Tree pruning and tree health
Tree pruning in Brevard County
Tree pruning is the selective removal of branches to improve a tree's health, structure and shape: dead and broken limbs out, crowded growth thinned so light and air reach the interior, weak forks corrected while the tree is young, and each cut made at the branch collar so the wound closes. It is not trimming for clearance and it is never topping. TR has pruned Brevard oaks, pines and ornamentals for thirty years.
Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Estimates are free and in writing.
- 30+ years in Brevard
- Licensed and insured
- Collar cuts, no topping
- 30+years in Brevard
- 10,000+trees removed
- 1,000+acres cleared
- 500jobs a year, on average
Companies that have had TR on their property
Grounds and canopy care on active commercial sites, storm response and hazard removals.
What does the tree need?
Six reasons to prune, and what each one does for the tree.
6 of them
01Deadwood removal
Dead and broken limbs out before they fall. The first cut on every pruning job.
02Crown thinning
Crowded interior growth removed so wind passes through and light reaches the inner limbs. The tree keeps its outline.
03Structural pruning of young trees
Weak forks and competing leaders corrected in the first ten years, when a small cut prevents a big failure later.
04Ornamental and fruit trees
Crape myrtles without the knuckles, citrus and mangoes shaped for fruit and reach, magnolias kept open.
05After a freeze or a storm
Damaged limbs cut back to healthy wood at the collar, once the tree shows what is dead.
06Clearance from the house or drive
That is trimming, and it has its own page.
We own the equipment most crews rent, and the companies that hire us for it include Boeing, Amazon and Lowe's.
Pruning is decided branch by branch, and each cut follows the same four rules.
- 01
Cut at the collar, outside the ridge.
The branch collar is the swollen ring where a limb meets its parent. The cut goes just outside it, angled to the bark ridge. Cut flush and the wound cannot close; leave a stub and it rots back into the trunk.
- 02
Never top. Never lion-tail.
Topping is cutting the top off a tree; lion-tailing is stripping the inside of every limb and leaving a tuft at the end. Both produce weak regrowth, rot at the cuts, and a tree more likely to fail in wind. We do not do either, and we will tell you if a previous crew did.
- 03
A quarter of the live crown, at most, in one season.
More than that and the tree spends its reserves on regrowth instead of defense. Big corrections are staged over two years.
- 04
Dead wood out first, then structure, then shape.
Deadwood is the hazard, so it comes out before anything else. Structural cuts fix forks and rubbing limbs. Shape is last and smallest.
- 05
The tree tells you when.
Live oaks and most hardwoods: late winter into spring, before the flush. Freeze-damaged trees: after new growth shows what is dead. Crape myrtles: late winter, and only what is needed. Storm-prep pruning: April into June.
What a pruning visit looks like.
Walk the tree.
What is dead, what is crossing, where the weak forks are, what the owner wants it to do. Written in the estimate.
Deadwood out.
From the lift on anything over a structure, by hand on ornamentals.
Structure and thinning.
Competing leaders, rubbing limbs and interior crowding, cut at the collar.
Chip, rake, leave it clean.
Brush chipped or loaded, lawn raked, beds cleared of what we dropped.
Our equipment
Pruning is hand work. The machines get the hands to the right place.
Most of a pruning job is a hand saw and a pole pruner. The lift is what puts them in a sixty-foot oak without a climber walking the limbs.
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01
62ft Imer boom lift
- On the job
- Puts the pruner at the deadwood and the crossing limbs in a big canopy, from a platform.
- Why it matters
- Interior cuts high in a live oak cannot be made well from a rope. From the lift, each cut is placed.
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02
Giant mini loader
- On the job
- Carries brush out through a side gate without a track across the lawn.
- Why it matters
- Pruning a mature oak fills a trailer with limbs. The loader moves them without dragging.
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03
Grapple truck
- On the job
- Loads and hauls the larger limbs the same visit.
- Why it matters
- No curb pile.
Sharp hand tools and pole pruners do the rest. Full fleet on the equipment page.
See all equipment and vehiclesWe service all of Brevard County.
- Cocoa
- Cocoa Beach
- Melbourne
- Merritt Island
- Mims
- Palm Bay
- Rockledge
- Titusville
We will travel further in Florida for the right job. Ask.
321-504-1054What people ask about pruning.
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Pruning is removing selected branches to improve a tree's health, structure or shape: dead and broken limbs, crowded interior growth, weak forks and rubbing limbs. Each cut is made at the branch collar so the wound closes. It is different from trimming, which clears a tree away from a roof, a drive or a wire.
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If the problem is what the tree is touching, trimming. If the problem is the tree itself, pruning. Same crew, and most visits do some of each.
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Most hardwoods, late winter into early spring. Freeze-damaged trees, after new growth shows what is dead. Crape myrtles, late winter, lightly. Storm-prep, April into June. Deadwood can come out any time.
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No more than a quarter of the live crown in one season, and usually less. Live oaks are strong because of their spread; thinning that spread too hard weakens them.
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Sometimes, over several seasons, by selecting the strongest regrowth and removing the rest back to sound wood. Sometimes the rot at the old cuts has gone too far and the honest answer is removal. We will tell you which after a look.
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Yes. Crape myrtles pruned lightly, not knuckled. Citrus and mangoes shaped for fruit, air and reach. Magnolias and ligustrums kept open.
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It is the cheapest pruning a tree will ever get. Correcting a double leader on a ten-foot oak is one cut. Correcting it on a forty-foot oak is a cabling job or a removal.
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It depends on the tree's size, how much deadwood and structure work it needs, and whether the lift is required. Ornamentals are a short visit; a mature oak is most of a day. Estimates are free and written.
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Yes. Chipped or loaded and hauled the same visit, lawn and beds raked.
Get a written estimate on the pruning.
Send a photo of the tree. We call back, come out, and write down what it needs, what it does not, and the number.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Emergency and storm calls are prioritized ahead of routine work.