On this page
- When is it safe to cut on an oak?
- What should come off after ice or a hard freeze?
- Is something eating the leaves off your elm?
- Who handles limbs growing into power lines?
- Do limbs over a street corner have to be cut back?
- Can you cut a neighbor's limbs that hang over your fence?
- Should it be trimmed or taken down?
- What does a trim usually cost?
When is it safe to cut on an oak?
From July through January, going by the Forest Service's advice. Its oak wilt page asks Texans to avoid "pruning or wounding oak trees from February through June," and its cold and ice damage page repeats the rule and adds: "Be sure to immediately paint any new wounds on oak trees that are created during cleanup" (checked Nov 14, 2026).
The reason is oak wilt. According to the Forest Service, every oak species can be infected; red oaks matter most to its spread because they form fungal mats; and live oaks, which grow from root sprouts and share huge connected root systems, pass it underground at an average of about 75 feet a year. The disease had been confirmed in 76 Texas counties when the page was checked on Nov 14, 2026. This site found no confirmation either way for Kaufman County, so the February-to-June rule is worth keeping in Forney just as much as anywhere else.
What should come off after ice or a hard freeze?
The broken wood, first. Ice breaks limbs, and the Forest Service's cold and ice page says most live oaks, along with many other trees that had leaves at the time, may also have taken freeze damage (checked Nov 14, 2026). Kaufman County was in FEMA's disaster declaration for the February 2021 winter storm (DR-4586).
What shouldn't come off right away is wood that only looks dead. After that 2021 freeze, the Forest Service reported many oaks, live oaks among them, still bare months later. Gardening expert Neil Sperry, quoted in the Forest Service's release, put it as "Don't start cutting those trees," and the agency's test was that a tree with zero leaves by mid-July is dead (checked Nov 14, 2026). A cracked limb hanging over a walkway is a hazard now. A bare branch that may leaf out by summer can wait. Two more points from the same page: paint any oak wounds made during cleanup, and hold off on burning the debris until spring green-up, when wildfire danger is lower.
Is something eating the leaves off your elm?
If an elm keeps losing its leaves in summer, elm leaf beetle is one thing to ask about. The Forest Service says these beetles "defoliate all species of elm and are found wherever elms grow in Texas," can strip an elm's foliage entirely, and run through 2 to 4 generations a year here. Elms defoliated year after year "may die or be weakened" enough that other insects and diseases move in (checked Nov 14, 2026).
Trimming doesn't treat beetles. What it can do, on an elm that's been stripped several summers running, is take out the dead wood that builds up in a weakened crown. Mention the leaf loss when you describe the tree, so the contractor knows to look for it.
Who handles limbs growing into power lines?
Not you, and not anyone with a pole saw from the ground. Texas Health and Safety Code §752.004 keeps workers, and anything they're holding or moving, at least six feet from a high-voltage overhead line unless the danger has been guarded against as §752.003 requires, which includes telling the line's operator 48 hours before work that close (checked Nov 14, 2026). The Forest Service's storm advice is plain: "DO NOT remove limbs on or near power lines."
Trees and lines are a known problem across the Dallas area. After the May 28, 2024 windstorm, Oncor called it "the second most damaging storm the company has experienced in its 112-year history," named tree debris as the main cause of the outages, and said it was considering cutting back more large trees near overhead lines (NBC 5 DFW news report, Aug. 1, 2024; checked Nov 14, 2026). Who trims the line running from the pole to your house depends on your electric provider, and this site couldn't confirm any provider's policy, so ask the company named on your bill.
Do limbs over a street corner have to be cut back?
Forney's Code of Ordinances has a section titled "Trees near street corners to be trimmed" (§12.06.004, numbered Sec. 12.804 in the older code), and another titled "Duty of owner to cut and remove weeds, brush, and unsightly matter" (§6.05.005). Only the titles were read for this site, so ask the city what clearance it expects if your tree shades a corner (checked Nov 14, 2026).
Some of Forney's busiest roads aren't the city's at all. The Forney EDC lists Highway 80 and FM 548, 1641, 740 and 460 as TxDOT roads the city doesn't control, so questions about limbs over those roads go to the state (checked Nov 14, 2026).
Can you cut a neighbor's limbs that hang over your fence?
Generally yes, up to the property line. Texas has no statute on it, the Texas State Law Library says, but the common-law right of self-help lets you trim branches that cross onto your property, up to the line, without injuring the tree or going onto the neighbor's land; you can be liable if the trimming damages the tree (FAQ updated Mar. 8, 2024; checked Nov 14, 2026). If one of those limbs comes down on your roof in a storm, the Texas Department of Insurance says to look to your own homeowners policy; the neighbor's usually pays only if the neighbor was at fault. More on that is on the storm page.
Should it be trimmed or taken down?
The Forest Service gives three questions for a damaged tree: Is at least half the crown (branches and leaves) still intact? Has the central leader, the main upward-growing stem, been lost? Are major limbs broken? A tree with a split trunk, or one missing more than half its leaves, "probably won't survive" (checked Nov 14, 2026). If the answers lean that way, start with the tree removal guide; if the tree is dead or declining for reasons you can't see, the dead and dying trees page goes through the usual causes.
What does a trim usually cost?
Angi puts the average trimming job at about $450, with most between $375 and $525 (national figures, checked Nov 14, 2026). Storm cleanup is often priced by the hour instead, at $150 to $250 an hour in HomeGuide's figures. The size of the tree, how much comes off, whether a bucket truck is needed and whether the brush is hauled all move the price; the cost page has the full tables.
A good written price for a trim says which limbs come off, how high the canopy gets lifted over the roof or driveway, and what happens to the brush. To get one, call (469) 689-1811 or describe the tree in the request form; one independent contractor working in Kaufman County takes it from there. Trimming near lines or on land the city rule covers? Check the Forney rules page first.
Sources: Texas A&M Forest Service: oak wilt, Texas oak wilt, cold and ice damage (modified June 2, 2025), oaks after the 2021 winter storm, elm leaf beetle, can my tree be saved; FEMA DR-4586; Tex. Health & Safety Code §752.004 and §752.003; NBC 5 DFW, Aug. 1, 2024; Forney Code table of old and new section numbers; Forney EDC FAQ; Texas State Law Library, neighbor's tree FAQ; TDI column; Angi, tree service cost; HomeGuide; Forney Zoning Ordinance, Sec. 39a. All checked Nov 14, 2026.