forks that split in storms later. It is small, quick work that costs a fraction of correcting a mature tree.