Tree Service in Fort Myers, FL

Tree service in Fort Myers means working on two very different kinds of plants at once. Most yards here mix broadleaf trees, such as live oak, laurel oak, mahogany, black olive and gumbo limbo, with palms: cabbage palms, royal palms, queen palms, coconut and date palms. Hardwoods are pruned with cuts at branch unions and a plan for the whole crown. Palms have a single growing point and no branches at all, so the right work on a palm is mostly about leaving it alone: taking off what is dead and leaving the green fronds that feed it. A company that treats a palm like an oak, or an oak like a hedge, does damage that shows up in the next storm.

Hurricane country

Fort Myers has seen what wind does to trees. Hurricane Ian made landfall on Cayo Costa on September 28, 2022, as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph sustained winds, and the city suffered catastrophic damage. Afterward the City of Fort Myers put out a bid to replant 143 royal palms along McGregor Boulevard alone. Species matter a lot in storms like that. UF/IFAS research on South Florida trees ranks live oak, gumbo limbo and sabal palm among the most wind-resistant, while laurel oak, black olive and slash pine sit in a medium-low group, and queen palm, Norfolk Island pine and weeping fig in the lowest. That ranking shapes our advice: a healthy live oak usually needs good structural pruning, not removal, while a large laurel oak with decay over the house deserves a harder look.

Palms and the diseases that kill them

Two lethal palm diseases come up again and again in Lee County. Lethal bronzing, caused by a phytoplasma and confirmed in Lee County by UF/IFAS, has been found in 21 palm species, including cabbage palms, queen palms, coconut palms and several date palms. Early signs are fruit dropping early, dead flower stalks and the oldest fronds turning color; once the spear leaf collapses, the palm cannot be saved, and UF advises removing a palm that shows symptoms and tests positive right away. Ganoderma butt rot attacks all palms, shows up as hard shelf-like conks on the lower few feet of the trunk, and has no cure. Infected palms are likely to fall in strong winds, so UF recommends removing them and grinding or removing the stump. We point out these signs when we see them, because the fix for both is timing.

Rain, sand and roots

Fort Myers averages just over 57 inches of rain a year, and about two-thirds of it falls from June through September, the same months that open hurricane season. The ground is flat and sandy, and in late summer it can stay soaked for weeks. Trees with shallow or damaged roots, construction damage, or a lean that has quietly grown worse are most likely to tip when a strong storm arrives on wet soil. Part of every estimate is a look at the base of the tree and the soil around it, not only the canopy.

Permits, mangroves and power lines

Florida statute 163.045 says a local government cannot require a permit, fee or replanting to prune, trim or remove a tree on a single-family residential lot when the owner has a signed tree risk assessment from an ISA Certified Arborist or a Florida-licensed landscape architect showing the tree is an unacceptable risk. Outside that case, city and county landscape codes still apply, and they differ between the City of Fort Myers and unincorporated Lee County. Mangroves are a separate matter: the state allows homeowners to trim a riparian mangrove fringe only within set height limits, and taller mangroves need a professional mangrove trimmer. Trees in contact with power lines belong to the utility: FPL or LCEC, depending on your street.

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What an estimate covers

• Each tree and palm identified, with its condition noted
• Signs of decay, Ganoderma conks or palm decline pointed out
• What sits underneath: roof, lanai, pool cage, seawall, driveway, neighbor's yard
• Overhead lines and whether FPL or LCEC needs to be called first
• Whether a permit or a mangrove trimmer may be needed
• How fronds, brush, logs and stumps will be handled
• A written price for each item, with nothing added unless you approve it

Fort Myers is home base, and the work reaches across Lee County. Inside the city that means the historic streets around McGregor Boulevard and Edison Park, Dean Park and Seminole Park near downtown, the riverfront along the Caloosahatchee, and the neighborhoods east toward I-75. Around it are Cape Coral and North Fort Myers across the river, where LCEC is the electric utility; Iona, McGregor and the Fort Myers Beach side to the southwest; Estero and Bonita Springs to the south; and Lehigh Acres to the east. The whole area shares sandy soil, a summer rainy season and the same hurricane risk. What changes between them is who issues permits, who owns the trees along the road, which utility runs the lines and how close the water is, and each area page covers what applies there.