Tree care guides for Washington and Oregon

Trimming, removal and your house

• Best time to trim trees in the Pacific Northwest: a month-by-month calendar for shade trees, conifers, fruit trees, spring bloomers, hedges, maples and birches; Portland’s elm pruning ban from April 15 to October 15; the nesting-season check.
• Free tree removal in Washington and Oregon: what utilities clear from their own lines at no charge, Portland’s new street tree care program, why “free for the wood” offers are rare and risky, what insurance pays after a storm, and the modeled cost of the rest.
• Creating a defensible space with fire risk abatement: spacing, limbing and brush removal around a house in the wildland-urban interface.
• Is that tree too close to your house? Here’s how to tell: measuring fall distance against the roof, when a lean matters, and why Portland treats a trunk within 10 feet of a structure as grounds for a simpler permit.
• The impact of tree root damage on your property: what shallow-rooted species like bigleaf maple do to sidewalks and sewer laterals, and when the fix is the pipe, not the tree.
• The importance of a tree care inspection when buying a home: what a certified arborist checks on a lot before closing.

Is something wrong with the tree?

• How to tell if a tree is dead: seven checks, from twig to root collar, before you give up on it.
• Leaning tree: when it’s dangerous: the signs of a failing root plate and the storm months when trees go over.
• Split tree trunk: cosmetic cracks versus structural splits, and when cabling helps.
• Mushrooms on trees: which conks and fungi on a trunk or root flare mean decay inside.
• Moss and lichen on trees: why they are not parasites, and when they point to a real problem.
• Lightning-struck tree: what a strike does to the trunk, and whether the tree will survive.
• Oak galls: what gall wasps leave on Oregon white oak, and which galls do any harm.
• Tree roots above ground: when surface roots are normal, and why wood chips beat new soil over them.
• Tree sap on a car: honeydew versus conifer pitch, and how to remove each without hurting the paint.
• Tree topping: why cutting a tree back hard backfires, and what to do instead.

Pruning, planting and care

• How to prune a tree: thinning and reduction cuts, the three-cut method and training young trees.
• Best time to plant trees in the Pacific Northwest: fall and spring planting windows on each side of the Cascades, with NOAA rain data.
• Washington and Oregon hardiness zones: look up the USDA 2023 zone for any WA or OR ZIP code.
• Fertilizing trees: why most established trees don’t need routine feeding, and when to test the soil first.
• How old is my tree?: measure the trunk and estimate the age, with a calculator.
• How to measure tree height: stick, shadow and clinometer methods, with a calculator.
• How to cut down a tree: when felling a small tree is a DIY job and when it is not.

Hedges, maples and Northwest species

• Arborvitae turning brown: read the browning pattern, then fix the cause.
• Emerald Green vs Green Giant arborvitae: size, spacing and root-rot risk for the two hedge cultivars.
• Best privacy trees for WA and OR: evergreen screens compared by size and summer water.
• Japanese maple care: siting, summer water, mulch and common problems.
• How to prune a Japanese maple: timing, thinning cuts and the laceleaf method.
• Types of maple trees: bigleaf, vine, Norway and the other maples in WA and OR, with leaf ID.
• Pine vs fir vs spruce: a field key to Northwest conifers.
• Aspen vs birch: how to tell the white-barked trees apart, and which burns better.
• Washington and Oregon state trees: western hemlock and Douglas fir, and how to tell them apart.
• Noble fir vs Douglas fir: choosing between them as a Christmas tree.

Firewood, wood chips and stumps

• How much is a cord of firewood?: cord size, WA and OR sale rules and a stack calculator.
• How much does a cord of wood weigh?: modeled green and seasoned weights for Northwest species.
• How long to season firewood: drying times, rain data and stacking for WA and OR.
• Free wood chips: where to get arborist chips and how to use them as mulch.
• Stump grinder rental: WA and OR day rates and the rent-or-hire math.
• How to kill a tree stump: stop the sprouts, speed up the rot or grind it.

Arborist careers

• How to become an arborist: ISA certification, training and licensing in WA and OR.
• Arborist salary in Washington and Oregon: BLS pay by metro, percentile and employer type.

Guides inside the service pages

Sixteen more guides sit under the service they explain, next to that service’s costs, permits and rules.

Tree removal

• Hazard tree removal: the proof cities want, emergency filing deadlines, power lines, who pays and modeled cost.
• Best time of year to cut down a tree: a month-by-month calendar with storm, nesting, ash, pine and fire-season limits.

Tree trimming

• Tree trimming vs pruning: the same cuts under two names, and how often trees and hedges need them.
• Bad tree trimming: eight signs a tree was pruned wrong, and what to do now.
• How to trim a pine tree: candling, limbing up and beetle-safe timing, with a fir, spruce and cedar table.
• Oak tree trimming: when to cut, how much, mistletoe and Mediterranean oak borer.

Stump grinding

• How to remove a tree stump: dig, grind, rot, kill or burn compared, with 811 rules and modeled costs.
• Stump remover chemicals: what potassium nitrate really does, and why Epsom salt has no extension support.
• How to remove tree roots: leave, grind or dig, which species regrow, and root zones to protect.

Arborists

• What does an arborist do?: the five roles, ISA credentials, and arborist versus tree service.
• Arborist report: the six types, what a hazard report must show, and which WA and OR cities require one.
• Tree cabling and bracing: what cables and rods fix, inspections, lifespan and cost.

Emergency tree service

• A tree fell on my car: auto comprehensive versus homeowners, neighbor and city trees, and claim deadlines.

Brush clearing

• Himalayan blackberry: tell it from native blackberry, dig out the root crowns and keep it gone.
• Scotch broom: identification, when to pull or cut, the seed bank and safe disposal.
• English ivy on trees: the survival-ring method, ground ivy and Washington’s 2025 sale ban.

Where the guides lead

Every guide points at a decision: prune, remove, or leave it. Pruning lands on tree trimming, with Portland’s 20–25 percent canopy cap and topping ban as the quality floor. Removal lands on tree removal, modeled at $400–$900 for a tree under 25 feet up to $2,950–$6,750 over 80 feet by state (modeled estimate, not quotes; method). A tree already down is emergency tree service; a storm claim starts with the insurance guides for Washington and Oregon, where both regulators say removal is paid only when the tree hit a covered structure.

Species detail is under trees, the quarantine pests under pests and diseases, and the free line clearance your utility already provides under utility tree trimming.

Permits and law by state

The legal guides live under each state. They carry the city-by-city permit tables, the statutes on neighbor trees, burning rules, how to check a license, and what insurers cover after a storm.