Tree Trimming near you

A proper cut is made just outside the branch collar, the slightly swollen ring where a branch joins the trunk or a larger limb. Cutting flush against the trunk removes the tissue the tree uses to seal the wound, and leaving a long stub invites decay. Heavy limbs are taken off in stages: an undercut first, a second cut farther out that drops the weight, then a final cut at the collar, so the bark doesn't tear down the trunk.

Good arborists remove only what the goal requires and work from ropes and a harness or a lift, never climbing spikes, which puncture living bark. On most trees a clean cut seals best on its own without paint; oaks in Ontario during the oak wilt season are the exception, as the timing section explains.

Many deciduous trees are best pruned while dormant, between leaf drop in fall and bud break in spring. Without leaves the branch structure is easy to read, insects and disease spores are less active, and the tree starts sealing its wounds as growth resumes. Maples, birches and a few other species bleed sap when cut in late winter; the flow looks alarming but seldom harms the tree, and some arborists prune them once the leaves have fully opened instead. Dead or dangerous branches can come off in any season.

Oaks are the important exception in Ontario. Oak wilt, a fungal disease first found in Canada in 2023 in the Niagara Falls area and since detected in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the Township of Springwater, spreads through connected roots and through sap beetles that carry spores to fresh wounds. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency advises not pruning oaks between April and November. Ontario calls the beginning of April to the end of July the high-risk period, recommends extending the no-pruning window through November, and advises painting any wounds that occur during the high-risk period. Plan oak pruning for winter, and have a storm-damaged oak limb cleaned up and painted promptly.

Topping cuts large branches or the main trunk back to stubs to shrink a tree quickly. The tree responds with dense clusters of fast-growing shoots that are only weakly attached near the surface of each stub, while the large wounds decay inward. Within a few years a topped tree is often as tall as before, denser, and more likely to drop limbs. Removing so much foliage also starves the tree of the food its leaves make and exposes bark to sunscald.

Routine pruning of your own tree usually needs no permit, but the method matters. Toronto states that a permit is not required to prune a tree as long as the work follows good arboricultural practices to maintain the tree's health, while excessive canopy removal and improper pruning are among the activities that injure a protected tree. Other municipalities have their own by-laws, so check with your city before a large reduction of a mature tree. Boulevard trees usually belong to the city: in Toronto, all work on City-owned trees must be authorized by the City, and residents ask for pruning through 311.

Branches that hang over from a neighbour's tree are governed by provincial law and local by-laws, which differ across the country. Talk to the neighbour before cutting, stay on your side of the line, and avoid cuts that would harm the tree.

Federal law sets a seasonal limit too. Under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, occupied nests of migratory birds are protected, and Environment and Climate Change Canada advises avoiding disruptive activities such as vegetation clearing during the breeding season. Before a spring or summer trim, the crew should watch the crown for birds flying in and out or carrying food, and stop work near any active nest until the young have left.

Branches resting on shingles scrape them and hold moisture against the roof, overhanging limbs fill eavestroughs with leaves, and limbs near a chimney or wall give squirrels and raccoons a way in. Clearance pruning shortens these branches back to side limbs rather than stubbing them, and a light visit every few years keeps it from becoming a major cut.

Electrical wires are the limit. Branches growing into the service line to the house or toward street lines can carry current, so that work belongs to specialists: Hydro-Québec reserves work within three metres of its wires for arborists it authorizes, and ESA points Ontario homeowners to their local distribution company or a certified utility arborist.