Tree Service in Southaven, MSFor homes in Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, Hernando and the rest of DeSoto County
An oak limb resting on the shingles, a pine at the back fence gone rust-brown, a pecan split by ice, a trunk across the driveway after a spring storm: whatever the tree is doing at your Southaven, Mississippi home, call or send the short form and say what stands near it. One independent contractor who works in Southaven and around DeSoto County gets the request, comes out to look at the tree, and puts a price in writing.
- Each request goes to one contractor
- Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, Hernando, Walls, Nesbit
Ice, wind and tornadoes on DeSoto County's record
Mississippi's 2023 State Hazard Mitigation Plan counts 44 winter storm events in DeSoto County from 1996 to 2022, the most of any county in its table. Spring brings tornadoes and straight-line winds as well. These four events come from National Weather Service surveys and federal disaster records (all checked Nov 11, 2026):
- Feb 5, 2008EF-2 tornado starts at Southaven High School
The NWS Memphis survey puts the touchdown at the high school at about 5:32 p.m. From there the tornado ran northeast across I-55, causing tree and minor roof damage, and did EF-2 damage in the warehouse district near Stateline Road and Airways Boulevard. Its path was nearly 11 miles long and as much as a quarter mile wide, with winds near 130 mph. After crossing into Tennessee it struck a warehouse near Clarke Road, where three people were killed.
- Jan 23–27, 2026Winter Storm Fern
FEMA's major disaster declaration DR-4899 designated DeSoto County for both individual and public assistance. Entergy reported damage from "ice-laden trees and power lines" and about 87,000 Entergy Mississippi customers who lost service during the storm. MSU Extension wrote that the storm "will have long-lasting effects on forests across north Mississippi."
- Mar 31, 2023An EF-2 that ended near Horn Lake
The track ran 22.87 miles from Tunica County to about 3 miles south-southeast of Horn Lake and was 1,200 yards wide at its widest, with peak winds estimated at 130 mph. The NWS survey: "There was consistent damage for over 20 miles, mainly snapped and uprooted trees."
- Feb 9–14, 1994The north Mississippi ice storm
FEMA's DR-1009 included DeSoto County. Across north Mississippi, the NWS office in Jackson reports, nearly 750,000 customers lost power, some for up to a month, and damage to trees in urban areas was estimated at another $27 million on top of the timber losses.
Sources: NWS Memphis damage survey statement of Feb 6, 2008 (in the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive); FEMA disaster declarations for DeSoto County; Entergy, winter storm update; MSU Extension, The Overstory, May 2026; NWS Memphis, March 31, 2023 tornado surveys; NWS Jackson, 1994 ice storm; MEMA, State Hazard Mitigation Plan, Section 3.9. More on the storm and emergency page.
From your call to a written price
Say what's wrong
Phone or send the form. Mention what sits under or near the tree: roof, patio cover, fence, shed, pool, the wire to the house, a neighbor's yard.
It goes to one contractor
A single independent contractor who works in DeSoto County receives your details. Nobody else gets them.
A visit and a price
The contractor contacts you the way you asked, walks the yard, and writes down what the job covers, including the stump and the wood, and what it costs.
Your decision
Nothing is booked until you agree. Timing, payment, any city permit on a bigger lot, and hauling are settled between you and the contractor.
Guides to tree work in DeSoto County
Each guide is written for houses in Southaven and the towns around it, where four city codes, one county code and two power companies can all have a say in what happens to a tree. Rules are taken from the cities, the county and the state, and every changeable figure is dated and sourced.
Tree removal
On a residential lot of an acre or less in Southaven, or under an acre in Horn Lake or Hernando, no city tree permit applies, and Olive Branch's tree rules cover development plans only (checked Nov 11 and 12, 2026). The removal guide covers the bigger lots where that changes, big oaks a few feet from a patio, wires, and the wood the cities won't haul.
Tree trimming
The trimming guide starts where many calls do, with oak limbs reaching over or resting on a shingle roof. It covers what ice does to limbs, what Entergy trims along its lines and the service wire it leaves to the owner, Mississippi's 10-foot rule for work near high-voltage lines, and published trimming prices.
Stump grinding
Mississippi 811 needs three to ten working days' notice before mechanical digging, and a ticket now lasts 20 calendar days (checked Nov 11, 2026). The stump guide explains how that applies to a grinder, which buried lines nobody marks, deep pecan roots, and what grinding costs per inch of stump.
