Tree service in Martindale, Texas

What I see in Martindale yards

Riverfront bald cypress, and the same advice as Wimberley. Cypress knees and shallow buttress roots mean grinding a cypress stump near the bank is a job to think about beforehand rather than during.

The trees I get called about in Martindale

Bald cypress along the San Marcos River running through the middle of town, with pecan and sycamore on the bottomland behind them. Cypress knees and shallow buttress roots are the practical issue. Riverfront bald cypress, which comes with a feature nothing else here has: knees. Those woody projections coming up out of the ground around the base are part of the tree, not something growing on it, and cutting them off to make mowing easier is wounding the root system. Work around them.

How to tell these species apart, and what goes wrong with each one.

The ground underneath: river bottom

Deep, well-drained alluvial soil along the river. Pecan and bald cypress country, and the trees get big. The usual problem isn't health, it's end-weight on long limbs nobody's reduced in decades.

Permits in Martindale

I haven't read Martindale's ordinance closely enough to summarize it here, and I'm not going to guess at a rule that could cost you a mitigation bill. Call the city's planning or development services department and ask two questions: what trunk diameter triggers a permit, and is there a protected species list.

I have verified the rules for Austin, Kyle, Buda and Dripping Springs — those are written up here, along with how to measure your trunk properly, which every one of these ordinances depends on.

Working on a Martindale property

Tiny town, easy streets, but riverfront lots mean soft ground and no equipment near the bank. Eighteen minutes from Kyle. Eighteen minutes from me on the San Marcos River. Stump grinding near a cypress on the bank is the job I'd think hardest about — shallow buttress roots, knees, and soft ground close to the water all argue for care rather than horsepower.

Questions I get from Martindale

Getting me out to Martindale

Martindale is about a 18-minute run for me. Call or text me a photo with something in frame for scale and I can usually give you a number without driving out. Estimates are free either way.

One rule that applies everywhere, including here: don't prune oaks between February 1 and June 30. Here's why.