Tree Service in Chattanooga, TN

Good tree service in Chattanooga starts with the ground under the tree. The city sits where the ridge-and-valley Appalachians meet the Cumberland Plateau, with the Tennessee River winding through and Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain and Walden's Ridge all inside the view from downtown. Plenty of homes here sit on slopes, under tall hardwoods, with a driveway that is steep, narrow or both. That changes how a tree is taken down or cut back far more than its height does, and it is why Chattanooga Tree Service Pros prices every job after seeing it.

Storms that come through fast

Chattanooga gets more than 52 inches of rain in a typical year, with the wettest stretch from November through March and a second bump in July from summer thunderstorms. Saturated soil and a full canopy are a bad mix: a strong gust can tip a shallow-rooted tree over, roots and all. The region has also seen tornadoes reach neighborhoods. On Easter night 2020 an EF3 tornado crossed from Fort Oglethorpe into Tennessee and ran about 18 miles through Harris Hills, East Brainerd, Drake Forest, Holly Hills and Ooltewah, snapping and uprooting trees along the way. More than 2,700 properties were damaged, and city crews hauled away 3,890 tons of debris in the first week. In 2011 the April 27 outbreak hit Apison and Cherokee Valley. Snow is usually light, a few inches a year, but the 1993 Storm of the Century dropped 23 inches on Chattanooga, and heavy wet snow on evergreens still snaps tops and limbs.

Pests worth knowing by sight

Three insects shape a lot of tree work here. Hemlock woolly adelgid leaves small white tufts like cotton on the underside of hemlock twigs; the trees turn grayish-green and thin out, and a 2009 Forest Service study warned it could kill most hemlocks in the southern Appalachians within a decade. Southern pine beetle attacks loblolly, shortleaf and Virginia pine, especially trees already stressed by storms or drought, and leaves white, popcorn-like lumps of pitch on the bark. Emerald ash borer, which has spread across much of the eastern US including Tennessee, leaves D-shaped exit holes; without treatment, ash trees in an infested area are expected to die within about ten years. Catching any of these early gives you more choices.

Trees that tend to fail

Some trees here come apart more than others. Bradford and other Callery pears grow narrow, weak forks and often split in wind or ice well before they reach 25 years old. Fast-growing pines on the edge of a cleared lot, tulip poplars with big co-dominant trunks, and any tree wrapped in kudzu (which can grow about a foot a day in summer, wrapping trunks and breaking branches with its weight) are the ones we look at first on a walk-around.

Older neighborhoods and city trees

Chattanooga has four local historic districts: St. Elmo, Fort Wood, Ferger Place and Battery Place, with Lupton City's application pending. The St. Elmo guidelines say landscaping is not reviewed by the Historic Zoning Commission, though they ask owners to keep historic trees where they can. The bigger rule is about public trees: the city tree ordinance bars removing or disturbing a tree on city property, including the right-of-way, without a Tree Ordinance Permit from Urban Forestry. If a tree stands at the curb or on a property line, we sort out who owns it before anyone cuts. Trees in contact with power lines are a job for EPB, the city-owned electric system, not for a private tree company.

Get a Free Estimate

What an estimate visit covers

• Species, lean, dead wood, cracks, decay and signs of pests
• What sits under the tree: roof, deck, fence, cars, the neighbor's yard
• Slope, retaining walls and how equipment can reach the tree
• Wires in or near the canopy and whether EPB needs to be involved
• What happens to the wood, chips, brush and stump
• A written price for each tree, with nothing added later without your approval

Chattanooga is home base, from North Shore and Highland Park to St. Elmo, Brainerd and Hixson. Beyond the city limits we work in Red Bank, Signal Mountain and Walden on the mountain, East Ridge along the Georgia line, East Brainerd, Ooltewah, Collegedale and Apison to the east, Soddy-Daisy up the lake, and Lookout Mountain on both sides of the state line. The tree problems change with elevation. Up on Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain, hemlocks in the ravines, thin rocky soil and wind on exposed bluffs are common topics. In the valley, it is big hardwoods over older houses, utility lines through the canopy and trees that have outgrown small lots. Out east, around the 2020 tornado path, many yards have storm-damaged trees, new plantings and pines along cleared edges. Each area page covers what we know about that place.