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Shear with care
Topics: Tree Foundation of Kern, Bakersfield Trees, Bakersfield Gardening
Posted by admin Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
Viewed 730 times
0 responses 0 comments Every few weeks, someone tosses a business card by my front door for tree-trimming and yard work services. The most recent one was enclosed in a small plastic bag with a rock to keep it from blowing away. A lovely touch.

If you have citrus trees, topping is a good idea. The same is true for deciduous fruit trees, where pruning reduces size and keeps fruit within arm's reach for picking. But ornamental shade trees, from liquid ambar to ash and from pine to pistache, should not be topped. If you pay to have your trees topped, you will alter their appearance forever and potentially damage them, too.

Still, tree topping and wildly brutal pruning goes on all over town. I don't care how many letters to the editor people write about the horrific pruning in Bakersfield; it doesn't seem to make a difference. Articles about proper pruning methods like this one are probably just preaching to the choir. Combine young men with chain saws and pickups with cash-paying customers determined to keep trees small or who think trees benefit from annual pruning and you've got the perfect opportunity to ruin beautiful trees.

Some examples that we've seen, driving around town: A large tree in a too-small backyard along Gosford Road had every branch trimmed from the trunk last year. My husband and I were awed at the sight of a large, naked tree trunk -- who could tell what the variety was anymore? -- poking above the fence. Downtown, the Modesto ash trees with some branches cut off, willy-nilly at the halfway point, still bare-naked in the middle of summer because ash trees may not produce more greenery with this type of pruning. And fruitless mulberries -- look for them in many neighborhoods -- with trimmed down, knuckled branches waving at the sky.

Here's the problem with topping, aside from the fact that it makes for unattractive trees. Depending on the tree variety, topping can cause the rapid growth of new, weakly attached branches around the trunk or branch where the cut has been made. It creates a mad cycle of pruning because these new branches will require more pruning to control in the coming years. This is why mulberries get

pruned to lumpy branches every year. Once started, it's hard to stop and you've got to remove the dozens of new branches that are even more annoying than the original.

Here's the better way to prune. Typically, pruning cuts should be made where branches connect with other branches or the tree trunk, with cuts made just outside the bark collar. No more than 20 percent of the tree's canopy should be removed at any time.

It's wise to learn more about a tree before the pruning begins. Trees with central leaders, or a main trunk, like the liquid ambar, shouldn't have that central leader cut. Even pruning that is limited to thinning may not be beneficial to certain trees. The lovely lacing work you see done to many Chinese elms, will not benefit trees such as oaks, which may become sunburned and not generate enough growth to protect the sensitive bark. I see coast redwoods on New Stine Road near Ming Avenue that have the growth on branches and along the trunk removed every year or two for no apparent reason. There's no reason to thin a coast redwood. This tree, which is suited to Bakersfield as much as goldfish is to the Mojave Desert, needs all the protection it can get from the summer sun. And sycamores respond really poorly to indiscriminate pruning -- it can kill them, although the death will come slowly after several years of decline.

If you choose to prune for good reasons, such as to improve the shape of a tree or to remove dangerous branches, find a reputable tree-trimming company that has a certified arborist on staff. Make sure you know exactly what will be done to your trees and that thinning and not topping will be done. It's probably a good idea to be home on the day of the pruning.

And if you decide that the reason you're heavily pruning a tree is because it's too big, too messy, or is giving too much shade (seriously, in Bakersfield?) or you just don't like the way it looks, you may be better off just having it removed altogether. It may save you money in the long run.

We've taken out a number of trees from our yard over the years and replaced them with a tree variety I like better: Chinese pistache trees that provide great shade in the summer, pretty color in the fall, and lose all their leaves so I can get as much sun as possible in the winter months.

Check the Tree Foundation of Kern's Web site for more advice and good diagrams on tree pruning: www.urbanforest.org

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