Time to Prune

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Time to Prune
January and February are Tucson's colder months that indicate, at least during the long cold nights, winter is upon us. We know it's winter and so do the plants. Most of the deciduous trees have finally shed all their leaves by January to expose their framework, and the sap in the branches flows less freely. It's time to think about pruning trees and shrubs.

The Tucson Gardener looks at pruning as a necessary evil and with trepidation. Sometimes it has to be done to encourage new growth such as roses and grapes. Often it's necessary to get rid of diseased or broken branches and around Tucson there's good reason to prune to get rid of the unsightly and damaging mistletoe infestations that get into mesquite, acacia and palo verde.

This mesquite tree has one former pruning site that's healing nicely while the smaller cut has a stub that should have been cut closer to the tree's trunk.

Other times gardeners think pruning is necessary because branches get in the way. They might brush up against the house and cause damage when there's a heavy wind. A limb might hang a bit low so every time someone walks under it there's an unpleasant thwacking sound from a forehead striking bark. I had a heavily thorned mesquite tree that constantly caused me cursing and bleeding each time I tried to crouch under it to get to a storage area. Regrettably I gave the tree a thorough slashing and saved my head from any more pain but destroyed the low growing screening value of the tree. For months after, with some cruelty I might add, my wife referred to the mesquite as the tree with the Lyle Lovitt haircut - bushy on top but not much on the sides.

There's one thing to remember before you ever make a cut: what you take off you can't put back. Sure the branches might grow back some day but you can't glue them back on. Once you make that cut, the damage is done. And often times it's just that - damage. I've done it myself, on more than one occasion.

I beseech you. If you don't have the right tools, the right attitude and the necessary time to prune your trees and shrubs don't do it. Hire a professional or get guidance from someone who really knows what they're doing. Some of the local garden clubs or Ag. Extension garden center give demonstrations each year about pruning time.

Here's a prime example of why you shouldn't, as a gardener might say, go out on a limb, when you prune. A former neighbor paid someone, which I doubt were professionals, to prune his extremely tall Eucalyptus. The pruners with chainsaws in hand started from the bottom working up. As they went up the already leaning tree became top heavy and started to lean even further. The pruners abandoned the tree like flying squirrels in flight. The tree still stands as it leans precariously over a garage and the neighbor's house. Here's hoping the tree's roots are healthy and well imbedded in the soil. I can think of another good reason not to prune. What you take off the tree or shrub you need to dispose of. If you're an avid gardener and have a heavy duty chipper shredder then you'll have no problem adding the trimmings to your compost or using the chipped material as mulch. But how many Tucson gardeners do you know that own chipper shredders? Not too many I wager.

To look at this pruning job now it appears there was no rhyme or reason for these cuts. There's a big stub on the left and the remains of a broken limb that should have been removed. It doesn't look like pruning helped this mesquite tree at all.
One fell swoop pruning on this palo verde tree has created a place for disease and insects to enter.

The rest of us have to bundle the materials for trash pickup, pay to have someone haul it away or spend a morning loading up the truck or car to carry it to the nearest dump where it uses up valuable landfill space.

And finally, there's far too few of us, even if we have the right tools, that really know how to make a proper tree pruning cut. All you've got to do is look carefully at a few of the trees that have been pruned in your neighborhood or even in your back yard. Are there lots of tree branch stubs sticking out where the pruner didn't cut as close to the trunk as they should have? Maybe they didn't cut next to a bud directing the growth in the direction they should have.

Then there are all the scarred victims of careless pruners. The branches that were pruned in one fell swoop that peeled the bark off the trunk as the limb fell. It's going to take some time for that sort of wound to heal and while it mends itself there's a chance a disease or insect will enter the wound and do more harm to the tree. If you don't think that can happen, please read Confession of a tree killer.

Yes, pruning is a necessary evil that needs to be done and fortunately most plants are resilient and have a way of surviving the good intentions of many a desert gardener. So prune if you must, but prune wisely and take a look at the pruning tips before you get started. (1999)