What you can still see before the next wind

You do not need a storm. You need a walk while the canopy is still attached.

You do not need a storm to know which tree is the problem. You need a walk while the canopy is still attached. The morning-after job is what this walk is for.

Deadwood over a target, a new lean, water on the bark, paper on the trunk.

Look at four things

• Deadwood over a target. A roof, a driveway, a parked car, a fence, a cart path, a tee. Small interior twigs drop every year. A dead limb you could not wrap your hands around, hanging over something that matters, comes out now. That is a trim, not a speech about the weather.
• A lean that was not there last month, or soil lifted on one side of the trunk. Mark it. Do not “take a little off the top” and send a failing base back into the wind. That is a removal conversation.
• Water on the bark. If the lawn heads hit the trunk, move them. Established oaks in the South Bay are often hurt by a wet flare, not by a dry August. A soaked base plus a wind event is a pattern we see after the fact.
• Paper on the trunk. If it says trim, it names a size. If it says remove, it often also means grind the stump and plant the specimen the city named. Read it this week.

The tree that can reach the house, the shop, or the green is the one that matters.

Yard, fence line, hole

On a home lot, walk the trees that can reach the house. One photo of the base and one of the whole canopy is enough to tell a clearance prune from a takedown.

On a ranch fence, you are looking down the row, not at the tree outside the kitchen. The one over the shop and the one over the gate are the ones that stop work.

On a course, check the trees that frame a green and the ones over the maintenance road. Play can route around a fairway limb. It cannot route around a trunk on the shop. Clearance there is targeted pruning, not a flat top the week before a tournament.

Do not top anything to “make it safe” before a trip. You still have a tall tree, plus weak sprouts. If the tree is a street tree or protected, that cut can be a violation on top of the risk. We flag when a permit may apply — you confirm with the city. We do not pull permits for you unless that is scoped in writing.

Send one photo per tree and a note of what it hangs over. A short list beats three emergency trips in the same wind.

Start Easy Estimate or call 408-439-6975.