Storm and emergency work
A tree on the roof or across the service wire calls for a set order: people out, the power company called, photos taken, then saws. The storm guide has Entergy's outage line, what the Mississippi Insurance Department tells homeowners, the three-day cancel rule for door-to-door deals, and Mississippi's price-gouging law.
Dead or leaning trees
MSU Extension describes Ips beetle attacks that start with pitch tubes, "dried, white balls of sap that look like popcorn," and end with a brown crown and a dead pine. The guide covers dying pines, oaks shedding bark from hypoxylon canker, leaf scorch, ice-bent trees and trees leaning over cracked, heaved ground.
Pecan tree removal
The USDA Forest Service places pecan's native range in the lower Mississippi Valley, east to western Mississippi, and University of Florida hurricane studies rank it among the least wind-resistant trees in the Southeast. The pecan guide covers size, deep roots, the 1994 ice storm, scab, scorch and twig girdlers.
Before anyone cuts
DeSoto County tree rules
The four cities agree on ordinary house lots and part ways above them: Southaven's notice of 14 to 45 days and fines by trunk size on larger land, and Horn Lake's and Hernando's $100 permits with tree mitigation. The rules guide also covers 811, burning and limb pickup, with a side-by-side table.
What tree work costs
HomeGuide puts the national range for removing a tree at $300 to $2,000 on average, or $5 to $25 per foot of height (checked Nov 11, 2026). No guide published DeSoto County prices, so the cost page lays out national tables with their dates and explains what raises the price on a local lot.
DeSoto County trees
Southaven's own code lists water, willow and white oak among the trees it accepts for replanting and turns down ornamental pears and native sweetgum. The trees page covers the oaks, pecan, Bradford pear, sweetgum, magnolia and loblolly pine, how each holds up in wind, and the loess soils they grow in.
Hiring a tree service
What the written agreement should say about where pieces land, who calls 811, who hauls the brush and when money is due, with the Mississippi Attorney General's advice on deposits and the federal and state rules for canceling a sale signed at your door.
What moves the price
National guides set the usual range for taking one tree down at about $200 to $2,000. HomeGuide's average is $1,150, Angi's $750 and Forbes Home's $1,200 (all checked Nov 11, 2026). Nobody has published prices gathered from DeSoto County contractors, so treat those as a rough frame. What finally matters is the figure written down for your own tree after a visit.
Hauling matters more here than many homeowners expect. Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake and Hernando all say they won't collect brush left by a tree service (checked Nov 11, 2026), so the price should say plainly whether the wood leaves with the crew.
| At your house | How it changes the job |
|---|---|
| Height | HomeGuide's national tiers run from $150–$500 under 30 feet to $1,200–$2,700 over 80 feet (checked Nov 11, 2026) |
| A roof or patio underneath | Pieces are cut small and lowered on ropes instead of dropped |
| Wires | Work that could come within 10 feet of a high-voltage line waits on arrangements with the utility (Miss. Code § 45-15-3, checked Nov 11, 2026) |
| A crane | HomeGuide adds $500 to $2,500 a day (checked Nov 11, 2026) |
| The wood | The cities won't take tree-service debris; HomeGuide lists $75 to $250 per dump trip (checked Nov 11, 2026) |
| The stump | Grinding averages $2 to $6 per inch of width, HomeGuide says (checked Nov 11, 2026) |
| A lot over an acre | Horn Lake and Hernando may require a $100 permit plus tree mitigation (checked Nov 11 and 12, 2026) |
Local rules at a glance
DeSoto County has four cities with their own codes, plus Walls and a large unincorporated area under county rules. For a typical house lot the answer is the same everywhere checked: no tree removal permit. The rules guide has the details and the exceptions.
An ordinary lot
Southaven's zoning code (Sec. 13-11) exempts residential lots of one acre or less; Horn Lake and Hernando exempt residential parcels under one acre; Olive Branch applies its tree rules to development site plans (checked Nov 11 and 12, 2026). Before relying on Southaven's size thresholds for a larger property, confirm them with the city's planning office through City Hall, 662-280-2489.
