Downsview Tree Service
Downsview ยท Toronto, Ontario
Downsview Tree Service offers tree trimming, tree removal, stump grinding, dead branch removal and emergency storm damage cleanup on residential and commercial lots from Keele Street over to Wilson Heights. Every cut we make is backed by full insurance. The first visit is free, and the price we leave with you is written down before a single branch is cut.
Call (647) 370-3584.
Name the tree, add your street, and our arborist will stop by to size up the job. Or call (647) 370-3584.
We plan every job around the wind and the clay, because those two things decide how trees fail on these streets. Our arborists look at which way a tree leans, how thick its crown is and how wet the ground stays before suggesting any tree trimming or removal. Our about page explains how a Downsview job runs from first call to final rake.
Every quote arrives in writing, with the work listed line by line so you know what each dollar pays for. Cleanup is part of the price. Chips and logs leave with our truck unless you want firewood, and the grass is raked before we go.
Every option here accounts for the breeze off the old runway lands and the heavy soil underfoot.
Tree trimming and pruning keeps a yard tree light enough to ride out strong wind on open, flat ground. We shape the crown, clear branches off the roof and wires, and remove weak limbs before they break, with every job fully insured.
View Tree Trimming and Pruning
Dead branch removal gets grey, snapped and leafless wood out of the crown while the weather is calm, instead of waiting for a gust to throw it at shingles, windshields or the front steps. Our crew cuts them back to healthy wood, lowers each piece with ropes, and takes the debris away, and the whole job is covered by insurance.
View Dead Branch Removal
Emergency storm damage cleanup removes fallen trees, snapped trunks and hanging limbs after high winds, heavy snow or ice. Our crew lifts trunks off shingles and car hoods, opens the driveway and secures what is left standing. Every call is insured.
View Emergency Storm Damage Cleanup
Tree removal takes down trees that are dead, dying, badly leaning or too close to the house to keep. Cutting happens in measured pieces, tight spots get rope lowering, and cleanup is included. Insurance backs the entire removal.
View Tree Removal
Crown thinning and canopy reduction cut the weight a big tree has to hold up when wind sweeps across open Downsview lots. Thinning opens gaps inside the canopy, and reduction trims the tallest and widest limbs back to side branches. Both are fully insured.
View Crown Thinning and Canopy Reduction
Tree cabling and bracing supports weak joints in a tree so the stems do not split apart in heavy wind. Steel lines go in near the top of the crown, and rods may pass through a cracked fork. Insurance covers it all.
View Tree Cabling and Bracing
Stump grinding and removal gets rid of the stump that stays behind after a tree comes down. A grinder turns the old trunk into chips below the sod line, the hole gets filled, and your insurance worries stay with us.
View Stump Grinding and RemovalGaps in a thinned crown let gusts slip past, so the trunk takes a smaller shove. On open lots with little shelter, that one change does more to prevent storm damage than anything else.
Rubbing or feeble limbs cut out while they are thin never get the chance to tear a trunk open later. Careful tree trimming and pruning every few years costs far less than a single emergency visit.
Lighter branches over the roof, the driveway and the fence line mean less to clean up after a storm and fewer insurance calls.
Healthy cuts close over cleanly. Trees that get pruned on a regular schedule stay stronger, grow more evenly and live longer in tough clay soil.
Point out as many trees as you like during the visit. Each one shows up on the paper quote with its own price.
Tree trimming matters more here than on sheltered streets because the land gives trees so little help. Downsview sits on high, flat ground, and that is exactly why an aircraft maker picked it for a runway in 1929: the wind blows across it steadily and nothing gets in its way. The same breeze that suited airplanes now pushes on every maple, spruce and honey locust in the neighbourhood.
The soil adds a second problem. Most yards sit on heavy clay that holds water after rain and dries hard in August. Roots in clay tend to spread out flat instead of going deep. When the ground is soaked and a strong gust hits a full crown, a tree can tip over with its roots still attached. Regular tree trimming lowers the load on those roots, and that is the simplest way to keep a tree standing.
A tall tree with a dense crown acts like a sail. On the open land around Downsview Park, where the former runways once ran, wind reaches yard trees at full speed from the west and northwest. Crown thinning and canopy reduction lets that wind pass through the branches so the trunk and roots take less strain.
We thin by taking out selected inner limbs, not by chopping the top off. Summer shade survives, and from the street the maple still looks like itself.
