Deadwooding in Surrey

Deadwooding is removing the dead, dying and broken branches from a tree's crown. Dead wood falls sooner or later, often in the first strong wind, so on a mature tree over a garden, a drive, a road or a footpath it is usually the first job we recommend. It leaves the living tree as it was: the same size and shape, just without the branches that could come down.

When a tree needs deadwooding

• Over somewhere people use: a tree over a patio, a play area, a parking space or a public path, where a falling branch could hurt someone or damage a car.
• Bare branches in summer: limbs with no leaves when the rest of the tree is in full leaf are dead or dying.
• Hangers: broken branches caught in the crown after a storm. They can drop at any time.
• Before other work: we take the dead wood out first on most pruning jobs, so we can see the tree's true shape before we reduce or thin it.
• Disease: some problems, such as ash dieback, kill a tree's branches over a few years. Deadwooding can keep an infected tree safe for longer while you decide what to do with it.

How we do it

We look at the tree from the ground first, to see how much dead wood there is, where it is and how big it is. Small dead twigs do no harm and are part of a healthy tree's life, so we concentrate on wood large enough to cause damage when it falls.

Then we climb the tree, or work from a platform where the ground and access allow it. Each dead branch is cut back to living wood, just outside the branch collar, so the tree can seal the wound. Larger limbs are cut in sections and lowered on ropes rather than dropped, which protects the lawn, borders and anything underneath.

We do not cut into healthy wood unless you have asked for other work at the same time, and we follow BS3998, the British Standard for tree work. When we have finished, we clear and take away everything we cut.

Dead wood and wildlife

Dead wood is valuable to insects, fungi, birds and bats, so we only take out what makes the tree unsafe. On a tree away from paths and buildings, we can shorten a dead limb to a safe stub rather than remove it, or leave the cut wood in a log pile at the edge of the garden if you would like.

From March to August we check every tree for nesting birds before we start. Active nests are protected by law, and if we find one the work waits until the young have left. Bats roost in cracks and holes in old trees; if there are signs of them, we stop and take advice before going further.

Timing

Unlike most pruning, deadwooding can be done at any time of year. Dead wood is easiest to spot in summer, when the living branches are in leaf, so that is a good time to have a large tree looked at. A dangerous branch should come down as soon as possible, whatever the season.

Protected trees

Removing dead branches from a living tree is exempt from the consent normally needed for a tree with a Tree Preservation Order or in a conservation area. The exemption covers dead wood only, so any cuts into living wood at the same time still need consent or notice. We check before we start and help with any application.

Related work

Deadwooding often goes with a crown reduction or crown thinning. If most of a tree has died, tree removal may be the safer choice, and we will tell you honestly which it is.