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How much does it cost to remove a magnolia (saucer and star)?

Removing a magnolia (saucer and star) around Indianapolis typically runs $100 to $700, with most jobs near $250. In central Indiana this means the deciduous spring-flowering magnolias, not the evergreen southern magnolia — and the defining fact is that it blooms before it leafs out, so a normal Indiana late freeze turns the entire display to brown mush overnight in many springs. The other thing that puts one on a quote is magnolia scale, which drips honeydew onto cars, decks, and driveways all summer long.

Mature size, and the bracket it puts you in

Saucer magnolia runs 20-25 ft tall and frequently wider than tall; star magnolia is smaller at 15-20 ft, and both are low wide multi-stemmed forms rather than shade trees. Landscape lifespan is commonly cited around 50 years or more, and because they stay short with nothing significant overhead, removals sit in the low cost bracket — the labor is in the multiple stems and the wide low spread, not in height or rigging.

Condition changes the price

Small enough that it rarely threatens property, but structurally weak in the way multi-stemmed ornamentals are: saucer magnolias are typically grown with three or more codominant stems off the base, and included bark in those unions splits under ice load. The branch wood is brittle and the fat overwintering flower buds sit right at the tips, so ice loads the very ends of the most flexible wood — and a stem that splits at the base is generally not repairable and takes a third of the tree with it.

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