Tree Trimming in Newport Beach, CA

Tree trimming in Newport Beach is less about seasons than about growth. With mild temperatures most of the year, ficus, coral trees, eucalyptus and pines keep adding wood and leaves almost continuously. A canopy that looked fine two years ago can now rub the roof, shade out a lawn, drop leaves into the pool and catch the wind like a sail. Good pruning removes the right branches so the tree is lighter, stronger and easier to live with, without leaving it stubbed and ugly.

What we cut and why

• Deadwood: dead and dying limbs, which are the most common thing to fall in a wind event
• Crossing and rubbing branches: limbs that wear through each other's bark and invite decay
• Weight on long limbs: reducing end weight on branches reaching over a roof, driveway or patio
• Crown density: selectively removing interior branches so wind and light can pass through
• Clearance: lifting low limbs over walks and driveways and pulling branches back from walls, gutters and chimneys

Why we do not top trees

Topping means cutting a tree's main branches back to stubs to make it shorter all at once. It is quick and it looks tidy for a few months. Then the tree pushes out clusters of fast, weakly attached sprouts from each cut, and the stubs start to decay. Within a couple of years the crown is denser than before and the new limbs are more likely to break. Reducing height properly means cutting back to a side branch large enough to take over, spread over more than one visit when the tree is big.

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The wind on this coast

The usual daily wind blows in from the ocean. It carries salt that can burn leaf edges and it trains crowns to grow away from the water, which can leave a tree heavier on one side. Then in autumn, Santa Ana winds can blow hot and dry from the opposite direction, testing trees that have only ever been loaded one way. We look for lean, one-sided weight, cracks at major forks and old wounds, and plan cuts that balance the crown before those winds come.

Hedges and fig trees

Ficus is everywhere here, as tall privacy hedges and as large shade trees. It grows fast, takes heavy shearing and has roots that lift paving. The City lists Indian laurel fig, rusty leaf fig and weeping fig as Problem Trees in Council Policy G-1, which tells you something about how they behave in a small space. Trimming keeps their size in check, but no amount of pruning shrinks the roots. If a ficus is close to a foundation or pool, we will say if removal is the more honest answer.

Your trees, your neighbor's trees, the City's trees

Newport Beach requires owners to keep their own trees and shrubs from crowding the sidewalk, the street or a streetlight. Trees in the parkway are another matter: the City prunes them, and Municipal Code Section 13.08.040 forbids anyone else from trimming them without written permission. For a neighbor's tree hanging over your fence, we recommend talking with the neighbor first, and we can quote work on your side of the line once everyone agrees.

Cleanup

Brush is chipped on site when the truck can reach, or bagged and carried out when it cannot, which is common on Balboa Island and on hillside lots. We rake, blow off decks and walks, and skim leaves out of the pool before we leave.