Coste Tree Service provides professional tree trimming and pruning in Tallahassee, Florida, and throughout Leon County. We prune to industry standard, which means removing what needs to come off to keep a tree healthy, safe, and structurally sound, and leaving the rest alone. We do not top trees. Every job starts with a free on site assessment and a written estimate.
Pruning is the service that keeps you from needing the other two. A tree pruned correctly on a reasonable schedule is far less likely to fail in a storm, and far less likely to end up as a removal.
In everyday use the words are interchangeable, and most homeowners searching for one mean the other. In arboriculture there is a distinction worth knowing.
Pruning is the selective removal of specific branches for the health, structure, or safety of the tree. Every cut has a reason: a dead limb, a crossing branch, a weak union, a limb over the roof.
Trimming usually refers to shaping and clearance work, meaning cutting back growth for appearance, sightlines, or to move branches off a structure.
Good tree care is mostly pruning with some trimming attached. If a company is only shaping the outside of your canopy and never touching the interior structure, you are paying for a haircut, not tree care.
Topping is cutting large limbs back to stubs, with no regard for where the natural branch structure ends. It is the most damaging thing routinely done to trees in North Florida, and it is usually sold as storm protection.
It does the opposite.
A topped tree responds to the injury by pushing out dense clusters of fast growing shoots just below each cut. Those shoots are attached only to the outer layer of the stub, not anchored in the tree’s structure the way an original limb was. Within a few years you have a heavier, denser canopy held on by weak attachments, sitting on top of stubs that are decaying inward from every open wound.
That tree is more dangerous in a hurricane than it was before the cut, not less.
Topping also:
Certified arborists do not top trees. If a company shows up and recommends topping, or uses the phrase “we will just cut it back hard,” that is the signal to send them away.
What we do instead is crown reduction, which shortens limbs back to a lateral branch large enough to take over as the new leader. It lowers height and reduces sail area without leaving stubs. It costs more than topping because it takes skill and time. It is also the only version that actually works.
Most Tallahassee jobs use one or more of these. We will tell you which your tree needs and why.
Pruning type | What it does | When it is used |
|---|---|---|
Crown cleaning | Removes dead, dying, diseased, and broken branches | The most common service. Safe on nearly any tree, any time |
Crown thinning | Selectively removes interior branches to reduce density | Improves air movement through the canopy and reduces wind load |
Crown raising | Removes lower limbs to create clearance underneath | Clearance over a roof, driveway, sidewalk, or for mowing |
Crown reduction | Shortens limbs back to suitable lateral branches | Reduces height or spread near structures and lines. The correct alternative to topping |
Structural pruning | Corrects form on young and medium trees | Builds a strong single leader early, prevents expensive problems later |
Vista pruning | Selectively opens a sightline through the canopy | Views and light, done without stripping the tree |
Deadwooding | Removes dead limbs only | Hazard reduction on mature trees, especially over targets |
One caution on crown thinning. Removing too much interior growth and leaving foliage only at the branch tips is called lion’s tailing. It looks tidy and it is harmful, because it moves all the weight to the ends of long bare limbs and makes them more likely to break. Proper thinning is subtle. If your tree looks dramatically different, too much came off.
On site assessment, written price, no obligation. We will tell you exactly what your tree needs, and what it does not.
Timing depends on the species and the goal.
Dead, damaged, and hazardous limbs come off whenever you find them. There is no bad season for removing a limb that is already a risk.
Structural pruning on large trees should be finished well before June 1. Hurricane season starts then, and pruning wounds need time to begin compartmentalizing before the tree takes wind stress. Pruning heavily in late summer gives you fresh open wounds precisely when you want the tree at full strength.
Hardwoods including oaks are generally best pruned in the dormant season, roughly late winter into very early spring, before the spring flush. Dormant pruning reduces stress on the tree and limits the window in which fresh wounds attract insects that can carry pathogens.
Flowering trees follow their bloom. Prune spring bloomers after they flower, or you cut off the show.
Palms follow a different set of rules entirely. See the next section.
Storm damage is the exception to all of the above. Broken and hanging limbs get addressed immediately, whatever the calendar says. For anything actively dangerous, see our Emergency Tree Services page.