Dead wood is dry and brittle, so it is always the first thing to fall when the wind picks up. Emerald ash borer wiped out the ash on local blocks, yet a few grey skeletons still tower over bungalows and driveways. Dead branch removal takes those limbs down on a calm day, on our schedule, instead of letting a storm drop them.
July is the easiest month to find dead wood, since it stands out bare against green. A limb that never greened up this spring deserves a closer look before winter.
When a big limb lands on a roof or blocks a driveway, you need someone there fast. With emergency storm damage cleanup, we pull trunks off roofs, bring down hung-up limbs and snap photos your insurer will want to see.
Any limb resting on a wire belongs to Toronto Hydro until they say it is safe. After that, our crew takes over.
A few trees reach a point where pruning and cables no longer make sense. A trunk that has started to lift the soil on one side, a crown that is mostly dead, or a split that runs deep into the wood all point toward tree removal. We take trees down in small sections so nothing drops on the house, the fence or the neighbour's shed.
City rules add a step for bigger trees. A private trunk 30 cm thick or more, measured at chest height, cannot legally come down without a permit. An update on September 1, 2026 added a "distinctive tree" class for trunks 61 cm and up, and for those the answer from the City may simply be no. We help you sort out the permit side before the work is booked.
A tree with two main stems growing in a tight V is a common weak point, and wind across open ground puts that joint under stress every day. Tree cabling and bracing adds steel support high in the crown so the stems move together instead of pulling apart.
Cabling works best before a crack opens. If the joint already shows a split, we tell you honestly whether a cable will hold or whether removal is safer.
After a removal, a stump can sit in the lawn for years, sprouting shoots and hiding under the mower. With stump grinding and removal, that stub gets turned into mulch below grade, leaving room for fresh sod or a replacement sapling.
We rake the chips back into the hole or haul them away. Clay soil settles slowly, so topping up the hole a few weeks later keeps the lawn level.
Red and bur oaks around Downsview carry a seasonal rule: fresh wounds made between spring and mid-fall invite oak wilt, a fungus that can kill the whole tree in one summer. So oak tree trimming on our calendar lands between November and March, once the sap beetles that spread the fungus have gone quiet.
Other trees are more flexible. Most maples, lindens and locusts can be trimmed in any season, though winter work is often easier on the lawn because the ground is frozen.
That strip of grass between the sidewalk and the road is usually City land, and so is whatever grows on it. Problems with those trees go through 311, and the City sends its own crew. Report those through 311. Anything growing on your own side of the lot line is where our crew comes in.
First, a phone call or a message through our form gets a walk-around booked for a day and hour you pick.
An arborist looks at each tree, checks the lean, the crown and the ground around the trunk, and talks through what should come off and why.
A paper quote follows, listing each tree, the work on it and one total that stays fixed.
When work day comes, plywood goes down over soft grass, ropes go up into the crown, and every cut lands just outside the branch collar.
Last, brush goes through the chipper, firewood gets piled wherever you point, and a rake passes over every patch of grass we touched.
These photos show pruning, removals, stump grinding and dead limb work of the kind we do every week.
We work across Downsview, from the streets around Keele Street and Wilson Avenue up to Sheppard Avenue, and over into Wilson Heights near Allen Road. We also take calls from homes near Downsview Park, the Black Creek valley and Downsview Dells Park. If your street is close by and you are not sure it is on our list, send us a note and we will let you know right away.
One call or one message books a walk-around, and the quote that follows is yours to keep.
The land is high, flat and open, with fewer big buildings or old woods to break the wind. Gusts reach yard trees at full strength, so crowns that are too heavy tend to lose limbs or tip over.
Yes. Clay holds water and keeps roots near the surface. We keep crowns lighter on trees in wet clay and watch for soil lifting at the base, which is an early sign that a tree is starting to lean.
A single Toronto tree trimming job commonly lands near $350 to $1,200, with height, the amount of wood coming out and access through the side yard driving the number. Only the paper quote from your free visit gives the true figure.
Normal pruning of a private tree usually does not need a permit. Cutting that would injure a tree 30 cm or wider, or any removal of one, does. Our arborist can tell during the free visit which side of that line your job sits on.
We answer storm calls as fast as we can and put the most dangerous jobs first, such as trees on roofs or blocking a driveway. Dial (647) 370-3584 with your address and a word on what came down.
Two or three lines are enough for us to plan your visit. If talking is easier than typing, our line at (647) 370-3584 is open.
