Tree Removal
Whole removals and sectional dismantles, from a dead wattle in a courtyard to a blue gum over a roof.
Learn more →What lopping should mean
The word covers two different practices and only one of them is worth paying for.
Reduction pruning shortens limbs by cutting back to a suitable lateral branch — one large enough to take over as the new leader for that limb. The wound is small relative to the branch, the tree seals it, and the canopy keeps a natural shape at a smaller size. This is what Australian Standard AS 4373 describes and it is what a competent arborist will quote.
Topping cuts limbs wherever the desired height happens to be, leaving stubs. The tree responds with dense epicormic regrowth from dormant buds under the bark. That regrowth is attached only to the outer layer of wood, not anchored into the core, and within five to ten years it is heavier and more likely to fail than the limbs that were removed. Topping a eucalypt is the classic way to turn a safe tall tree into an unsafe medium one.
The jobs within pruning
Crown reduction. Overall size reduced while keeping the tree's form. Usually done because a canopy has grown over a roof, a pool or a boundary.
Crown thinning. Selective removal of interior branches to let wind pass through. Useful on dense, sail-like canopies such as camphor laurel and mature figs.
Crown lifting. Removing the lowest limbs for clearance over a driveway, a footpath or a shed.
Deadwooding. Taking out dead limbs. On mature eucalypts this is the single highest-value maintenance job, because a dead limb in a gum is heavy, brittle and drops without warning.
Clearance pruning. Getting foliage off gutters, solar panels, roof tiles and service lines. Anything within the approved clearance zone of a live Ausgrid conductor is not this job — that is network work and is reported to Ausgrid.
Species notes for Sydney
Eucalypts — Sydney blue gum, forest red gum, blackbutt, spotted gum — respond poorly to heavy reduction and very well to careful deadwooding. Angophoras, common on sandstone through the North Shore, the Shire and the Northern Beaches, shed bark and small limbs constantly and usually need less intervention than owners expect.
Camphor laurel tolerates hard cutting and regrows vigorously, which is why so many of them in the Inner West are grotesquely shaped. Since it is a declared weed in much of NSW, removal is often the cheaper long-term answer than repeated reduction. Jacaranda and liquidambar both bleed heavily if cut in spring; prune them in late winter instead.
What we will not quote
We will not top a healthy tree to a fixed height because it is tall, and we will not remove more than about a quarter of a live crown in a season. If the tree is genuinely in the wrong place, removal is the honest recommendation rather than a reduction that has to be repeated every two years.
Getting it priced
Ring (02) 9000 1943, or see the Sydney tree lopper page for regional detail and the suburbs we lop in for local notes. Costs are set out in the pricing guide.
Other numbers for this area
You can also reach us on (02) 9538 7842. Either number reaches the same team - tell us the suburb and what the job involves and we will get an arborist out to look at it.
More services
Explore our other services
Stump Removal
Grinding below grade, or full excavation of the root plate where footings and pipes need clear ground.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Is tree lopping bad for the tree?
Crude lopping is. Cutting a canopy back to bare stubs removes the foliage the tree lives on and forces a flush of epicormic shoots attached only to the outer wood. Those shoots grow fast, look healthy and are structurally weak. Reduction pruning, where every cut goes back to a suitable lateral branch, achieves the same size reduction without that outcome.
How much can be taken off a tree at once?
As a working rule, no more than about a quarter of the live crown in a single season on a mature tree, and less on a stressed or recently transplanted one. Removing much more than that starves the tree and provokes exactly the regrowth response you were trying to avoid. Large reductions are staged over two or three years.
When is the best time of year to prune in Sydney?
Late winter into early spring suits most trees here, before the main flush of growth. Deadwooding and clearance work can happen any time. Avoid heavy reduction in the middle of a hot dry summer, when the tree is already under water stress and freshly exposed bark can scorch.
Free, no-obligation