Tree on your house, blocking the driveway, or into power lines? Call 612-532-9996 now. · Live answering · Same-day emergency response
Tree on your house, blocking the driveway, or into power lines? Call 612-532-9996 now. · Live answering · Same-day emergency response
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St. Paul has the oldest private trees in the metro. Most of them need an arborist long before they need a chainsaw.
A second opinion costs you nothing. Two of our reviews are from people told to cut trees down.
We are a licensed St. Paul tree contractor. We file the Forestry permits, we prune to keep a mature tree standing where that is the right answer, and we say so when it is not.
ISA Certified Arborist · TCIA Member · Fully Licensed & Insured · ★ 4.8 / 133 Google Reviews · 1,000+ Removals · Locally owned since 2006
A tree that has been standing since before the house was built is not a maintenance item. It is the most valuable thing on the lot that nobody insured, and it cannot be put back.
The default answer in this trade is removal, because removal is the big invoice. Ours is not. Judy Lemke was told by two landscaping companies that her trees had to come down. They are still standing and recovering. Renee Rauch was quoted a removal and got a way to keep her ancient hackberry instead.
We turn down work on oaks every June, in the busiest month of our year, because the state guidance says not to wound them then. That is the whole argument, and it is checkable.
A tree at this age is worth an arborist’s opinion before anyone starts cutting.
If Your Tree Is Marked
Saint Paul Forestry identifies trees it has scheduled for removal with a painted red ring about four feet above the ground, and leaves an informational tag on the front door of the nearest property. If your boulevard tree is wearing one, the decision has already been made. The tree met Forestry’s removal criteria: dead, dying, hazardous, diseased, or compromised by construction.
A boulevard tree is in the public right-of-way and Saint Paul Forestry manages it. You do not hire that removal out and you should not pay anybody who offers to do it.
A tree is usually marked at least a week before removal, but the actual work can happen anywhere from a week later to a year or more. A red ring is not an emergency.
Forestry uses the same red ring for private-property abatement. There a letter follows and you have 30 days from that letter to remove the tree and clear the debris, or the city sends a contractor and assesses the cost to you.
The single most common way a St. Paul homeowner loses money on a tree is paying for one the city was already going to take down. Call us and we will tell you which it is.
Separately, DNR-licensed tree inspectors survey St. Paul every summer and mark diseased elms for removal. Different programme, same principle: find out what the mark means before you write anyone a cheque.
Start Here, Not With Removal
This city’s housing stock is old and so is its canopy. The trees are bigger, closer to the houses and more valuable than the metro average, which means the cheapest correct answer is far more often a prune than a removal. We order the work that way on purpose.
Clearance from the roof and the lines, deadwood out, weight reduced over the target. On a mature tree this is what buys another twenty years. We will not top a tree, even if you ask. Trimming →
If it looks sick, an ISA Certified Arborist looks at it before anyone sells a treatment. Sometimes the answer is to wait and watch for a season. Tree care →
Dead, structurally failing, or too close to the house to correct. Then it comes down properly, and in St. Paul that usually means a crane over the roofline. Removal →
Timing
The Minnesota DNR tells homeowners not to prune or wound oaks from April through July, the window when sap beetles carry oak wilt spores to fresh cuts. Saint Paul Forestry goes further and recommends private owners not prune oaks between April and October, and prunes the city’s own oaks only in winter. University of Minnesota Extension’s pruning guide agrees with the wider window.
Every one of those sources agrees that November through February is safe. If you are in St. Paul with an oak and it is not an emergency, that is when we will book it.
If a limb is genuinely hazardous and cannot wait, the DNR’s own guidance is to seal the cut immediately with wound paint or shellac, because the wound stays vulnerable for about five days. That is work we can do properly inside the risk window. Cosmetic pruning is not, and we will tell you to wait.
Real Numbers
St. Paul lots are narrow, the houses are close together and the back yards are where the big trees are. That combination is exactly the one where a crane beats hand work on price, which surprises most people. Here is the same 45-foot ash in four positions.
