Tree Service in Rancho Cordova, CA

Our tree service in Rancho Cordova covers four jobs: tree removal, trimming and pruning, storm cleanup, and grinding out the stumps that removals leave. Our crews come from Roseville, about 11.4 miles away. Hot, dry summers and a rainy winter shape that work here, and so do soils that take in water at very different speeds.

Tree removal in Rancho Cordova

Dead and dying trees account for most tree removal calls in Rancho Cordova. July highs average 92.6 °F and summers are dry, so a tree already weakened by root damage or disease declines over a few hot seasons until it holds more dead wood than live. A tree service working here also gets called for trees leaning toward a house and for limbs that keep dropping on a driveway. Our tree removal page explains the method itself.

Sectional takedown next to a house

In a sectional takedown the tree is dismantled from the crown down, because felling a trunk whole needs open ground at least as long as the tree is tall. The climber removes the limbs first and then cuts the trunk in pieces the ground crew can control. Nearly every large removal beside a house or a power line goes this way.

Rigging heavy limbs to the ground

Heavy limbs over a roof are rigged: each one is tied to a rope before the cut, the rope runs through a block higher in the tree, and a groundworker at the trunk lets it down through a friction device. Before work starts, ask the crew where each limb over your roof will be set down.

Storm damage in the rainy months

Storm damage in Rancho Cordova comes mostly in winter: the area gets about 18 inches of rain a year, and the bulk of it falls between December and March. Soaked soil around the roots and a heavy, wet crown are what bring limbs and whole trees down. A snapped branch caught in the canopy, called a hanger, is the most dangerous thing left in the yard afterward, because it can fall at any moment. Keep people and cars out from under it until a crew has roped it down.

Chipping the brush at the curb

Brush goes through a chipper at the curb, which turns a yard full of branches into one load of wood chips. Ask before the job starts if you want the chips left as mulch for shrub beds.

Trimming and pruning Rancho Cordova trees

Winter is the best season for most tree pruning in Rancho Cordova, because deciduous trees are bare and the shape of the crown is easy to read. January highs average about 56 °F, and by then the deciduous trees are dormant. A good cut follows the tree's own structure, back to a side branch or the trunk, and the dead and rubbing wood goes first. That routine tree care keeps limbs off the roof and stops weak wood from building up in the crown.

Deadwood after a long dry summer

After every hot, dry summer there is a little more dead wood in a Rancho Cordova canopy. Those branches go brittle and tend to break in the first winter storm, so taking the deadwood out over a roof or a driveway is the first trim worth paying for on any large tree.

Crown thinning a valley oak

Crown thinning cuts selected live branches out of the canopy so wind can pass through the tree rather than push against it. A valley oak, the big native oak of the Central Valley, takes this best as a light thinning that keeps most of its leaves, because heavy cuts stress an oak and open it to decay. Lion-tailing, which strips the inner branches and leaves tufts at the tips, does the reverse: it moves the weight out to the ends of the limbs, where a break is more likely.

When to prune citrus trees

Citrus trees in California are best pruned in late winter or early spring, after the last frost and before the new flush of growth. January lows in Rancho Cordova average 39.2 °F, which leaves room for frost on clear nights, and tender growth pushed out by an early cut can be burned by it. Citrus needs only light cuts to the dead wood and the suckers below the graft, and the leafy skirt that shades the trunk should stay, since bare bark can scald in the July sun.

Rancho Cordova soil, roots and wind-thrown trees

Soils around Rancho Cordova range from fast-draining to slow, and that difference decides how deep trees root and how they fail. USDA maps four soil units close to Rancho Cordova. Three of them are named USDA soil series, Americanos, San Joaquin and Natomas, while the fourth, Xerorthents, is a broader group of young soils.

Americanos and Xerorthents

Americanos is well drained and sits in hydrologic group B, which takes in water at a moderate rate. Xerorthents are somewhat excessively drained and fall in group A, the group that soaks up rain fastest. Trees on this ground rarely drown, but they dry out early, and a crown thinning at the top in late summer is usually the first sign of drought stress.

San Joaquin and Natomas

San Joaquin is moderately well drained and Natomas is well drained, yet both sit in hydrologic group C, which takes in water slowly. After a run of winter storms the surface of these soils stays wet longer, and a root plate loosens in it. San Joaquin is also the series known for a cemented hardpan, a restrictive layer that roots cannot get through, so trees growing on it spread their roots shallow and wide.

Why trees blow over in winter

Wind-thrown trees mostly fall in the wet months, when rain has softened the soil and a storm pushes on the crown. The ones that go nearly always had a weakness first: roots held shallow by hardpan, or roots cut when a trench went in for a pool or a driveway. A tree that cannot root deep grows its roots in a flat plate, and when it fails it lifts that whole plate out of the lawn.

How far an oak should be from a house

An oak tree should stand at least 20 to 30 feet from a house, and a large valley oak needs more room than that, because its crown and roots spread well past the trunk. Planted closer, the limbs end up over the roof and the tree leans away from the walls toward the light. Removal is rarely the best answer for an oak that is already close; careful crown work and undisturbed soil over the roots usually do more good.

When to call an arborist in Rancho Cordova

Some tree questions are not about cutting at all, such as whether a tree can stay, and those go to an arborist. An ISA-certified arborist has passed the International Society of Arboriculture's certification exam and can tell how far decay has gone and whether a lean is getting worse. Our arborist page covers what an assessment checks. Ask whether the person who comes out holds the ISA credential, ours included, because plenty of tree services send a crew without one.

Have the tree assessed before any quote if you see:

• Mushrooms or shelf-like conks growing on the trunk or at the root flare, which point to decay inside the wood.
• A cavity or crack in the trunk, or a fork where two big limbs are pulling apart.
• A lean that is new, or soil that has heaved or cracked on one side of the tree.
• A canopy dying back from the top even though the tree has been watered through the summer.

What to check before hiring a tree company

Before you hire a tree service, ask for proof of current liability insurance and a written quote that says what leaves with the crew and what stays in your yard. Ask too how the limbs over the roof will be lowered; a clear answer means someone has already thought the job through.

Stump grinding after the tree comes down

The stump left by a removal is ground 6 to 12 inches below grade with a stump grinder, so the spot can be replanted or turned back into lawn. The machine leaves a pile of wood chips mixed with soil. Backfill made from those chips sinks as the wood rots, so under lawn it is better to rake most of them out and fill the hole with topsoil. On slow-draining San Joaquin and Natomas ground, an open hole also holds winter rain, which is reason enough to fill it soon after the grind.

Ask for the stump on the same tree service quote: grinding it while the crew is already there means heavy equipment crosses the yard once. Most of our own work is stumps, and the page on stump grinding in Rancho Cordova explains root grinding and hole fill.

Nearby towns for tree service

Rosemont, Carmichael and Arden-Arcade sit close to Rancho Cordova, and the same tree care services are available in each. Tree rules follow whichever city or county covers the address, so check with that office before a large tree comes down.

Local details for Rancho Cordova

• ZIP codes: 95827, 95670, 95741, 95742
• Distance: About 11.4 miles away in a straight line
• Main soils (USDA soil survey): Americanos (well drained, hydrologic group B); San Joaquin (moderately well drained, hydrologic group C); Xerorthents (somewhat excessively drained, hydrologic group A); Natomas (well drained, hydrologic group C)
• Nearby: Carmichael, Rosemont, Arden-Arcade

About Rancho Cordova: Rancho Cordova, CA on Wikipedia · Rancho Cordova on Google Maps