Seasonal

Fall Leaf Season in San Antonio: Keeping Gutters Clear

By San Antonio Gutter Pros · September 13, 2026 · 5 min read

Every gutter company in America publishes a "fall leaf season" post, and most of them don't apply here. San Antonio's trees don't do fall the way Ohio's do. Our worst clogging season is March and April, when the live oaks drop, and our fall is a lighter second act that runs late into December. If you clean gutters twice a year on the northern calendar, you'll be up the ladder at the wrong times. Here's the local version.

The trees that fill San Antonio gutters

Live oak. The big one. Live oaks are evergreen in the sense that they're never bare, but they replace their leaves all at once in March and early April, and a mature tree over a roof will fill a gutter in three weeks. The leaves are small, about two inches, and slip through any screen with wide holes. Then, right behind the leaves, come the catkins — the stringy yellow pollen tassels — which mat into a felt that holds water. Under the live oaks in Alamo Heights, Olmos Park and the older streets of Castle Hills, this is the season that matters.

Cedar elm. The most common native shade tree on the north side and in the newer subdivisions. It drops small, rough leaves in November and into December, and it's the main reason there's a fall cleaning at all. Light enough that a screen guard handles it.

Pecan. Along the creeks — Salado, Olmos, Leon, Cibolo — and in the old neighborhoods. Big compound leaves and husks from October through December. Heavy, but a basic screen keeps them out.

Hackberry. Everywhere, especially on lots nobody planned. Drops leaves in late fall and berries that birds carry onto roofs. A minor clog on its own; adds to the pile.

Ashe juniper (mountain cedar). Doesn't shed into gutters. In January it dusts everything yellow with pollen, which washes off in the first rain. Nothing to do.

Crape myrtle. Blossoms in July and August that get through almost every guard. Small volume, annoying.

The calendar

If you have no big trees, the fall visit can usually be skipped and the spring one kept. If you're under a big live oak, the spring one isn't optional and a third look after the fall storms isn't unusual.

Why the fall storms make this worse

The pecan and cedar elm drop overlaps with the September and October storm season. A gutter that's half full of cedar elm leaves has half its capacity, and a plugged downspout outlet has none. The October overflow calls we get are as often a clog at the outlet as a sizing problem, and the difference is easy to tell: a downspout that barely runs while the gutter above it spills is plugged. Flush it from the top. If the gutter's clean and still overflowing, read why gutters overflow in San Antonio rain instead.

What a fall cleaning actually involves here

Less scooping and more flushing. By December the cedar elm leaves are dry and light and come out in handfuls; the trouble is the outlets, where a season of small debris has built a plug at the top of each downspout. A proper gutter cleaning runs a hose down every downspout and watches the bottom, resets the extensions the mower kicked off, and looks at the corners while the ladder's up. Single-story homes are $120–$200; two-story $180–$300.

Guards, by tree

• Under live oaks: sloped stainless micro-mesh is the only type that handles both the small leaves and the catkins. Screens let the leaves in; reverse-curve hoods hold the catkins on top. Plan on one rinse from the ground in May.
• Under cedar elms and pecans: an aluminum screen at $5–$9 a foot does the job for a third of the price of mesh.
• Under nothing much: no guards. A $150 cleaning every other year beats a $1,500 install.

The gutter guards page has the full comparison, and honest numbers on how long each type takes to pay for itself.

Trimming

Limbs resting on the roof drop debris straight into the gutter with every wind. Cedar elm, pecan and hackberry can be trimmed any time. Live oaks should only be trimmed between July and January to avoid spreading oak wilt, and every cut should be painted immediately; that's not a gutter rule, it's a Texas rule, and losing a ninety-year-old oak in Alamo Heights to save a gutter cleaning is a bad trade. If a limb over the roof needs to come off a live oak, do it in the fall window, not the spring.