Lightly, and far less often than most people think.
The single most common palm mistake in Florida is the hurricane cut, where most of the fronds are stripped off and only a tuft of the youngest leaves is left standing. It is sold as storm protection.
According to UF/IFAS, observations after the severe 2004 and 2005 Florida hurricane seasons found that hurricane cut palms were more likely to have their crowns snapped off than palms with fuller canopies. The practice makes palms more vulnerable, not less, because removing fronds exposes the growing bud to wind that a full canopy would otherwise buffer.
What proper palm pruning looks like:
Two more things that matter here. Over pruned palms are a magnet for palm weevils and are more susceptible to lethal palm diseases. And Fusarium wilt, which has no cure, spreads through contaminated pruning tools, so tools must be sterilized between palms. Ask any company you hire whether they do this. Most do not.
Some palms with a crownshaft, including royal, foxtail, and Christmas palm, shed their own fronds on a regular cycle and need no pruning at all.
The annual practice of cutting crape myrtles back to thick knuckled stubs is so widespread across the South that it has a nickname: crape murder.
It is topping, applied to a smaller tree, and it causes the same problems. The stubs produce whippy shoots that flop under the weight of the blooms, the knuckles enlarge and decay, and the natural vase shape and attractive exfoliating bark are lost permanently.
Crape myrtles bloom on new growth, so they genuinely do benefit from annual pruning. Done correctly that means removing suckers at the base, crossing and rubbing branches, spindly interior twigs, and old seed heads, while thinning to reveal the trunk structure. Cuts stay small. The tree keeps its shape and blooms just as well.
If your crape myrtles have already been topped for years, they can be gradually restored. It takes a few seasons of corrective pruning and we can walk you through the plan.
It depends on species, age, and what is underneath them.
A tree that gets a light touch every few years costs far less over its life than one left alone for fifteen years and then handled all at once.
Every Coste pruning quote covers:
Not included: stump grinding, tree removal, fertilization, disease treatment, and roof or gutter work. Each is quoted separately.
Job type | Typical range |
|---|---|
Small ornamental or crape myrtle | [$X to $X] |
Medium tree, crown cleaning | [$X to $X] |
Large oak, crown cleaning and deadwood | [$X to $X] |
Large tree, crown reduction near structure | [$X to $X] |
Palm, per palm | [$X to $X] |
Five factors set the price:
Beware of any quote dramatically below the rest. In this trade the cheapest bid is very often a topping job, and it costs you far more over the life of the tree.
Coste Tree Service prunes trees throughout Tallahassee and Leon County, including Midtown, Killearn Estates, Bradfordville, Betton Hills, Myers Park, Lafayette Park, Ox Bottom, Bannerman Crossings, Southwood, and the canopy road corridors along Miccosukee, Centerville, Old Bainbridge, Meridian, and Old St. Augustine.
Canopy road properties deserve a note. Trees along Tallahassee’s designated canopy roads carry additional protections, and pruning within those corridors can have requirements that ordinary lots do not. We check before we cut.
In common use they mean the same thing. Technically, pruning is the selective removal of specific branches for the health, structure, or safety of the tree, while trimming refers to shaping and clearance cutting. Good tree care is mostly pruning.
Yes. Topping cuts limbs back to stubs, which triggers weakly attached regrowth, opens wounds the tree cannot seal, starves it of leaf area, and leaves the tree more likely to fail in a storm than before it was cut. Crown reduction is the correct alternative.
Generally the dormant season, roughly late winter into very early spring before the spring flush. Dead and hazardous limbs can be removed any time of year. Major structural pruning should be finished well before hurricane season begins June 1.
No. UF/IFAS reports that hurricane cut palms were more likely to lose their crowns in the 2004 and 2005 storm seasons than palms with full canopies. Remove only completely brown fronds and leave the rounded canopy intact.
Young trees every 2 to 3 years for structure, mature hardwoods every 3 to 5 years for cleaning and deadwood, crape myrtles annually, and palms only when fronds are fully brown. Trees over a structure should be inspected yearly.
