Arborist in Uki, NSW
Tree work in Uki below Wollumbin
Uki sits beside the Tweed River at the foot of Wollumbin, and the trees we work on come with that setting. Camphor laurel stands along old paddock fence lines and river banks. Big figs and rainforest trees shade the yards of the older houses in the village. Out along Kyogle Road and the side roads the work moves onto acreage, where one tree can be a long walk from the nearest gate and lean over a dam, a shed or a verandah.
Getting to the tree is the first question. Many properties are reached by a steep gravel drive, a one lane bridge or a creek crossing, and a truck cannot always go where the tree stands. Sometimes the saws and ropes are carried in on foot, and the cut timber is dragged back to the track for the chipper. Tweed Shire Council covers the area, and its rules for large or native trees vary, so check with the council before a big tree comes down.
The housing is a mix of old timber cottages on stumps in the village, owner built houses on the hillsides and hobby farms with sheds, dams and horse paddocks. This is wet valley country. After heavy rain the soil on the slopes goes soft and a tree with a heavy crown can lean or let go. Where cleared slopes meet the bush, dry grass and regrowth also need pulling back from sheds and houses before summer.
What we do here most
What Uki properties keep needing
Most Uki jobs are about a tree that is too big or too far from the house for the owner to deal with, on ground where the work has to be planned around the slope.
Tree Removal
Camphor laurel on a river bank or paddock edge
Camphor laurel seeds itself along the river flats and old dairy paddocks, and the oldest ones grow wide crowns with heavy limbs. We look at where the trunk will land, and on a bank we cut it in sections so nothing rolls toward the water. Smaller regrowth is dropped whole. The timber is cut to lengths you can stack or have taken away.
Land Clearing and Fire Breaks
Cutting back regrowth around a hillside shed
Hillside sheds and houses often have lantana, weed trees and long grass pushed right up to the walls. We clear a strip around the building with chainsaws and a mulcher where the ground allows it, and cut a break along the fence line or the track. Anything you want to keep, like a good rainforest tree, is marked first and left standing.
Tree Chipping and Mulching
Turning a fallen tree into mulch for the paddock
On a big block, hauling green waste out through a creek crossing makes little sense. We feed branches through the chipper beside the tree and you decide whether the mulch stays. Many owners spread it round fruit trees, along a driveway edge or over bare slope to hold the soil in the wet. Whatever you do not want is taken away.
Tree Limb Removal
A heavy limb over a verandah or tank stand
Figs and big gums drop limbs in wind and wet weather, and the limb that worries you is often hanging over a verandah, a water tank or a vehicle shed. A climber goes up, ropes the limb and lowers it in pieces so it never lands on the roof. The cut is made back at the branch collar so the tree can seal over.
If it is urgent
If a limb or tree comes down across your Uki driveway
- 1Keep people, kids and animals well away from the fallen tree, and look at it from a distance, especially if the ground around it is wet or on a slope.
- 2Do not climb it, do not cut a limb that is bent or held under tension, and stay well back from anything touching or close to a power line.
- 3When you ring, tell us the road you are on, whether the drive crosses a creek or bridge, and what the tree is resting on, such as the fence, a shed or the house.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Which areas do you cover?
Tweed Heads, the Tweed Coast, Murwillumbah and the Tweed Valley, and the southern Gold Coast as far as Palm Beach and Tallebudgera. Each place has its own page on the service areas page. If yours is not listed, ask, because the list is where we work most often rather than a boundary.
Do you work in Queensland as well as New South Wales?
Yes. The work crosses the border at Tweed Heads and Coolangatta and carries on through Gold Coast suburbs such as Currumbin, Elanora and Bilinga. Which council a tree falls under changes with the side of the border, and that can change what you need to check before a tree comes down.
Which tree jobs do you do?
Trimming, pruning, tree and limb removal, stump grinding, root removal, chipping and mulching, palm tree removal, land clearing and fire breaks, arborist services, commercial tree work, crane-assisted removal and emergency tree work. Each job has its own page on the services page.
Do you do emergency tree work?
Yes. Emergency tree service is one of the jobs on the services page. We are open 24 hours a day, Monday to Saturday, and closed on Sundays. Ring 0458 795 659, say what has come down and what it is lying on, and keep everyone well back until we have spoken.
What is the difference between pruning and lopping?
Pruning takes a branch off at the branch collar, the swelling where it joins the trunk, so the tree can seal the wound. Lopping cuts through a branch anywhere along its length and tends to leave a stub that decays. Pruning is the method for a tree that is staying.
What happens to the branches and the mulch?
Branches and leaves are put through a commercial chipper on site. You can keep the mulch for your garden beds or have it taken away, whichever suits the block.
How far down is a stump ground?
Below ground level, so the spot can go back to lawn, paving or a new planting. Roots are taken out as well when they need to be, and the chips and debris are dealt with as part of the job.
How often do palm trees need cleaning?
Once or twice a year is usual. The job is taking off the dead brown fronds, seed pods and berries that would otherwise land on paths, cars and people.
Do I need council permission to remove a tree?
Often you do, and it varies. Tree preservation rules depend on the council, the zoning, the size of the tree and whether it is a native or protected species. Check with your council before a large or protected tree comes down.
What is crane-assisted tree removal?
A crane takes the weight of each section while a climber makes the cuts, then lifts it clear. It is used for trees that are large, dangerous or too hard to reach any other way, such as ones standing over a house or close to power lines.
What should I tell you when I call?
Where the tree is, roughly how tall it is, what it stands near, such as a roof, fence, pool or wire, and whether it is leaning or has split. A photo taken from a safe distance helps. Say whether a truck can reach the back yard too.
What should I do if a tree or limb is touching a power line?
Stay well back, keep people and pets away, and do not touch the tree or anything it is touching. Treat the line as live and ring 000 if anyone is at risk. Once everyone is clear, ring the number at the top of this page and tell us what is touching what.
Everything we do here
Services in Uki, NSW
The jobs we do are the same everywhere, but around Uki each one gets planned around steep drives, creek crossings and trees that grow a long way from the road.
Also nearby
We work in these suburbs too
Local, and on the phone
Tell us about your Uki property
Send us a description of the tree and how a truck would reach it. Tell us whether the drive is steep, gravel or crosses a creek, and what the tree could fall on.
0458 795 65924 hours a day, Monday to Saturday
Not urgent? Send us the job instead