4.9 · 462 Google reviews · Licensed & Insured
Tree Removal in St. Petersburg, Florida
Removing a tree in St. Pete means the city's tree rules first. We assess, document and file, then remove by crane. (727) 365-1803.
“Steven was great, him and his crew got out early and was here all day taking out my four laurel oaks for me. Start to finish it was a pleasure working with happy tree service. The speed and efficiency of the work was fantastic.”
- 462 Google reviews
- Licensed & Insured
- ISA Certified Arborist on staff
- Pinellas since 1989
St. Pete is the one city in Pinellas that was platted like a real city, and it changes how tree work gets done here. The old grid, Historic Kenwood, the Old Northeast, Euclid–St. Paul, Crescent Lake, has alleys. A rear-yard oak that would be a crane job anywhere else in the county can often be reached from behind, with the chipper in the alley and nothing crossing the front lawn at all. It is genuinely one of the few places in Pinellas where the cheaper method is also the better one.
The rest of the city is a different problem entirely.
Salt water in the root zone
Shore Acres, Riviera Bay and the low blocks around Coffee Pot and Bayou Grande flood, and not only in hurricanes. Tidal flooding puts brackish water across yards on ordinary king tides, and Helene’s surge in September 2024 pushed it far past that. Trees do not read this as weather; they read it as poisoning. Salt burns fine roots, blocks water uptake, and the decline it causes shows up a season or two later as thin upper canopy, small leaves, and dieback that starts at the tips.
That matters for a removal decision, because a salt-stressed tree and a structurally failing tree look similar from the driveway and need opposite answers. One may recover with soil work and time. The other has a compromised root plate on saturated ground and will lay over in the first serious blow. Working that out is what the assessment is for.
Species and structure
Live oak is the backbone of this city’s canopy and worth defending. Laurel oak, planted heavily through the mid-century expansion west of 34th Street and out toward the Jungle, is the species that comes down, UF/IFAS gives it a 50-to-70-year useful life, and it hollows internally while the crown still looks green. The mid-county boom neighborhoods are inside that window now.
South St. Pete is also warm enough to grow things the north county cannot. The 2023 USDA hardiness map puts the southern half of Pinellas in zone 10a while Safety Harbor and north sits in 9b, which is why mango, avocado and royal poinciana survive in Old Southeast and Coquina Key yards. They also have brittle wood and shallow roots, and they are disproportionately represented in storm failures.
Start here
Send us a photo of the tree.
You do not have to know whether it needs to come down. That is the part we are for.
- One photo, whole tree in frameTrunk base to top. A close-up of anything that looks wrong helps.
- Text us the photoThe text button below opens the right thread. Add your street and city.
- We come out and lookEvery estimate is in person, free, sometimes the answer is that it needs nothing.
Permits: assume St. Petersburg is the strict layer
Pinellas County’s Chapter 58, Article XIX applies inside city limits, protected at 4 inches DBH, every palm 6 feet or taller protected, a 24-inch threshold for occupied homesteaded single-family homes, and a penalty of $150 per DBH inch for unauthorized removal, with owner and contractor jointly liable. A municipal ordinance prevails only where it actually conflicts with that.
St. Petersburg runs its own tree protection ordinance on top, and it is the layer most homeowners in this city will actually be dealing with.
St. Petersburg’s own code. Chapter 16, Land Development Regulations, § 16.40.060.5 (tree protection), definitions at § 16.90.020.3, permit mechanics at § 16.70.030.1.12. Urban Forestry administers it (trees@stpete.org, 727-463-5680). A protected tree is any shade tree 4" DBH or larger or understory tree 8" DBH or larger; a grand tree is any protected tree 30" DBH or larger, and grand trees expressly exclude laurel oaks. There are also signature and specimen categories. It is the most layered code in the county. St. Pete permit detail.
The one route that removes the permit requirement entirely is Florida Statute § 163.045: a single-family detached residence, plus documentation from an ISA Certified Arborist, assessed under the ISA Best Management Practices – Tree Risk Assessment, 2nd Edition, that removal is the only practical way to bring the tree’s risk below moderate. We hold that certification. We use it where it genuinely applies and file paperwork where it does not.
Mangroves along Coquina Key, Lassing Park and the Bayou Grande shoreline are outside all of this. They sit under the county’s separate mangrove article and the state mangrove act, and § 163.045 expressly does not reach them.
Free estimate anywhere in the city
Downtown to Tierra Verde, Jungle Prada to Shore Acres. (727) 365-1803.
Frequently asked questions
Is St. Petersburg stricter than the county about tree removal? The city maintains its own tree protection ordinance and it is generally the binding layer inside the city. The county’s Article XIX still applies; where the two conflict, the municipal rule prevails. In practice: never assume a St. Pete tree is unregulated.
Can you work from the alley behind my Kenwood house? Usually, and we prefer to. Alley access keeps the chipper and the trucks off your lawn and out of the root zone of the trees you are keeping. Not every block has usable alley clearance, so we look before we quote.
My yard flooded in the storm and the tree looks bad now. What’s happening? Almost certainly salt injury. Brackish water in the root zone burns roots and shows up months later as canopy thinning and tip dieback. Some trees recover; some are finished. An assessment tells you which, before you pay for a removal you may not need.
Do you handle the permit application, or do I? We handle it. We prepare the application, the tree information the city asks for, and, where the tree qualifies, the ISA arborist risk documentation under F.S. § 163.045.
Google reviews
Rated 4.9 by 462 of your neighbors.
Reviews · Tree Removal in St. Petersburg, Florida
4.9
462 reviews on Google, the count on our public Google listing
“Fast quote and when we decided it was time to remove our Oak, they were there on time and ready to get to work. They have all the equipment necessary for this huge job and work very efficiently.”
“Steven was great, him and his crew got out early and was here all day taking out my four laurel oaks for me. Start to finish it was a pleasure working with happy tree service. The speed and efficiency of the work was fantastic.”
Every one of these lives on our public Google listing, where we cannot edit or delete a word. Read them all on Google →