Routine pruning generally does not require a permit, but heavy reduction on a protected tree, or work within a canopy road corridor, can trigger local requirements. We check before we cut. Confirm current rules with City of Tallahassee Growth Management or Leon County.
We tell you whether it needs to come down, and what it costs, in writing.
Coste Tree Service provides professional tree trimming and pruning in Tallahassee, Florida, and throughout Leon County. We prune to industry standard, which means removing what needs to come off to keep a tree healthy, safe, and structurally sound, and leaving the rest alone. We do not top trees. Every job starts with a free on site assessment and a written estimate.
Pruning is the service that keeps you from needing the other two. A tree pruned correctly on a reasonable schedule is far less likely to fail in a storm, and far less likely to end up as a removal.
In everyday use the words are interchangeable, and most homeowners searching for one mean the other. In arboriculture there is a distinction worth knowing.
Pruning is the selective removal of specific branches for the health, structure, or safety of the tree. Every cut has a reason: a dead limb, a crossing branch, a weak union, a limb over the roof.
Trimming usually refers to shaping and clearance work, meaning cutting back growth for appearance, sightlines, or to move branches off a structure.
Good tree care is mostly pruning with some trimming attached. If a company is only shaping the outside of your canopy and never touching the interior structure, you are paying for a haircut, not tree care.
Topping is cutting large limbs back to stubs, with no regard for where the natural branch structure ends. It is the most damaging thing routinely done to trees in North Florida, and it is usually sold as storm protection.
It does the opposite.
A topped tree responds to the injury by pushing out dense clusters of fast growing shoots just below each cut. Those shoots are attached only to the outer layer of the stub, not anchored in the tree’s structure the way an original limb was. Within a few years you have a heavier, denser canopy held on by weak attachments, sitting on top of stubs that are decaying inward from every open wound.
That tree is more dangerous in a hurricane than it was before the cut, not less.
Topping also:
Certified arborists do not top trees. If a company shows up and recommends topping, or uses the phrase “we will just cut it back hard,” that is the signal to send them away.
What we do instead is crown reduction, which shortens limbs back to a lateral branch large enough to take over as the new leader. It lowers height and reduces sail area without leaving stubs. It costs more than topping because it takes skill and time. It is also the only version that actually works.
Most Tallahassee jobs use one or more of these. We will tell you which your tree needs and why.
Crown Cleaning
Removes dead, dying, diseased, and broken branches.
Used for: The most common service. Safe on nearly any tree, any time.
Crown Thinning
Selectively removes interior branches to reduce density.
Used for: Improving air movement through the canopy and reducing wind load.
Crown Raising
Removes lower limbs to create clearance underneath.
Used for: Clearance over a roof, driveway, sidewalk, or for mowing.
Crown Reduction
Shortens limbs back to suitable lateral branches.
Used for: Reducing height or spread near structures and lines. The correct alternative to topping.
Structural Pruning
Corrects form on young and medium trees.
Used for: Building a strong single leader early, preventing expensive problems later.
Vista Pruning
Selectively opens a sightline through the canopy.
Used for: Views and light, without stripping the tree.
Deadwooding
Removes dead limbs only.
Used for: Hazard reduction on mature trees, especially over targets.
Call now. Tell us what fell, what it landed on, and whether power lines are involved. If a line is down, call your utility first.
Timing depends on the species and the goal.
Dead, damaged, and hazardous limbs come off whenever you find them. There is no bad season for removing a limb that is already a risk.
Structural pruning on large trees should be finished well before June 1. Hurricane season starts then, and pruning wounds need time to begin compartmentalizing before the tree takes wind stress. Pruning heavily in late summer gives you fresh open wounds precisely when you want the tree at full strength.
Hardwoods including oaks are generally best pruned in the dormant season, roughly late winter into very early spring, before the spring flush. Dormant pruning reduces stress on the tree and limits the window in which fresh wounds attract insects that can carry pathogens.
Flowering trees follow their bloom. Prune spring bloomers after they flower, or you cut off the show.
Palms follow a different set of rules entirely. See the next section.
Lightly, and far less often than most people think.
The single most common palm mistake in Florida is the hurricane cut, where most of the fronds are stripped off and only a tuft of the youngest leaves is left standing. It is sold as storm protection.
