Tree Service in New Orleans, LA

Good tree service in New Orleans is mostly about wind and water. The city gets roughly 62 inches of rain a year, about half of it sits at or below sea level on soft clay, silt and sand, and every summer and fall brings the chance of a tropical storm. Hurricane Ida came ashore at Port Fourchon as a Category 4 storm on August 29, 2021, and the whole city lost power when a transmission tower on the Westbank fell. Most of the calls we get come back to the same questions: will this tree hold in the next storm, is it too close to the house or the lines, and how do we get it pruned or taken down on a lot with three feet of side yard?

Which trees hold and which ones fail

Not every big tree is a risk, and cutting healthy trees out of fear is a mistake LSU AgCenter warns homeowners about. Its storm guidance rates live oak, bald cypress and southern magnolia as highly wind resistant, along with sabal palms, crape myrtles and hollies. Water oak, laurel oak, southern red oak, pecan, Chinese tallow and Bradford pear sit near the bottom of the list. Water oaks are common in older New Orleans neighborhoods, grow fast, and often have short, shallow roots in heavy clay, which is why they are among the trees that uproot or snap when soils are soaked. A sound live oak with good structure is usually worth keeping and pruning. A declining water oak leaning over a bedroom is a different conversation.

Formosan termites inside living trees

Formosan subterranean termites are a New Orleans problem that many people only think about in their walls. LSU AgCenter notes that they can feed on nearly any living tree, eat out the center, and build carton nests inside the trunk until the tree can no longer support itself. Signs include mud shelter tubes on the trunk, swarms coming out of old limb or pruning scars in spring, and termites in the soil between the root flares. A tree that looks full and green can be hollow, and a hollow trunk is what tends to break in high wind. If we see these signs, we tell you, and the tree can be treated by a pest control professional or assessed for removal.

City trees, private trees and the power lines

The Department of Parks and Parkways maintains all City trees, including the oaks on neutral grounds and the trees between the sidewalk and the curb, and any work on one requires a City tree work permit. Requests for City tree service go through 311. Trees on your own lot are yours to care for, but always confirm the property line before work starts, because a tree that stands just off your lot may be a City tree. Entergy handles trimming around its lines; you can request it at 800-ENTERGY, and Entergy does not haul away the debris from trimming a customer requests. We work around service drops and keep clear of energized lines.

Wood, brush and stumps

The City collects up to six bundles of limbs per pickup, each under four feet long and no more than 12 inches across, set beside your cart on collection day, which works for a small cleanup but not for a whole tree. On a full job we chip the brush, deal with the logs as agreed and can grind the stump below grade so the spot can be replanted or sodded.

New Orleans itself is the center of our service area, from the Bywater and Marigny through the French Quarter edges, Tremé, Mid-City, Uptown and Carrollton to Lakeview, Gentilly, New Orleans East and Algiers. From there we work across the East Bank of Jefferson Parish (Metairie, Old Metairie, Harahan, River Ridge and Kenner), the Westbank (Gretna, Terrytown, Harvey, Marrero and Westwego), and St. Bernard Parish (Arabi, Chalmette and Meraux), with some jobs farther out. The storm risk is the same everywhere in the metro. What changes from place to place is who owns the trees along the street, which parish handles public trees and yard waste, which utility's lines run overhead, and how much room there is to work, and each area page covers what we know about that place.