Tree trimming and pruning in Johnson Lane, NV

Johnson Lane spreads over nearly 22 square miles between US 395 and the Pine Nut Mountains. Almost nothing here grew on its own. The trees on these lots were planted by the people who built the houses, and they live on irrigation.

At a glance

• Median home built in 1995; about 37% built since 2000
• About 94% of homes are owner-occupied, about 95% detached houses
• 8.14 inches of precipitation a year at the gauge in the community
• Risk to homes from wildfire higher than 98.3% of US communities

Why does a 30-year-old tree need an arborist?

Because 30 years is when early mistakes show. A shade tree that was never trained often has two leaders competing at the top, or several large limbs leaving the trunk at the same height. Those unions are weaker than a single trunk with spaced branches, and they are the ones that split under wind or snow.

Structural pruning at this age can still correct a lot: subordinating one of the two leaders, shortening an over-long limb, removing a branch that rubs another. The International Society of Arboriculture's guidance is that no branch should be cut without a reason. Our arborist gives you the reason for each cut in the estimate.

What about windbreaks and privacy rows?

Where a lot has a row of evergreens or poplars along a fence line, planted to slow the afternoon wind, the row is pruned differently from a single yard tree. Dead trees and dead tops come out so they do not fall into the fence or the neighbor's side, lower limbs can be lifted for mowing and fire clearance, and the row is checked for gaps where a failed tree should be removed altogether.

We do not top windbreak trees to hold them at a height. Topping leaves stubs that decay and sprout weak shoots. If a row has outgrown its spot, the arborist will talk through reduction or staged removal instead. The reasons are in why topping a tree is not pruning.

How dry is Johnson Lane, and why does it matter for pruning?

A precipitation gauge inside the community, less than a mile from its center, averages 8.14 inches a year (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). That is desert. A yard tree here depends on irrigation, and when the water is cut back the tree sheds branches from the top and the tips.

Dead wood in an irrigated tree is therefore a message as well as a hazard. We take it out, and the arborist tells you if the pattern points to water. See drought stress and dieback.

Does fire change how we prune here?

Yes. The Forest Service ranks Johnson Lane's risk to homes higher than 98.3% of US communities, the highest of any Carson Valley community we serve, with about 28% of buildings in the direct exposure zone. Raising the crown so the lowest limbs are well off the ground, and clearing branches away from the roof and chimney, fits with the brush work described on our Johnson Lane defensible space page.

Timing and access

Hazard pruning is done at any time. Otherwise late winter suits most deciduous trees and early spring and summer suit most conifers. Johnson Lane is in hardiness zone 6b. Most lots have room for the boom truck and chipper, but tell the office about gates, septic fields and animals when you call 775.232.8243.