The brush
Olive Branch's guidelines say it in capital letters: "WE DO NOT PICK UP AFTER TREE SERVICES." Hernando won't take limbs "cut by a commercial trimming service," and Horn Lake won't collect yard waste from "tree cutting services." Southaven's ordinance says the city "shall not provide collection of trees or similar items" (all checked Nov 11, 2026).
Burning
"Open burning is not allowed inside any of the municipalities within DeSoto County," the county says. Outside city limits, a same-day county permit covers brush under 5 inches thick, burned at least 150 feet from any standing structure and out by dark. The permit line is 662-469-8080 (checked Nov 11, 2026).
Towns and communities served
DeSoto County sits on Mississippi's line with Shelby County, Tennessee. The Census Bureau's population figure for July 1, 2025 is 197,918, up 6.8% since April 2020 (checked Nov 11, 2026). Hernando is the county seat.
Southaven
The largest of the four cities, with about 57,819 people in the Census Bureau's 2025 figures (checked Nov 11, 2026). City trash crews take limbs no longer than 4 to 5 feet and no thicker than 12 inches from homeowners, but not trees cut by contractors.
Olive Branch
Some Olive Branch homes get power from Entergy Mississippi and others from Northcentral Electric Cooperative, which has its headquarters in the city. Olive Branch has no homeowner tree permit, and its boom trucks take limbs cut to 5 or 6 feet.
Horn Lake
The most densely settled of the four cities, at about 1,668 people per square mile in the 2020 Census (checked Nov 11, 2026). Residential parcels under an acre need no tree permit; larger ones generally need a permit for protected trees, $100 at minimum, with replanting or $300 a tree paid into a city fund (checked Nov 11, 2026).
Hernando
The county seat, with five historic districts, Courthouse Square among them, and the fastest growth of the four cities, 9.8% since April 2020 (checked Nov 11, 2026). A May 2025 tornado snapped and uprooted trees along Thousand Oaks Drive.
Walls
Entergy Mississippi lists Walls among the places served from its DeSoto service center on Highway 51 North. Local tree rules for Walls weren't confirmed for this site, so ask Walls's own officials before a large job, and check the burning rules with the county.
Nesbit, Lake Cormorant, Lewisburg
Unincorporated communities that follow county rules: no tree permit for an existing home, burning allowed with the county's same-day permit, and county rubbish pits on West Sandidge Road in Olive Branch and Starlanding Road West in Lake Cormorant that accept limbs and leaves.
Common questions from DeSoto County homeowners
Is a Southaven permit required to remove a yard tree?
Not on a residential lot of one acre or less. Southaven's zoning code (Sec. 13-11) exempts those lots from tree removal permits and tree surveys, and it also exempts unplatted residential parcels of five acres or less with an occupied house on them (checked Nov 11, 2026). Larger land falls under a notice-and-replacement rule, so confirm with City Hall at 662-280-2489 before cutting there.
Will the city pick up the limbs once the tree is down?
Not when a tree service cut them. All four cities say they leave contractor debris to the contractor. Limbs you cut yourself can go to the curb within each city's limits: Southaven 4 to 5 feet long and 12 inches thick, Horn Lake 5 feet and 10 inches, Hernando 4 feet and 6 inches, Olive Branch 5 to 6 feet (checked Nov 11, 2026).
A tree came down on my house in a storm. What happens first?
Get everyone out of the damaged rooms and stay away from any wire touching the tree. Report the wire to Entergy at 800-368-3749, or to Northcentral Electric Cooperative through its main number, (662) 895-2151, depending on which company sends your bill, and call 911 if anyone is hurt or a road is blocked. Then photograph the damage and call your insurance company, as the Mississippi Insurance Department advises (checked Nov 11, 2026).
Can the brush be burned instead of hauled?
Not inside Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake or Hernando: the county says open burning isn't allowed in any of its municipalities. In the unincorporated county, a homeowner can get a same-day permit by phone for brush less than 5 inches across, as long as the fire is 150 feet from standing structures, watched the whole time and out by dark, and no burn ban is in effect (checked Nov 11, 2026).
Who actually comes to look at the tree?
One independent contractor who works in Southaven and the rest of DeSoto County. This site hands your request on and keeps no saws, trucks or crews. Price, timing and cleanup get settled between you and that contractor.
Got a DeSoto County tree that needs cutting back or taking down?
Phone the number or fill in the short form. It reaches one independent contractor working in Southaven and the towns around it, who comes by to look at the tree and writes up a price for you to consider.