Ontario tree care blog

Specific to south Ontario. We write about the species we actually work on (silver maple, Norway maple, ash with EAB, white pine, red oak, honey locust, black walnut, catalpa), the housing stock around them (downtown Toronto, postwar Mississauga and Oakville, escarpment-edge Hamilton and Burlington, KW heritage neighbourhoods, Durham mature subdivisions), the climate that drives our calls (ice storms, summer thunderstorm wind throw, freeze-thaw root heave, summer drought), and the bylaws that decide whether a tree can come down at all. Generic tree care tips written for a US suburb usually miss what matters here.

No. The posts are written to help homeowners diagnose what they are looking at, decide whether a tree needs a same-week visit or can wait, and avoid the worst mistakes (cutting at the wrong time, topping a tree, climbing a ladder with a chainsaw). They are not a substitute for hands-on work. Anything involving chainsaw work above shoulder height, climbing into the canopy, or any cut inside the fall zone of a structure, fence, or power line is an arborist call. We answer the phone during business hours and most quotes start with a phone description that points us at the right diagnostic before we ever roll a truck.

Because the diagnosis changes by species and the answer changes by neighbourhood. A leaning silver maple over a Cabbagetown row of brick rowhouses is a different call than the same lean over a wide Whitby lot with nothing under it. A 30 cm DBH oak in Toronto needs a permit application and a 3-to-6-week wait. The same tree in Hamilton has different paperwork. The same tree in a Mississauga heritage zone might not be approved at all. Writing it that way is more useful than another guide titled "When to remove a tree".

Use the four sections above. If you are weighing removal against pruning, or trying to read whether a tree is dangerous, look at the first group. If a tree has just failed on your property, the storm and emergency group is the one. If you already know you want to remove a tree and you need to know whether you can, the permits and bylaws group covers the cities we file in most often. If you are looking at symptoms (ash with woodpecker damage, oak not leafing out, branches snapping dry), the diagnostics group walks through pre-visit triage.

We refresh posts when a bylaw threshold changes, when a new piece of EAB or invasive-species guidance comes out, or when a recent call adds field detail worth adding. Each post shows a refreshed date separate from the original publication date when that happens. The most recent post in this list is whatever is dated newest.

Yes. If you called us about something and could not find a post on it, or you have a question we have not covered, mention it on the quote form or when you call. We pick most new topics from real call patterns, so a real question from a real GTA homeowner usually moves up the list.