Kansas City Tree Trimming | DIY Tips on How to Trim Small Trees

kansas city tree trimming company

Trimming and pruning your Kansas City trees is critical to the overall health of your trees and the safety of your property. We are all aware of fundamental tree care practices like watering, mulching, and fertilizing. Trimming a tree, however, is a whole different story that most do not know much about.

While large trees should always be handled by a professional tree trimming company to ensure proper safety measures and a healthy tree, small tree trimming may vary. Keep in mind that there are still best practices to follow when trimming a small tree on your own.

A small tree has smaller, skinnier, and lightweight branches with a canopy that is no taller than your eye-level. Any tree that is large or tall with heavy branches or requires the use of a ladder is too big to trim on your own. Regardless of tree size, there are some instances you should not try to trim the tree. Call in professionals if the tree you want to trim is near your house or close to a power line.

Follow these DIY tree trimming guidelines when planning to trim a small tree on your property.

  • Plan out the branches that need to be cut and the ones that should remain. Stand a decent distance away from the tree to evaluate the balance and overall composition of the tree.
  • It helps to imagine the tree and its branches as the hands on a clock. You can keep any branches that are growing at the 2 o’clock and 10 o’clock angles relative to the trunk. Then, plan to trim branches that hover too close to the ground or grow at odd angles. Also, make sure to remove branches that have grown across the centerline of the tree.
  • Trim any overgrowth found around the trunk or roots of the tree to declutter the area.
  • Finally, cut off the branches you planned to trim. The Safety Tree team highly advises only removing up to 25% of the tree’s canopy to keep the tree healthy.

kansas city tree trimming

You should never attempt to trim a big or tall tree by yourself. Our primary concern is your safety so please keep in mind that these DIY tree trimming tips are only for small trees. If you are not certain about how to trim a small tree on your Kansas City property, contact any of our trusted professionals at Safety Tree Service.

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What People Are Saying

  • Safety Tree Service did a great job trimming several elm and ash trees for me, as well as a few pin oaks. The pin oaks had various dead limbs that needed to be removed and other limbs that needed to be thinned. Ty did an excellent job removing the dead wood and trimming the trees, which helped reduce risk of damage from limbs falling and greatly improved the health and overall appearance of the trees. With the recent bad weather I’m glad I hired Ty as I’m confident one of the limbs would have come down on a power line. I received bids from multiple tree trimmers and Ty’s bid was very competitive and he was able to provide proof of insurance. Some of the other bidders offered lower prices but were not insured! I do recommend Ty to others as he did a great job for me.

    - Joel Y( Kansas City, Missouri Elm and Ash Tree Removal, February 2017 )
  • We needed a to have a couple of large trees removed from our yard. Safety Tree Service did a great job. They raked and collected everything and left us with a totally clean backyard. If we ever need any tree services in the future I will definitely contact you again.

    - Michael W( Kansas City, Missouri Tree Removal )
  • Safety Tree Service is always on time. They do what they say they are going to do. There is no smoke and mirrors with Safety Tree Service. I only recommend his company to all of my clients because I know he will treat them with respect and care.

    - Patrick F.( Kansas City, Missouri Tree Removal and Trimming, February 2017 )
  • We use Ty and his staff at Safety Tree exclusively for all of our tree work referrals. Our company conducts grounds maintenance on a wide variety of residential and commercial properties. We have referred our customers to Ty because they continually tell me how exceptional their overall experience was with Safety Tree. I have heard everything from “experts”, to “very professional”, to “very skilled”, to “clean” and “fair” used to describe their encounters. I would not hesitate at all to recommend Safety Tree to any private or public entity or for any project regardless of scope or size.

    - Tony C.( Olathe, KS Commercial Tree Services, January 2017 )