Hurricane Tree Prep for Orlando Yards: What to Check, Trim and Leave Alone

Hurricane tree trimming is not about cutting trees back as far as possible. It is about finding the few trees, or the few limbs, most likely to fail in high wind and dealing with them while there is time. In Central Florida that usually means old laurel and water oaks, pines near the house, dead wood high in a crown and palms carrying dead fronds and coconuts.

Tree Service Orlando FL is a free phone line. It does not trim or remove trees. Call (689) 407-5379 any hour and you are put through to an independent, locally owned tree company that can look at your trees and quote its own price.

Storms that have tested Orlando's trees

Orlando sits well inland, and people sometimes assume that keeps hurricane winds away. The National Hurricane Center's own reports say otherwise:

• Charley, August 2004. The center passed near Kissimmee and Orlando on the night of August 13. Orlando International Airport measured hurricane-force sustained winds of 69 knots with a gust to 91 knots, roughly 105 mph. Sanford gusted to 80 knots and Orlando Executive Airport to 74.
• Irma, September 2017. The NHC report says about 4,000 structures were damaged in Osceola County alone.
• Ian, September 2022. Rain totals of 10 to 20 inches caused major flooding along the St. Johns River, the Little Wekiva River and Shingle Creek, affecting Seminole, Orange, Lake and Osceola counties. Soaked ground is exactly when trees uproot.
• Milton, October 2024. Orlando International gusted to 76 knots, about 87 mph, and an observer near Orlando recorded 14.83 inches of rain. The NHC counts four people killed by falling trees in that storm.

That last point about water matters as much as wind. UF/IFAS explains that a slower-moving storm with heavy rain puts more water into the soil, leaving less friction between roots and soil to hold trees up. A tree that would ride out a fast, dry storm can tip over after days of rain.

Species is only part of the story

A healthy laurel oak can outlast a rotten live oak. The same UF/IFAS publication lists the conditions that make any tree more likely to fail:

• Age and size. Older, larger trees lost a greater share of their branches than small ones.
• Decay. Fungal rot weakens the wood. Mushrooms or conks on the trunk or roots are a warning.
• Weak structure. Two or more competing trunks with bark pinched between them, called included bark, are very susceptible to breaking.
• Cut or damaged roots. UF/IFAS advises against cutting roots within five times the trunk diameter. A driveway, pool or sewer job in recent years may have done exactly that.
• Cramped roots and shallow soil. Trees with more rooting space survived better, and trees in shallow soils or over a high water table blow over more easily.
• Standing alone. Trees in groups of five or more, each within 10 feet of another, survived about 10% better than lone trees.

Pines deserve a special note. UF/IFAS reports that three months after Hurricane Charley, 27% of the standing south Florida slash pines and 48% of the standing longleaf pines studied had died. Pines can look fine right after a storm and decline over the following months, so a pine near the house that took a beating is worth watching through the next season.

What to check in early summer

Walk the yard in April or May and look up. You are not judging whether a tree is safe; you are making a list to show someone qualified. From the ground, note:

1. Dead limbs, especially over the roof, driveway, pool cage or the path to the door.
2. Hangers: broken limbs caught in the crown from the last storm.
3. Cracks, cavities or soft wood in the trunk, and mushrooms at the base.
4. A new lean, or soil heaving on one side of a tree.
5. V-shaped unions where two big stems meet with bark pinched between them.
6. Branches touching or close to the service line to the house. Do not go near it; note it for the utility.
7. Palms with dead fronds, coconuts or heavy seed clusters.

If the list includes anything over the house or a big structural defect, ask for an arborist assessment before deciding between pruning, cabling and removal.

What not to do when a storm is already coming

Once a hurricane watch or warning is posted, the window for tree work has mostly closed. Orange County's guidance is to trim trees and remove dead branches before a storm is on the radar, and it warns that collection services may be suspended as a storm approaches. It also tells residents to secure or remove anything loose that could become airborne and turn into a projectile.

Put those together and the advice is simple. Do not start a big cutting job two days out and leave piles of fresh limbs at the curb, where they may not be collected before the wind arrives. Use that time to move cars out from under large limbs, bring in patio furniture and empty carts, and plan where your family will shelter away from the side of the house under the biggest tree.

After the storm passes

Stay well away from downed lines and call the utility. Photograph damage before anything is moved, then call your insurance agent; the who pays guide explains how Florida's hurricane deductible works. Do not write off a tree just because it lost its leaves. UF/IFAS notes that trees that lose some or all of their leaves in a hurricane are not necessarily dead. Pines are the opposite case and can die months later, so have damaged pines near the house looked at again.

Services for storm season

• Storm and Hurricane Tree Damage
• Emergency Tree Removal (24/7)
• Tree Pruning and Oak Tree Care
• Tree Cabling and Bracing
• Arborist Tree Assessment

More guides

• When to Trim Palm Trees in Florida
• Who Pays When a Tree Falls?
• Tree Trimming Cost in Orlando