Baldone differs from the dense suburbs of Rīga in that the area we serve is dispersed: the town centre is compact, but around it stretch forests, hilly country and rural properties where a single site can be several kilometres along a local road.
Old trees in the old development
In the historic part of Baldone and at the old farmsteads there are fully grown trees — limes, oaks, maples, horse chestnuts — often older than the present owners. They are handsome and valuable, but they also show signs of age.
The commonest finding in a tree like this is a cavity in the trunk or bracket fungi at the base. That is not an automatic death sentence, but it changes the method: climbing a rotten tree can be unsafe, and the tree does not break where you expect it to. Separately on that: rotten and hollow tree removal.
Forest right up to the houses
The country around Baldone is wooded, and on many properties the boundary of the plot is also the boundary of the forest. A spruce or a pine grown in the forest and then left on an open edge takes a wind load it is not used to — which is why trees on a forest edge come down more often than those in the middle of a stand.
The practical answer is usually not to clear a strip but to survey the edge trees and remove the few that genuinely threaten buildings. The starting point is a tree health assessment.
Hilly terrain
The country around Baldone is hillier than the level Ķekava side, and some sites lie on slopes or in places that are hard to reach. That affects two things: where machinery can be positioned, and in which direction a tree may be felled at all.
On slopes we work more often with ropes and carry the material out to a point where a trailer can be brought up. If there is no access at all, that is no obstacle either — we work without vehicle access, but we need to know beforehand.
Travelling to dispersed sites
In and around Baldone the distances between sites are greater than in the suburbs, and the road surfaces vary in places. So we try to combine planned work here: several nearby sites in one visit cost less than each one separately.
If the job is not an emergency, say so — we will offer a date when we are already travelling in the Baldone or Ķekava direction.
Spa-era planting and the old parks
Baldone has many trees planted back in the heyday of the spa — rows of limes along the paths, horse chestnuts beside the buildings, individual oaks at the edges of the parks. These trees were planted deliberately, to a set pattern, and it is not right to judge them by the same measure as self-sown trees in the corner of a garden. When one tree is cut out of such a row, a gap is left that nobody will fill again.
So most of the work in the old plantings is care and risk reduction rather than felling. In practice that means removing dead and broken branches above paths and benches, relieving the crown where a branch has outgrown itself, and checking the tree's condition before any decision is taken. A few hours' work is often enough to keep a tree safe for years more.
Some of the older trees may be protected or may meet the dimensions of a heritage tree — worth establishing beforehand rather than after the work. If you are unsure, read about heritage and protected trees, or we check it during the survey. If the tree's condition raises doubts, we carry out a tree health assessment before the work.
What we do with the timber and branches
In Baldone almost every house counts on firewood, so we agree about it during the survey. If you want to keep the timber, we cut the trunk to the length you need — usually a metre or firewood length — and stack it where you say, rather than leaving it scattered over the lawn. We do not split it, but we leave the prepared material so that it can easily be moved and stacked.
The branches and fine material we usually chip on site. You can keep the wood chip — in Baldone gardens it is useful for paths, for mulching beds and for finishing the edges of a meadow. If you do not need it, we take it away with the rest of the arisings.
- The trunk cut to length and stacked on site, if the firewood stays with you
- Branch chipping right there on the site, without dragging branches through the whole garden
- The wood chip stays in the garden or is taken away — as you prefer
- We can grind the stumps out straight away or leave them cut low, if that is not in the way
A clear agreement about the timber also affects the scope of the work and therefore the price — the less there is to take away, the less removal work there is.
What we do in Baldone
In Baldone we offer our full range of services — from a single dangerous tree to clearing an entire site. The most frequently requested:
- Dangerous tree removal — Dead, rotten, leaning and damaged trees. We assess first, then cut.
- Emergency tree removal — Fallen and broken trees after a storm — we come out the same day.
- Tree crown care — Crown shaping, thinning and deadwood removal.
- Stump grinding — Stump grinding without digging — the lawn stays almost untouched.
- Tree health assessment — Is the tree dangerous? We survey it and tell you what to do.
- Branch and timber removal — Removal of branches and timber, including where someone else did the cutting.
The full list with descriptions is in the services section.
How the work happens
- We get back to you within 5 minutes. Fill in the form and attach photos showing the tree at full height, its base and its surroundings. That is often enough for a rough quote.
- Assessment. We reply with an approximate price and method. In more complicated cases we come out to Baldone to look before the work.
- A permit, if one is needed. We check whether the Baldone local authority requires one for that particular tree, and we handle the paperwork for you.
- The work. We agree a time, arrive with everything needed and cordon off the working area.
- Clearing up. We chip or collect the branches and take them away. We don't leave wood chip in the garden. If you want the firewood, we cut it to length and stack it where you ask.
What the price depends on in Baldone
There is no flat rate per tree. In Baldone the quote is affected by the height and girth of the tree, its species and condition, decay or cavities in the trunk, the distance to buildings, the terrain and the access, whether climbing or machinery is needed, and the volume to be taken away.
In Baldone the call-out is included in the price, so combining several jobs in one visit, or a joint order with neighbours, gives a noticeable saving here. We have set out the full list with explanations on the prices page.