Where the tree is
45-foot ash
Why
Front yard, truck can reach it
$800 to $1,200
Bucket truck parks at the curb. One day.
Side yard, tight but walkable
$1,500 to $4,000
Hand carry, rope work, property protection.
Backyard, by hand
$7,000 to $8,000
Every piece carried out. The expensive one.
Backyard, by crane
about $3,500
Lifted over the house. Usually the cheaper way.
Same tree, four different jobs. Access is the price, not the trunk. That is why a crane is usually the cheaper way out of a back yard, not the expensive one. How crane removal works →
Every Service, Same Standard
Licensed in St. Paul, with Forestry permits filed for you. The permit itself is free and contractors may submit it on the property owner’s behalf, so it is not something you need to chase.
Planned removals of any size. Tree removal →
The cheaper, safer way down when access is bad. Crane removal →
Tree on the house or across the drive. Triaged ahead of planned work. Emergency →
Structural pruning, clearance and deadwood. We will not top a tree. Trimming →
An arborist looks before anyone sells you a treatment. Tree care →
Treat it where that still makes sense, remove it where it does not. EAB →
Below grade, chips out, ready to seed. Stump grinding →
From Your Neighbours
“He saved me a bundle by suggesting ways to save a tree rather than take it down. He had a true appreciation for the trees, especially my ancient hackberry.”
Renee Rauch
Ancient hackberry
“I was told by 2 landscaping companies that they would have to be cut down, but they now look like they are on the way to recovery.”
Judy Lemke
Second opinion
“Having a certified arborist matters; this is not a fly-by-night guy with undeserved self-confidence, ‘sure, we have a chain saw.’ This might not be the cheapest but quality matters.”
Katie Trotzky
On hiring a certified arborist
Questions
Saint Paul Forestry marks trees it has scheduled for removal with a painted red ring about four feet above ground level, and leaves an informational tag on the nearest front door. The tree met Forestry’s removal criteria. It is a public tree in the right-of-way, so the removal is the city’s to do and yours to not pay for. Removal typically happens at least a week after marking, but it can be up to a year or more.
Saint Paul Forestry. All work on a public boulevard tree, planting, pruning, stumping, treating or removal, needs an approved Forestry permit. Residents are asked not to prune public boulevard trees, though you may remove suckers. You can apply for a permit to hire a private contractor to prune a boulevard tree at your own expense, and we can file that for you.
No. There is no fee for a boulevard tree permit application, and contractors may sign and submit permits on behalf of property owners. Certain work on public trees has to be done by a city-licensed tree contractor.
Yes. St. Paul requires tree care companies working in the city to be licensed through the Department of Safety and Inspections. Minnesota also requires every commercial tree care provider in the state to be registered. Our MN Tree Care Registry number is #20190969 and Gabe Tschida is an ISA Certified Arborist.
November through February is the window every Minnesota authority agrees is safe. The DNR says do not wound oaks April through July. Saint Paul Forestry is more conservative and recommends private owners avoid pruning oaks April through October, and prunes the city’s own oaks only in winter. If a limb is hazardous and cannot wait, the DNR says to seal the cut immediately with wound paint or shellac.
Thirty days from the official letter to remove the tree and dispose of the debris, under the city’s private-property tree abatement process. For diseased trees that includes debarking the stump to ground level. If it is not done, the city can send a contractor and assess the cost to you.
Often, and it is the first thing we look at. Reducing weight over the house, taking out deadwood and correcting structure will keep a sound mature tree standing for decades. Two of the reviews on this page are from people who had been told by other companies that removal was the only option.
Access decides it. The same 45-foot ash is $800 to $1,200 in a front yard a truck can reach, $1,500 to $4,000 in a tight side yard, $7,000 to $8,000 out of a back yard by hand, and about $3,500 out of that same back yard by crane. St. Paul’s narrow lots are exactly where the crane saves money.
Free Estimate · No Obligation
Send a photo and your ZIP. If it is a boulevard tree we will tell you to call Forestry. If it is yours, a certified arborist will tell you whether it needs pruning, treatment, or nothing at all.
Ask your neighbour, then call.
