People searching for Humble tree services are usually looking at one of three things: a pine that has started to brown, an oak leaning toward the roof, or a yard still full of limbs after a storm. Around Lake Houston, the answer also depends on which side of a city line your house is on.
This number is free to call and does no tree work of its own. Dial (346) 680-8916, give the automated assistant your ZIP and a quick description of the tree, and the call is handed to an independent, locally owned tree company that covers your area. You talk price and timing with that company directly.
One mailing address, three different jurisdictions
A Humble address can mean the City of Humble, the Kingwood area of the City of Houston, or unincorporated Atascocita. Who regulates a tree, who picks up the limbs and who you call about a street tree changes with each one.
| City of Humble | Kingwood | Atascocita | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local government | Its own city, with its own code of ordinances | City of Houston, annexed in 1996 | Unincorporated Harris County, no city government |
| Tree rules to check | Humble's tree preservation article (aimed at development) and its intersection sight rules | Houston's tree permit for city property and rights of way | HOA and deed restrictions; county permits for grading and fill |
| Street trees and city trees | Ask the City of Humble | Houston 311 | Harris County for county road right of way |
| Limbs and tree waste | City solid waste rules | Houston Solid Waste curbside tree waste | Whatever service your MUD or HOA contracts |
| Electric lines | CenterPoint Energy delivers power in all three. Check your bill if you are unsure. | ||
Inside the City of Humble
The City of Humble keeps its own code. Its planning and development chapter includes a tree preservation article, Article 9.08, written to protect native and adapted trees and to encourage new planting during development, construction and redevelopment. If you are building, adding on or redeveloping a lot inside city limits, ask the city how that article applies before any trees come out. The code measures a tree's caliper at 4.5 feet above the ground, which is worth knowing if anyone mentions tree sizes.
Corner lots have a rule of their own. Humble's sight obstruction section limits plantings in the restricted sight area at intersections, including how low tree branches may hang over it. A low live oak limb over a corner can be a code issue, not just a nuisance.
Utility companies that hold a right of way permit with the city may trim trees overhanging the right of way to keep them off their equipment, and when the city directs it, that trimming is supervised by Humble's public works director.
Kingwood and Atascocita, neighbors with different rulebooks
Kingwood: City of Houston since 1996
Kingwood was founded in 1970, opened its first village in 1971 and was annexed by the City of Houston in 1996. It sits along the shores of Lake Houston and the San Jacinto River. Because it is inside Houston, a tree on the street right of way or other city property needs a city permit before anyone removes or trims it, and dead or hazardous street trees are reported to 311. Houston Solid Waste customers can set out limbs, branches and stumps in odd numbered months, up to 8 cubic yards per home. After the May 2024 storms, the city ran a separate storm debris collection in Kingwood.
Atascocita: unincorporated Harris County
Atascocita is a census designated place in Harris County, spread north and south of FM 1960 about 6 miles east of Humble. With no city government, no city tree permit applies. Many Atascocita neighborhoods sit within municipal utility districts or have their own HOA, and trash and heavy trash service is typically arranged through the MUD or HOA for each section. Before a large removal, check your deed restrictions, and ask whoever handles your trash how much brush they will take and how it must be cut.
Water, wind and the trees that took it
The Lake Houston area is ringed by water: the lake itself, the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, Spring Creek and several bayous. That shapes what happens to trees here.
- Harvey, 2017More than 30 inches of rain fell on parts of the Lake Houston area in four days, and flooding spread across Humble, Kingwood and Atascocita.
- Beryl, 2024Downed trees and long power outages hit Kingwood neighborhoods such as Sand Creek Village, and trees and lines blocked roads in Atascocita.
- Tree densityAfter Beryl, Humble's fire chief noted that areas with heavier tree cover were hit harder than others.
Flooding hurts trees slowly. After Harvey, Texas A&M Forest Service teams surveying a flooded Harris County park found trees that looked healthy the next spring and then began dying back as summer arrived, because standing water had damaged their roots. If your yard took on water, a tree that seems fine may still deserve a look from an arborist.
Beryl's toll in this area was not only property. ABC13 reported that the first of the Houston area's deaths blamed on falling trees during Beryl happened in the Atascocita area, when a tree came through the roof of a home. A big tree leaning over bedrooms is worth having assessed before hurricane season opens on June 1, not after.
Pines, oaks and what usually goes wrong
Drive through Kingwood or the wooded parts of Humble and the skyline is tall pine, with oaks underneath. Each fails in its own way.
Loblolly pines
Texas A&M reported that loblolly pines were hit hard by the February 2021 freeze and that many later died from Ips engraver beetles, which invade stressed pines. The Texas A&M Forest Service lists drought, lightning, storm damage and root injury as other stresses that set pines up for beetle attack. Watch for needles fading from green to yellow or red, and small clumps of hardened pitch on the bark. A dying pine over a house is usually a removal job, and the Forest Service notes beetles can move on to nearby pines.
Oaks
Water oaks and live oaks shade most older streets. Hypoxylon canker, a fungus the Forest Service describes as attacking oaks already weakened by drought, flooding, soil compaction or root damage, shows up as crusty patches on the bark once the tree is well into decline. Oaks that were flooded, trenched for a new driveway or buried under fill are the ones to watch.
Choosing who works on your trees
Most calls from this area are for tree removal in Humble, routine tree trimming to lift limbs off roofs and driveways, or emergency tree removal after a storm. For other jobs, see tree removal across greater Houston, stump grinding and arborist assessments, or browse every town on the service areas page.
Good signs in a company
- Sends a certificate of insurance from its agent when you ask.
- Can give an ISA certification number you can look up.
- Knows whether your address is Humble, Houston or county.
- Puts the price, cleanup and stump in writing.
Reasons to pause
- Knocks on doors after a storm and wants full payment first.
- Wants to work near a power line without involving CenterPoint.
- Recommends topping a healthy oak or crape myrtle.
- Will not say who hauls the debris.
Check the company yourself. Texas has no state license for tree trimming or tree removal, so a business card proves very little. Ask the company for a certificate of general liability insurance sent by its insurance agent, proof of workers' compensation coverage, and the ISA certification number of its arborist. A company that sprays or injects trees for hire needs a pesticide license from the Texas Department of Agriculture or its Structural Pest Control Service. You can confirm a certification with the ISA's credential lookup (opens in a new tab).
Tell the assistant whether you are in Humble, Kingwood or Atascocita. The company you are put through to sees the tree before it gives you a price.
From your call to a company that serves the lake
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (346) 680-8916 and asks what kind of tree work you need.
- Describe the jobGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the tree is doing, including anything on a roof, a car or a line.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company looks at the tree, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Tree Service Houston TX is a free phone line, not a tree service company. It does not trim, remove, quote or schedule tree work and holds no license or arborist certification. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned tree service companies in the Houston area. Those companies may pay Tree Service Houston TX a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.