Species + what's nearby
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.
Nearly every expensive tree problem in a Kansas yard was decided on planting day, by somebody holding a five-foot whip and judging the distance against the tree in front of them rather than the one it becomes. The heaved sidewalk, the roots in the lateral, the limbs the utility cut a hole through — all of them are a measurement that was taken forty years ago and was about eight feet short.
Pick the species, tick what is near the spot, and this shows the minimum distance for each one along with the reason it is that number. The distances come from the setback table on the planting guides hub, chosen by the species’ mature size, then adjusted where the species’ own profile says its roots misbehave. Nothing here is invented for the occasion, and every figure says where it came from.
All twenty-two species in the Kansas directory.
Pick a species to see how far it should sit from everything you ticked.
Our tools provide general education based on your answers. They are not a diagnosis, a safety inspection, or professional advice.
Honest boundaries
What this cannot tell you
These are minimum distances derived from published setbacks and a species' mature size. They are a good default and a poor substitute for standing on the spot.
Where your sewer lateral actually runs
It is rarely where people assume, and it is almost never a straight line from the house to the street. Have the buried utilities located before you dig — the distances here are only as good as your guess about what they are measured from.
What the soil is doing under that spot
Compacted builder's fill, a buried slab, a spot that stays wet two days after rain, or a shallow limestone shelf all change what a tree can do there. None of that is visible from a species name.
How big this particular tree will actually get
The height and spread here are typical ranges in Kansas conditions, not guarantees. A tree in deep soil beside a downspout outgrows the same tree in thin soil on a west-facing slope, and a named cultivar can differ from the species substantially.
Whether the setback is enough for your neighbour
Property-line distances here are about keeping a canopy on your side of the fence. What a boundary tree means legally — overhang, roots, shared ownership, who may prune what — varies and is worth confirming locally before you plant close to a line.
Which wire is overhead
The distribution line the utility maintains and the service drop running to your own roof are different wires with different rules. If a wire crosses the spot, ask the utility which one it is before you decide anything.
Where a distance looks impossible on your lot, the answer is usually a different species rather than a shorter distance. A small tree planted where it fits outlives a large one planted where it does not, and it never becomes somebody’s inheritance.
Keep going
The guides behind these numbers
Every distance here traces back to one of these pages, and each carries the reasoning this tool only summarises.
- Planting guidesThe full setback table, what to do about difficult ground, and how to get a tree into Kansas clay so it survives.
- Kansas species directoryAll twenty-two species, filterable by mature size, origin, drought tolerance, and root behaviour.
- Wichita: planting under the wiresWhy nothing above about 25 feet belongs under a distribution line, and who to ask about the one over your yard.
- Tree care basicsWatering a new planting through its first three summers, which is what decides whether the setback ever matters.
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.