Tree Trimming & Pruning in Honolulu, HI

Tree trimming and pruning in Honolulu works against a growing season that never really stops. With mild temperatures all year, monkeypods, mangoes, banyans and shower trees keep putting on new wood, and a canopy that cleared the roof two years ago can be resting on it today. Good pruning removes the right branches, not the most branches: dead wood, limbs rubbing on the house, crossing or crowded growth, and weight at the ends of long limbs. Done on a regular cycle, it costs less than the cleanup that follows a branch failure.

Pruning to the standard

We prune to ANSI A300, the national standard for tree care. In practice that means cutting just outside the branch collar, removing no more than about a quarter of the live crown in one visit, and taking out dead branches two inches and larger. It also means refusing two habits that are common in the islands: topping, which cuts large limbs back to stubs, and lion's-tailing, which strips the inside of the canopy and leaves foliage only at the tips. Both produce fast sprouts that are weakly attached and break in ordinary winds.

Common Honolulu trees and what they need

Monkeypods spread wide and low, so the usual work is lifting and lightening limbs over roofs, lanais and driveways. Mango and other fruit trees respond well to reduction that keeps fruit within reach and limbs off the neighbor's roof. Banyans send down aerial roots and grow massive limbs, and they need regular weight reduction and clearance from structures. Shower trees and royal poincianas grow quickly and can have brittle wood; thinning helps wind pass through. On every tree we watch for co-dominant trunks, two stems of equal size splitting from one point, because they break more often in storms.

Wet valleys and dry lowlands

A tree in Mānoa, where rain falls almost daily, grows faster and needs more frequent work than the same species near the coast, where the airport averages about 16 inches of rain a year. In wetter areas we watch for decay and fungus; in drier ones, for drought stress and dieback. That difference is one reason we look at each tree before recommending a pruning cycle.

Street trees and exceptional trees

Branches from a city street tree over your yard are tempting to cut, but the city's street tree rules make it unlawful to prune a tree in the planting strip without a Parks and Recreation permit. Trees on the Register of Exceptional Trees need an approved permit, with a qualified arborist form, before crown or root pruning. We check before we cut.