Tree trimming and pruning in Cold Springs, NV

Cold Springs sits along US 395 northwest of Reno, close to the California line, at about 5,057 feet. It grew fast in the 2000s. The pruning questions that come with a neighborhood of that age are different from the ones in an old part of Reno, and most of them are easier to deal with now than in ten years.

At a glance

• About 68% of Cold Springs homes were built in 2000 or later
• Structural pruning while branches are still small
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.4% of US communities
• Two ISA Certified Arborists on staff

Why prune a tree that is only 20 years old?

The median Cold Springs home was built in 2004, according to the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey. Trees of that age are big enough to shade a yard and young enough that their faults are still small: two leaders competing for the top, a branch with a tight fork, limbs crossing and rubbing, a low limb heading for the driveway.

Structural pruning deals with those while the cuts are a few inches across. Left alone, the same faults become large limbs over a roof, and the fix becomes heavy pruning or cabling and bracing. A small cut closes over faster than a large one.

What does the arborist look at on a subdivision lot?

On a subdivision lot the arborist checks the leader, branch spacing, clearance from the roof and driveway, old stakes and ties, and dead wood.

• The leader: one main stem, or two fighting for the top.
• Branch spacing: limbs stacked too close together on the trunk.
• Clearance: branches reaching the roof, the gutters, the driveway or the sidewalk.
• Stakes and ties: old staking left on from planting day that is cutting into the trunk.
• Dead wood: twigs and branches killed by cold or a dry summer.

The free estimate lists what will be done to each tree, so you can see the plan before any cut is made.

Cold winters, snow and wind-borne embers

The Stead weather station, about 6 miles away at nearly the same elevation, averages 16.7 inches of snowfall and about 11 inches of precipitation a year. Cold Springs is in USDA hardiness zone 7a, with average winter lows of 0 to 5 degrees. Wet spring snow on a tree in leaf is what snaps poorly attached limbs, which is one more reason to fix structure early.

The USDA Forest Service rates the wildfire risk to homes in Cold Springs higher than 98.4% of US communities, with about 88% of buildings in the indirect exposure zone, where embers and neighboring structures are the route fire takes. The Redrock Fire (2009, 10,549 acres) is among the perimeters mapped within about 10 miles. Keeping branches back from the roof and dead wood out of the crown is pruning that also helps on that front.

When is the right month?

Our rule: hazards and dead branches any time, most deciduous trees in late winter while dormant, most conifers in early spring and summer. Details by tree type are in best time to prune trees in Northern Nevada.