Tree Removal
Dead, dangerous or badly placed trees taken out whole or dismantled in sections over the house.
Learn more →Palm removal on the North Shore
Palms turn up everywhere across Chatswood, Willoughby and Ryde, mostly planted in the seventies and eighties. The overwhelming majority are Cocos palms, a South American species that has naturalised across Sydney bushland and is treated as a weed in much of the region.
Removing one is not a scaled-down tree job. There are no limbs to rig from, the trunk is fibrous and does not hold a face cut predictably, and the crown is enormously heavy when green. The usual method is to climb, strip the fronds and seed heads, then section the trunk from the top in short rounds, each lowered under control. On a driveway-accessible palm an elevated platform is faster. Either way it is careful work with poor material, and anyone quoting it as a fifteen-minute job has not done many.
Native palms are a different conversation. Bangalow and cabbage tree palms are frequently retained under council controls and are worth keeping where the position allows, so we will tell you if that is what you have.
Bamboo
Bamboo splits cleanly into two groups. Clumping varieties stay where they are put and can be thinned, cut back and managed indefinitely. Running varieties — Phyllostachys and relatives — spread by rhizome and will travel many metres underground, through garden beds, under paving and under a colorbond fence into next door.
Cutting the canes on a running bamboo achieves nothing lasting; the rhizome mat responds by pushing more shoots. Genuine eradication means excavating the mat, which usually means lifting some paving or a garden bed edge and following the rhizomes out. Where the bamboo has crossed a boundary, the neighbour has to be part of the conversation, because removing it on one side only guarantees it comes back.
Once it is out, a root barrier along the boundary is the only reliable way to keep it out.
Pines and other odd jobs
Large pines — radiata, Norfolk Island and Bunya — are their own problem across older North Shore gardens: brittle, heavy, and usually planted far too close to a house in the 1960s. Those are quoted as standard tree removals but with extra attention to the drop zone, because pine limbs do not bend.
Ring (02) 9090 4915 with the species, rough height and what the access looks like. The cost guide explains the pricing drivers, and stump grinding covers what happens to what is left.
More services
Explore our other services
Tree Loppers
Weight reduction, branch and deadwood removal on overgrown gums, turpentines and planted exotics.
Learn more →Tree Pruning
Crown lifting, thinning and clearance pruning done to Australian Standard so the tree survives it.
Learn more →Stump Grinding
Grinding the stump and buttress roots below ground so you can turf, pave or replant over it.
Learn more →Stump Removal
Stump and root plate dug out entirely where footings, pipes or a new slab need clear ground.
Learn more →Hedge Trimming
Lilly pilly, photinia and murraya screens brought back to a line you can maintain yourself.
Learn more →Emergency Tree Work
Storm damage, split trunks and limbs on roofs, with 24/7 response across the North Shore.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Why are palms quoted differently from trees?
A palm has no branch structure to rig off and its trunk is fibrous rather than woody, so it cannot be sectioned the way a eucalypt can. Green fronds and seed heads are extremely heavy and wet. The trunk usually comes down in short rounds cut from the top, each one lowered, which is a slower process per metre than a comparable tree.
Do palms need a council permit?
Often, yes. Several North Shore councils treat palms the same as any other tree above the height threshold, and Cocos palm is specifically listed as a weed species exempt in some areas and not others. Because it varies by council and by street, we check your address rather than assume. Native Bangalow and cabbage tree palms are more likely to be protected.
Can bamboo be killed without digging it out?
Clumping bamboo can be cut and controlled. Running bamboo generally cannot — cutting the canes just triggers the rhizome system to send up more. Effective eradication means excavating the rhizome mat, which extends well beyond the visible clump and commonly runs under fences, paving and into the neighbour's yard.
What about the mess palms make?
Fronds and seed heads do not chip well, so they are loaded whole and taken away. Cocos palms in particular drop enormous quantities of fruit, which germinates readily and is a nuisance in gutters and pools. If yours is dropping into a pool every summer, removal is usually cheaper over three years than the cleaning.
Free, no-obligation