Tree trimming and pruning in Brevard County

Trimming or pruning, it's the same job

People use the two words for the same thing, and so do most crews. What matters is which branches come off and where each cut is made. The usual requests in a Brevard yard look like this:

• Dead and broken limbs taken out before a storm drops them
• Low limbs lifted so the mower, the car and the garbage truck clear
• Branches pulled back off the roof, the gutters and the pool screen
• A dense live oak thinned so some light gets back to the grass
• Long limbs shortened where they reach over a fence or the street
• Dead fronds and seed stalks cut from palms (the palm page covers those)

Where the cut goes matters

A good pruning job is hard to spot a month later. A bad one shows for years. Before anyone climbs, ask the crew where they plan to cut and how much of the live canopy will come off.

Laurel oak needs extra care. UF/IFAS notes that a small trunk injury or an improper pruning cut on this species can start a column of decay 10 to 20 feet long or more, and that its trunk and large limbs often hollow as it ages (UF/IFAS ST549).

In unincorporated Brevard, including Merritt Island, the county counts improper pruning that affects a tree's viability as a form of land clearing, along with machinery damage to roots and grade changes over the root system (Brevard County Code s. 62-4338). Over-cutting a tree there is more than a looks problem.

Permits and the 20 percent line

Ordinary trimming usually sits outside the permit rules, but check the details for your address. Brevard County's land clearing rules, which cover the unincorporated county and Merritt Island, leave allowable mowing, trimming and pruning out of the definition of land clearing (Brevard County Code, land clearing permits). West Melbourne's code says no notice, application, permit, fee or mitigation is required to prune, trim or remove a tree on a lot actively used as a single-family home (West Melbourne Code s. 71-110).

Melbourne sets a number. Trees there may be trimmed by up to 20% of the canopy without a permit (Melbourne LDC s. 9.272). If the plan is to take more than that, ask the crew to say so in writing, then check with the city before work starts.

Palm Bay is strict about damage. Its code requires a permit to remove or damage any tree 6 inches or more in diameter at breast height (Palm Bay Code s. 175.014), so a heavy cut on a big oak in Palm Bay is worth a call to the city first.

Nests, wires and the neighbor's side

Look up before you book. Florida's raptors, their nests and their eggs are protected, and removing an active hawk nest with eggs or chicks takes a federal permit (FWC raptor permits). A big stick nest could also belong to a bald eagle, which FWC protects separately (FWC bald eagle FAQs). If there's a nest in the tree, find out whose it is before anyone climbs.

Branches near power lines are a different job. FPL says only specially trained line-clearing professionals should work around power lines, and asks people to report trees touching lines (FPL tree FAQs). If a limb is on or near a line, report it to your electric utility and leave that part of the tree alone.

Then there's the neighbor's oak. Under the general rule UF/IFAS describes, you may trim branches that hang over your side back to the property line at your own expense, but removing a healthy boundary tree without the neighbor's consent can create liability (UF/IFAS FE962). That's general information, not legal advice.

Getting a useful price

Trimming quotes vary more than removal quotes, because "trim the oak" can mean an hour of deadwood or a full day in the canopy. Photos help. Stand back far enough to get the whole tree in one shot, then take a closer one of the limbs that bother you.

Tell us how wide the side gate is and whether a bucket truck could get near the tree from the driveway or the street. In older parts of Eau Gallie and Cocoa, where big oaks sit in narrow backyards, that answer decides whether the job is a bucket job or a climbing job.