Tree Removal in Escondido, CA

Tree removal in Escondido is shaped by a climate that is hard on trees. The city sits in an inland valley at about 646 feet, gets roughly 15 inches of rain a year with more than 80 percent of it falling between November and March, and set its own heat record of 115 degrees on September 6, 2020. Long dry summers stress big trees, Santa Ana winds arrive in the fall when they are driest, and the hills around town are fire country. Most of the calls we see come back to one of four things: a tree that has died or is declining, a tree that has become a fire or wind risk next to the house, a palm that has gotten too tall or too shaggy to manage, or a tree that is simply in the wrong place.

Santa Ana winds and dry wood

Santa Ana winds blow mostly in autumn, often 10 to 25 times a year, and can drop humidity below 10 percent. During the October 2007 Witch Creek Fire, winds gusted to 112 mph and evacuations reached into Escondido; the nearby Guejito Fire started in the San Pasqual River drainage and merged with it. In May 2014 the Cocos Fire burned from San Marcos into western Escondido. Wind finds the weak points: a eucalyptus with a heavy lean, a pine with a dead top, a limb with old decay over a tile roof. Taking those down, or thinning them, before the fall wind season is far easier than cleaning up after one fails.

Oaks, beetles and the city's oak rules

Coast live oaks are part of what makes older Escondido lots and the hills toward Daley Ranch and Valley Center so green. They are also the main target of the goldspotted oak borer, a beetle that UC IPM says arrived in San Diego County in the late 1990s or early 2000s, most likely in oak firewood. Trees about 18 inches across or larger are the most likely to be killed. Signs include small D-shaped exit holes on the lower 10 feet of trunk, dark wet stains or red sap on the bark, thinning crowns and woodpecker damage. UC IPM's advice is not to move infested wood off the site, and to season it in place, tarp it or grind it. Separately, Escondido's zoning code treats oaks of 4 inches and up in trunk diameter as mature trees and oaks of 10 inches and up as protected trees, so we always ask about permits before quoting an oak removal.

Palms, skirts and weevils

Tall Mexican fan palms and Canary Island date palms line yards and streets across the city. A palm with a thick skirt of dead fronds is a fire risk, and the Escondido Fire Department's property review checklist calls for removing dead fronds and skirts. In southern San Diego County, the South American palm weevil has been killing Canary Island date palms since it was first trapped in San Ysidro in 2011; an infested crown tilts or collapses into a brown umbrella shape. UC Riverside advises chipping infested crowns rather than moving them whole.

Groves, slopes and older neighborhoods

Escondido was a farm town before it was a suburb. Citrus, olive and walnut trees went in after the 1894 dam, avocados became the biggest crop by the 1960s, and many of today's subdivisions were planted on old grove land. The result is a mix: tired avocado and citrus trees behind newer homes, big eucalyptus from old windbreaks, and in the Old Escondido Historic District, Victorian and Craftsman houses on narrow lots under mature shade trees. Each needs a different approach, from felling a row of grove trees on open ground to lowering a pine piece by piece between two houses.

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What we look at during a free estimate

• Species, trunk size and condition, including beetle holes, cracks, cavities and fungus at the base
• Whether it is an oak that may need city review, or a parkway tree that may belong to the city
• What is underneath: roof, pool, block walls, solar panels, driveway, the neighbor's yard
• Slope and access for climbers, rigging, a chipper, a lift or, rarely, a crane
• Clearance from SDG&E lines and the service drop to the house
• Where the wood, chips and fronds will go, and whether the stump stays or gets ground
• A written price for each tree

Escondido is home base. We work across the city, from the Old Escondido Historic District and the streets around Grand Avenue to the hillside neighborhoods off Bear Valley Parkway, the Felicita and Kit Carson Park areas, and the eastern edge of town toward Lake Wohlford and Dixon Lake. Beyond the city we cover inland North County: San Marcos and Harmony Grove to the west, Valley Center and Hidden Meadows to the north, San Pasqual Valley and Ramona to the east, and Rancho Bernardo and Poway to the south. Rules change at every boundary. Escondido's oak and parkway rules apply inside the city; unincorporated areas fall under San Diego County, and HOAs in planned communities often have their own approval steps. We check what applies at your address before anything is scheduled.