• Introduction
• Your safety
• Why does Progress Energy prune trees?
• How does Progress Energy prune trees?
• When does Progress Energy recommend removing a tree?
• Tree selection and power lines
• Tree planting tips
• Tree growth regulators
• Free mulch
• Herbicides and Herbicide Use

Providing our customers with safe, reliable and affordable power is a primary goal at Progress Energy. To help meet this goal, Progress Energy has developed and implemented a comprehensive rights-of-way vegetation-management plan that includes tree pruning, tree removals, brush cutting, herbicide application, and tree-growth regulators. Progress Energy understands that implementing this plan requires balancing our responsibility to provide safe and reliable power with concern for the environment.

Progress Energy Florida has been recognized for its progressive tree-care practices with the distinctive Tree Line USA designation from The National Arbor Day Foundation.

Progress Energy is committed to managing our facilities in a manner that helps promote the safety of employees, the community, and customers. For this reason, Progress Energy does not encourage customers or untrained contractors to prune trees near power lines. In some cases it actually may be illegal to prune trees without the services of a certified line-clearance professional. Please call Progress Energy before working near power lines.

Our professional tree contractors are trained to perform the work so that we can provide you with safe, reliable electric service while maintaining the health of your tree.

Pruning helps prevent power outages. Trees are a leading cause of electric outages. One of the best ways to reduce outages for customers is to maintain adequate clearance between trees and power lines by pruning on a regular basis. Pruning helps to ensure that your power stays on during normal weather days, as well as during gusty winds, thunderstorms and wintry weather.

In addition to outage reduction, another reason to prune trees is customer safety, as well as the safety of Progress Energy employees and contractors. Tree limbs that are too close to, or in contact with, power lines may become energized. Limbs close to the lines may break and fall, bringing the power lines to the ground with them. If this occurs, stay away from the line and anything it is touching, and have someone call Progress Energy and emergency services at 911.

• Well-maintained rights of way help speed storm restoration.
  Well-maintained rights of way allow easier access for personnel and vehicles during storm restoration. By maintaining this access to our facilities, we can get all customers' power restored more efficiently and safely.
• Pruning is necessary to ensure electric system reliability.
  Progress Energy and other electric utilities are required by law to maintain our rights of way to ensure a safe and reliable flow of power to homes and businesses.

To maintain the health of your tree while establishing acceptable clearance between energized wires and tree branches, Progress Energy generally uses a technique called "directional pruning." This technique was developed by the National Arborist Association, approved by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI), and adopted by the pruning industry as its standard. It is endorsed and promoted by the National Arbor Day Foundation and the International Society of Arboriculture.

With directional pruning, entire limbs or portions of limbs growing toward the lines are removed back to the main branch or trunk. They are removed at a point where they would naturally shed if they died from natural causes. By doing this, future growth will be directed away from the wires, and rapidly growing, weakly attached sprouts will be minimized. Removing the branches at the point where they normally shed leaves the tree's natural defense system as well as other natural protection processes intact.

To provide adequate clearance and help maintain tree health, our trained tree crews evaluate each tree to determine the tree's structure and growth pattern. This assessment is used to decide which limbs should be removed to accomplish these goals.

There are three situations when tree removal is considered:

1. When a rapidly growing tree is located under or near power lines;                                        
2. When a tree is leaning toward overhead high-voltage wiresand is a danger to the lines; and                                       
3. When a tree has a structural defect that will increase its risk to fall. In these instances, the best solution may be to remove the tree.

If you have any of these situations on your property, contact Progress Energy for an evaluation. From the evaluation, we will be able to provide you with information on what assistance we will be able to offer.

Progress Energy recognizes that you may want to plant trees under or near our wires. With your help and proper tree selection, we can minimize future maintenance and storm restoration problems by providing adequate rights-of-way access. 

Proper tree selection includes understanding how tall or large a tree will eventually grow. As a small seedling, it is difficult to believe that we need to plant the tree so far away from the power lines to avoid a future conflict. The larger a tree's mature size, the farther it needs to be planted from power lines.

Trees come in all shapes and sizes, and there are many trees that can be planted under or near power lines and will not result in interference. Selecting the proper tree can eliminate or reduce the need for pruning. Small trees that can be planted under or near power lines include dogwood, redbud, crape myrtle and yaupon holly.

For additional information on trees that can be planted directly under the utility wires that will have little or no impact to the safe operation of our system, please visit or contact your local nursery.

Medium-sized trees should be planted 25 to 40 feet from the power lines. These include river birch, red cedar, dahoon holly, red bay and persimmon. Large trees such as the oaks, maples, pines, sycamores and hickories should be planted more than 40 feet from the power lines. 

• For information on avoiding tree and utility conflicts, visit the International Society of Arboriculture Web site.

The information in this section applies only to properties with distribution lines. It does not apply to those with transmission lines; Progress Energy does not recommend planting under transmission lines. To learn what type of power lines you live near, please contact us (in Florida or the Carolinas) and request to speak with a forester.

Proper planting of trees can be accomplished by following a few basic guidelines. These include:

• Be sure to select a good quality tree that is free from damage or disease. Fall is generally considered the best time to plant.      
• The hole should be no deeper than the height of the root ball, and the width of the hole should be at least twice as wide as the root ball.      
• Remove any string or twine or burlap that might interfere with the tree's normal development. Also, remember to cut any encircling roots that might girdle the tree.      
• When backfilling the hole, use the soil removed from the hole without the addition of any amendments such as peat moss or potting soil. The soil should be tamped down firmly, but not to the point of compaction.      
• Apply two to four inches of mulch to the surface surrounding the tree to help retain moisture, but do not pile the mulch up against the trunk of the tree.      
• Water thoroughly and repeat when rainfall is absent for more than a week.

Tree growth regulators (TGRs) can be an effective tool to help keep trees away from power lines and reduce the need for pruning. The use of TGRs is typically reserved for fast-growing trees that are located directly under the wires and require frequent pruning.

TGRs are chemical compounds that effectively shorten the amount of limb growth that would otherwise be produced by an untreated tree. The results of treatment typically produce a more dense and darker green tree, as the same number of branches and leaves are being produced by the tree, but in a more compact space.

The most common method of application involves applying the compound to the soil and allowing the tree to naturally absorb the TGR through the root system. The effect of the treatment will generally last between two and five years.

Wood chips and leaf mulch are produced when the branches of pruned trees are fed through a chipper. This mulch can be delivered free to customers in the area where Progress Energy contractor tree crews are working. A truckload of mulch is equivalent to approximately three to four pick-up truckloads. If you see a tree crew working in your neighborhood and you would like a load of mulch, contact them for details.

Experience and many years of industry study have shown that the proper use of herbicides is one of the safest and most effective means of controlling undesirable vegetation on the electricity rights of way.

For more information on the herbicides used, their Material Safety Data Sheets, and application techniques see Herbicide Usage.