Tree Service in Wichita, KS

Tree service in Wichita is mostly about wind. The National Weather Service recorded a 102 mph gust at the Wichita airport on June 17, 2025, the strongest ever reported there, and its storm summary says tree damage was very extensive throughout much of the city, with about 85,000 people losing power. Spring and summer thunderstorms bring hail and straight-line winds most years, and ice storms add weight to bare limbs in winter. The trees that do well on the Arkansas River plain, like cottonwood, Siberian elm, hackberry and silver maple, grow quickly and get big, and big, fast-grown wood over a roof is where most of our calls start.

Wind, hail and ice

Wichita's weather does not let up on trees. Wikipedia's climate summary for the city lists frequent spring and summer thunderstorms with large hail, an average wind of about 13 mph, and roughly 65 days a year at 90 degrees or hotter. The NWS Wichita office has written up ice storms in 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, and the January 2005 storm, which the office calls the costliest ice storm in Kansas history, left more than 50,000 people in Sedgwick County without power. Long limbs reaching over a house, forks with bark pinched between two stems, and trees with old decay are the ones that fail first. Shortening and thinning them before storm season is cheaper than cleaning up after.

Soil and water

K-State's Sedgwick County Extension office describes local soils as anything from sandy to heavy clay, usually alkaline with a pH of 7.2 or higher, with about 30 inches of rain a year and summer highs that have reached 111 degrees. On alkaline soil, trees such as pin oak and silver maple often show iron chlorosis: pale, yellow leaves with green veins. Clay that stays wet after heavy rain and dry, cracked ground in August both stress roots, and stressed trees are the ones that drop limbs and draw insects.

Pines in decline

Pine wilt is the reason many Wichita-area pines are dying. K-State Research and Extension says Scots pine is the species most seriously affected in Kansas, Austrian pine is also hit, and infected trees usually die within about three months. The needles turn gray-green, then yellow and brown, but stay on the tree. The recommended control is to remove infected trees to ground level and burn, bury or chip the wood before April 1, before the beetles that carry the disease come out in spring. We treat a browning pine as a job with a deadline.

Ash trees and emerald ash borer

As of the Kansas Department of Agriculture's current list, emerald ash borer has been confirmed in northeast Kansas counties such as Wyandotte, Johnson, Douglas and Shawnee, and Sedgwick County is not on the list. Ash trees are still common in Wichita yards, though, and the insect has kept spreading since it was first found in Kansas in 2012. If we see thinning crowns, woodpecker damage or D-shaped holes on an ash, we will tell you, and the department asks that suspected cases be reported to it at 785-564-6698.

Whose tree is it?

The City of Wichita says it does not work on trees on private property, and that owners on each side of an alley each take care of the vegetation on their half. After a windstorm, the city treats branches from private trees as the owner's responsibility, except when it announces a citywide pickup after a widespread disaster. If a tree looks like it stands in the street right-of-way, we flag it before quoting so you can ask the city's Forestry office first.

Get a Free Estimate

What an estimate covers

• Species, size, lean and the condition of the crown, trunk and base
• What is under the tree: roof, garage, fence, alley line, neighbor's yard
• Power lines, and whether the utility needs to be involved first
• Access through gates, alleys and driveways for climbers, a chipper or a lift
• What happens to the logs, brush and stump
• A written price for each tree

Wichita is the middle of our service area, from Riverside, Delano and College Hill to the newer subdivisions on the east and west edges of town. We also work across Sedgwick County and next door: Derby, Haysville and Mulvane to the south; Andover and Augusta to the east; Bel Aire, Park City, Valley Center and Kechi to the north; and Maize, Goddard and Cheney to the west. The older neighborhoods have bigger trees, narrower side yards and alley power lines; the newer ones have younger trees, more Bradford pears and more HOA rules; the acreages at the edge of town have windbreaks full of pine and cedar. Wind and ice reach all of them. Each area page covers what we know about that place.