Winter Tree Service & Dormant Pruning: Minneapolis & West Metro
Winter Tree Service & Dormant Pruning: Minneapolis & West Metro
Get on the Winter Schedule Sub-text: Our winter calendar fills up quickly with Oak and Elm pruning. Schedule your evaluation now to ensure your trees are prepped before the spring thaw.
While many homeowners believe tree care is a summer activity, the dormant season (November through March) is actually the safest and most effective time to manage your landscape. At Shadywood Tree Experts, we perform a significant portion of our major removals and structural pruning during the winter months to take advantage of Minnesota's unique climate conditions.
Critical Disease Prevention (Oaks & Elms)
The most compelling reason to trim in winter is disease control. In Minnesota, certain species cannot be safely touched during the growing season due to the risk of fatal infections.
The "Safe Window": The beetles that spread Oak Wilt and Dutch Elm Disease are inactive in winter. This makes it the only time we can prune Oaks and Elms without painting cuts or risking infection.
Fruit Trees: Pruning Apple, Crabapple, and Pear trees while dormant maximizes spring bloom production and minimizes the risk of Fire Blight.
Zero-Impact Property Access
Minnesota’s deep freeze is a natural advantage for heavy equipment.
Protecting Your Lawn: During summer, heavy trucks can leave ruts in soft soil. In winter, the frozen ground acts as a concrete shield, allowing us to drive bucket trucks and stump grinders into backyards with zero impact on your grass.
Accessing Wetlands: If you have trees in low-lying or swampy areas that are inaccessible in summer, winter provides the stable footing needed to reach them safely.
Structural Pruning & Storm Safety
Winter provides "X-Ray Vision" for our arborists. Without the camouflage of leaves, we can clearly see the tree's architecture.
Identifying Defects: We can easily spot crossing branches, cracked limbs, and structural weaknesses that might fail under heavy snow loads.
Dormant Healing: Pruning a tree while it is dormant results in a rapid wound closure once growth resumes in spring, causing less stress to the tree than summer pruning.
Invasive Brush Management
Winter is the ideal time to reclaim your property from invasive species like Buckthorn.
Visibility: With native plants dormant, Buckthorn (which holds its leaves longer) is easy to identify.
Efficiency: The frozen ground prevents soil disturbance, and removing the brush now ensures native wildflowers have the sunlight they need to thrive come spring.