Early on in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you will be able to remove some of the naturally spawning items on your island. These include the Trees and Rocks. The only requirement is that you have unlocked the shovel. We’ll show you how to remove trees in Animal Crossing below.
This guide was created during the first week of Animal Crossing: New Horizons release on the Nintendo Switch. Depending on when you’re reading this guide, some thing may be different due to future updates. However we’ll always try to come back and update these guides! For more of our Animal Crossing: New Horizons Guides & Best-of lists, make sure to check out our dedicated area here!
Removing Trees in Animal Crossing
As long as you have a shovel, you will be able to remove trees in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Firstly, open up your inventory by pressing X and eat some Fruit. This can be the fruit that you find on the Trees on your island. If you don’t have any, just shake some trees or hit them with an axe.

When you eat Fruit, your character will be more powerful, being able to do things they normally couldn’t. Equip your shovel and walk towards the tree you want to remove, make sure that you’re standing next to it. Press the ‘A’ button on your Nintendo Switch.

Your character will remove the tree with their shovel. The tree will be placed inside your inventory, allowing you to place it down somewhere else. You can repeat this process as many times as you need, as long as you consume the fruit to do so.