Deadwooding

What it is

Deadwooding is the removal of dead, dying, diseased and broken branches from inside the crown of a tree, without touching the live, healthy growth. Every mature tree carries some deadwood. It’s part of how a tree works, shedding the bits it no longer feeds. The trouble starts when those branches sit over something you care about, because dead wood is brittle and it comes down on its own schedule, usually in the first real wind after a dry spell.

We work to BS3998, the same standard as a crown reduction or a thinning. The difference is that deadwooding doesn’t change the size or shape of the tree at all. We’re not reducing it, not lifting it, not thinning the live crown. We’re taking out what’s already dead and making the tree safe to stand under again.

When you need it

• A mature oak, ash or beech has grey, leafless limbs in an otherwise green crown, and there’s a patio, a drive or a path underneath.
• You’ve found a fallen branch on the lawn after a still night, with no storm to blame.
• A tree overhangs a neighbour’s garden or a road and you want the dead wood out before it drops where you can’t control it.
• A surveyor or your insurer has flagged deadwood over a building.
• The tree is broadly healthy and you want to keep it, but the overhead risk needs dealing with.

We see a lot of this on the older oaks around Bexhill, Battle and the Hastings ridge, and on ash that’s carrying dieback in the back gardens up the coast. Deadwooding lets you keep a tree that’s still got years in it, rather than reaching for the fell.

How we do it

• We climb it, we don’t blast it. Deadwood is removed branch by branch on rope and harness, cut back to the living collar so the wound seals cleanly. No spikes on a tree we’re keeping, because spike wounds let decay in.
• Nesting-bird check between March and August. Legal duty. If there’s an active nest we work around it or come back.
• Everything chipped and cleared. Brash through the chipper, any sound logs stacked where you want them, the ground left clean.

What it costs

We price per tree after a site visit. The size of the crown, how much dead wood is up there, the access for the chipper and whether the tree is protected all move the number. A big old oak full of deadwood over a driveway is a longer day than a single dead limb on a garden ash. We’ll look at the tree, tell you what actually needs doing, and put a written quote in front of you within two working days. Free site visit, no hard sell.

What we won’t do

We won’t talk you into a reduction you don’t need. Plenty of trees that get quoted for a heavy cut only need the deadwood out and a few years left alone. If that’s the honest answer, that’s what we’ll tell you. And we won’t strip every twig of deadwood out of a veteran tree where some of it is habitat and none of it threatens anything. Deadwooding is about the risk overhead, not about making an old tree look sterile.

TPOs and conservation areas

Dead wood is one of the few jobs that can often go ahead on a protected tree without the usual paperwork, because removing genuinely dead material is generally exempt. But the rules are specific, and “dying” is not the same as “dead” in the council’s eyes. If your tree has a Tree Preservation Order or sits in a conservation area, we check the position with your local council before we start, and we give the required notice where one is needed. Send us the address and we’ll look it up on the planning map before we quote.