Tree Service in Columbus, GA

Tree service in Columbus means working on two kinds of ground. The city sits on the Fall Line, where the hilly Piedmont gives way to the flat coastal plain, so north Columbus rolls up toward Harris County while the south side flattens out toward Fort Benning. Add about 49 inches of rain a year, July highs near 93 degrees and a yard full of loblolly pines and water oaks, and most of the calls we get come down to the same few questions: is this tree still sound, is it too close to the house, and what is the safest way to cut it back or take it down?

Pines over the roof

Loblolly pines grow fast and tall, and many Columbus houses built in the 1950s through the 1980s have several of them standing within reach of the roof. A healthy pine is usually fine. The ones that worry us are pines with a lean that has changed, pines with root damage from a driveway or addition, and pines that have been struck by lightning. The Georgia Forestry Commission notes that pine bark beetles go after trees weakened by drought, storm damage, saturated soils or injury, and that severely damaged pines should be salvaged or destroyed promptly so they don't become breeding material. If you see small white or yellow blobs of resin on the bark, brown dust in the bark crevices or green needles falling in summer, get the tree looked at.

Water oaks reaching the end

Water oak is one of the most common trees in older Columbus yards, and it does not live as long as people expect. It is relatively short-lived for an oak, often 60 to 80 years, which means many of the oaks planted when Midtown and East Columbus neighborhoods were built are now at the age when hollow trunks, dropped limbs and decay at old pruning wounds show up. Some can be kept for years with careful pruning. Others are better taken down on your schedule than after a summer storm decides for you.

Street trees, historic districts and wires

Some of the work is about rules, not saws. The city maintains trees between the sidewalk and the street when that strip is city property, and residents may not cut those trees or hire someone to; you request service through 311. In historic districts like Weracoba-St. Elmo, where the design guidelines describe a mature canopy that gives the streets their tree-lined look, it is worth checking with the city's historic preservation office before removing a big tree. Near power lines, Georgia 811 requires notice at least 72 hours before work in the vicinity of overhead high-voltage lines.

Getting rid of the wood

Columbus collects limbs at the curb only if they are no longer than four feet and no thicker than six inches. A whole tree cut on private property is a Tree For Fee pickup billed by the load and the ton, and the city's rules say contractors have to haul away the waste they generate. That is why every quote we write says exactly what happens to the logs, brush and stump.

How we quote

We come out, look at the tree and the space around it, and give you a written price for each tree. Nothing is cut until you approve it. If pruning will solve the problem, we say so.

We work across Columbus and Muscogee County, from Bibb City and the historic streets of Midtown to Green Island Hills, Midland and Fortson, and into nearby Harris County and Phenix City across the river. The older parts of Columbus have big oaks on small lots, narrow side yards and overhead wires along the back lot line, so most removals there come down in pieces. In north Columbus and out toward Harris County the lots are bigger and wooded with pine and hardwood, and the jobs lean toward clearing, thinning and taking out pines that crowd the house. On the flatter, sandier ground of south Columbus, shallow-rooted trees and wet soils after heavy rain are the bigger concern.