What Happens to the Wood After a Tree Removal

A mature oak removal produces a surprising volume of material: a truckload or two of chips from the brush, and several tons of trunk and limb wood. Where all that goes is on the estimate, and it affects the price and what is left in your yard. Here are the options and the tradeoffs.

The brush becomes chips

Everything under a few inches in diameter goes through the chipper on site. The chips go into the truck and are hauled, unless you want them. Chips from a healthy hardwood are excellent mulch for beds and for covering the root zone under other trees; we recommend them constantly, as in Surface Roots in the Lawn.

If you want the chips, say so before the day. A chip truck holds a lot, and "leave the chips" means a pile the size of a car in your driveway. Some people want that. Some people want a wheelbarrow's worth and are surprised.

Chips from a diseased tree (a laurel oak with a fungal decline, a pine full of beetles) are fine as mulch in most cases; the pathogens that killed the tree are generally not spread by chips on the ground. Chips from palms are wet, stringy and poor mulch, as we noted in Grinding a Palm Stump.

The wood: hauled, left or cut for firewood

Hauled. The default on most estimates. The logs are loaded and taken to a yard, a mulch operation or a mill, depending on species and size. This is the most labor and the most expense, and it leaves you with a clean site.

Left on site. The trunk and limbs are cut into manageable rounds and stacked where you say. This reduces the price, sometimes meaningfully on a big tree, because loading and hauling logs is real work. It also leaves you with a lot of wood.

Cut to firewood length. Rounds cut to sixteen inches or so and stacked. More cutting time than leaving long logs, so it is not the cheapest option, but it saves you from doing the bucking yourself. Splitting is on you.

Does anyone want the wood?

Occasionally. A large, straight, clear live oak or cypress log can interest a sawyer or a woodworker. A big pecan or camphor sometimes goes to a turner. Most residential removals produce wood that is too short, too crooked or too full of nails and hardware to interest a mill, and it is chipped or hauled. If you think you have a special log, ask before the day, because a log cut to a sawyer's length is a different cut than one cut for the truck.

Firewood in Florida

Live oak, laurel oak, water oak and pecan make good firewood. Pine burns fast and sooty and is best avoided in a fireplace. Palm does not burn usefully. Camphor burns but is best kept out of the house. Magnolia and sweetgum are mediocre.

Any of it needs to season for a year or more before it burns well. Green oak in a Florida fireplace produces smoke and creosote. Stack it off the ground, cover the top, leave the sides open, and wait.

Do not haul firewood long distances. Moving wood spreads bark beetles and other pests. Burning it where it was cut is the safe practice.

Rounds left in the yard

If the wood is left, it does not have to be firewood. Big oak rounds become garden stools, edging and playground pieces. They also become termite and carpenter ant habitat, so keep them off the house.

Why hauling is sometimes the smarter buy

Homeowners sometimes leave the wood to save on the price and then hire somebody to remove it six months later, or spend every weekend for a year cutting it. If you do not burn wood and do not have a use for a few tons of oak, the hauling line on the estimate is usually worth it.

Ask what is on the estimate. Every one of ours states whether the wood is hauled, left long, or cut to length, and where the chips go, because the alternative is a conversation in the driveway at the end of the day. See What a Tree Work Estimate Should Put in Writing.

Storm debris

After a hurricane the rules change. County debris pickup collects vegetative debris piled at the curb, and the fastest, cheapest option is often to cut and pile rather than chip and haul. We covered that in Storm Debris Hauling: What Happens After the Trees Come Down.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep some of the wood and have the rest hauled?

Yes. Tell us which parts and where to stack them. A common arrangement is keeping a few big rounds and hauling the rest.

Is it cheaper if you leave everything?

Usually somewhat, on a large tree. On a small tree the difference is small because the hauling is a small part of the job.

Do you sell firewood?

We are a tree service, not a firewood yard. Wood from our removals goes to a yard for processing or to the homeowner who asked for it.

The tree had a fungus. Can I still use the chips?

For most tree diseases, yes. The exception we would flag is a tree with a known root pathogen that you are mulching around the same species; in that case put the chips somewhere else.

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ArboristRX removes trees across Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Oak Hill and Volusia County, with the wood handled the way you want it. Call (386) 444-5959.