According to UF/IFAS, observations after the severe 2004 and 2005 Florida hurricane seasons found that hurricane cut palms were more likely to have their crowns snapped off than palms with fuller canopies. The practice makes palms more vulnerable, not less, because removing fronds exposes the growing bud to wind that a full canopy would otherwise buffer.
What proper palm pruning looks like:
Two more things that matter here. Over pruned palms are a magnet for palm weevils and are more susceptible to lethal palm diseases. And Fusarium wilt, which has no cure, spreads through contaminated pruning tools, so tools must be sterilized between palms. Ask any company you hire whether they do this. Most do not.
Some palms with a crownshaft, including royal, foxtail, and Christmas palm, shed their own fronds on a regular cycle and need no pruning at all.
The annual practice of cutting crape myrtles back to thick knuckled stubs is so widespread across the South that it has a nickname: crape murder.
It is topping, applied to a smaller tree, and it causes the same problems. The stubs produce whippy shoots that flop under the weight of the blooms, the knuckles enlarge and decay, and the natural vase shape and attractive exfoliating bark are lost permanently.
Crape myrtles bloom on new growth, so they genuinely do benefit from annual pruning. Done correctly that means removing suckers at the base, crossing and rubbing branches, spindly interior twigs, and old seed heads, while thinning to reveal the trunk structure. Cuts stay small. The tree keeps its shape and blooms just as well.
If your crape myrtles have already been topped for years, they can be gradually restored. It takes a few seasons of corrective pruning and we can walk you through the plan.
It depends on species, age, and what is underneath them.
A tree that gets a light touch every few years costs far less over its life than one left alone for fifteen years and then handled all at once.
Every Coste pruning quote covers:
Not included: stump grinding, tree removal, fertilization, disease treatment, and roof or gutter work. Each is quoted separately.
Job type | Typical range |
|---|---|
Small ornamental or crape myrtle | [$X to $X] |
Medium tree, crown cleaning | [$X to $X] |
Large oak, crown cleaning and deadwood | [$X to $X] |
Large tree, crown reduction near structure | [$X to $X] |
Palm, per palm | [$X to $X] |
Five factors set the price:
Beware of any quote dramatically below the rest. In this trade the cheapest bid is very often a topping job, and it costs you far more over the life of the tree.
Coste Tree Service prunes trees throughout Tallahassee and Leon County, including Midtown, Killearn Estates, Bradfordville, Betton Hills, Myers Park, Lafayette Park, Ox Bottom, Bannerman Crossings, Southwood, and the canopy road corridors along Miccosukee, Centerville, Old Bainbridge, Meridian, and Old St. Augustine.
Canopy road properties deserve a note. Trees along Tallahassee’s designated canopy roads carry additional protections, and pruning within those corridors can have requirements that ordinary lots do not. We check before we cut.
In common use they mean the same thing. Technically, pruning is the selective removal of specific branches for the health, structure, or safety of the tree, while trimming refers to shaping and clearance cutting. Good tree care is mostly pruning.
Yes. Topping cuts limbs back to stubs, which triggers weakly attached regrowth, opens wounds the tree cannot seal, starves it of leaf area, and leaves the tree more likely to fail in a storm than before it was cut. Crown reduction is the correct alternative.
Generally the dormant season, roughly late winter into very early spring before the spring flush. Dead and hazardous limbs can be removed any time of year. Major structural pruning should be finished well before hurricane season begins June 1.
No. UF/IFAS reports that hurricane cut palms were more likely to lose their crowns in the 2004 and 2005 storm seasons than palms with full canopies. Remove only completely brown fronds and leave the rounded canopy intact.
Young trees every 2 to 3 years for structure, mature hardwoods every 3 to 5 years for cleaning and deadwood, crape myrtles annually, and palms only when fronds are fully brown. Trees over a structure should be inspected yearly.
Routine pruning generally does not require a permit, but heavy reduction on a protected tree, or work within a canopy road corridor, can trigger local requirements. We check before we cut. Confirm current rules with City of Tallahassee Growth Management or Leon County.
We tell you whether it needs to come down, and what it costs, in writing.
Tell us what you need and we’ll call you back within one business day.
