Interactive tree tools
Six tools, built for Kansas answers
Practical utilities built for Kansas conditions: identify a tree, check its health, assess storm damage, calculate planting distances and watering amounts, and check what pruning is safe this month.
Each one asks for what you can actually see or measure from the ground — a leaf shape, a trunk diameter, what is standing near the planting hole — and gives back a plain-language answer with the reasoning attached. Nothing is stored, and nothing needs an account.
The toolkit
Pick the question you arrived with
6 of the six are live today. The rest are in development and will appear here as each one is finished — the outline below is the real build plan, not a wish list.
- Available now
Kansas Tree Identifier
Answer a few questions about leaves, bark, seeds, and shape and narrow your tree down to the most likely Kansas species — no botany degree required.
4 questions · about 2 minutes
Open the tool
- Available now
Tree Health Checklist
A guided walk-around inspection from the ground: crown, trunk, root flare, and site. Get a plain-language read on which findings matter and what to do next.
10 checks · about 5 minutes
Open the tool
- Available now
Storm Damage Assessment
Triage a damaged tree safely from a distance: what's an emergency, what can wait, what's likely saveable, and what to photograph for your insurance claim.
6 questions · use after any storm
Open the tool
- Available now
Planting Distance Calculator
Pick a species and see how far it should sit from your foundation, driveway, sewer lateral, septic field, property line, and overhead power lines at maturity.
Species + what's nearby
Open the tool
- Available now
Watering Calculator
How many gallons, how often — based on trunk size, how long the tree has been in the ground, and the current stretch of Kansas weather. Stops both underwatering and drowning in clay.
Trunk size + age + season
Open the tool
- Available now
Seasonal Pruning Calendar
Tell it the species and the month and get a clear answer: prune now, or wait — including the oak-wilt no-prune window every Kansas oak owner should know.
Species + month
Open the tool
Education, not diagnosis
How to read the answers
A tool narrows the question. It does not close it.
Every one of these runs on what you type in, which means it is only ever as good as what you could see from the ground — and there are things you cannot see from the ground.
The identifier gets you to a shortlist, not a certainty; two Kansas elms can look identical until you have the seed in your hand. The health checklist tells you which findings are worth acting on, not whether a tree will stand through the next storm — decay inside a trunk is invisible from outside it. The distance calculator works from mature size, so it is at its most useful before you dig, and of limited comfort afterwards.
Where a tool says the honest next step is somebody standing at the tree, that is the answer rather than a hedge. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a safety inspection, or a substitute for one.
Kansas Tree Guide is an independent educational resource. Nothing on this site replaces an on-site assessment by a qualified arborist or tree-care professional. Last reviewed August 2026.