Tree trimming and pruning in Old Southwest Reno (ZIP 89509)

This is the part of Reno people picture when they think of tree-lined streets. The canopy took generations to grow, and it is held together by pruning that nobody notices when it is done well.

At a glance

• About 62% of homes in ZIP 89509 predate 1980, about 25% predate 1960
• Crown cleaning and weight reduction for large shade trees
• Street trees: Reno Tree Work Permit and Certified Arborist
• 75-foot boom truck and climbers for crowns above the roofline

What does a mature shade tree need from a pruning visit?

A mature shade tree needs a look from the ground, crown cleaning, weight reduction where it is needed, clearance off the roof and chimney, and a clean-up of brush and wood.

1. A look from the ground first. The arborist walks around the tree, checks the base, the main forks and the ends of the long limbs, and tells you what was found.
2. Crown cleaning. Dead, dying, broken and crossing branches are removed through the whole crown, not just the part over the driveway.
3. Weight reduction where it is needed. Limbs that reach far over a house or the street are shortened to a side branch large enough to take over.
4. Clearance. Branches are lifted off the roof, the chimney and the neighbor's side as agreed.
5. Clean-up. Brush is chipped, wood is hauled, and the yard and the street are raked and blown.

The cuts follow ANSI A300, the pruning standard for our industry. It does not accept topping, and neither do we.

Who is allowed to prune the tree by the street?

On many Old Southwest blocks the biggest tree stands in the strip between the sidewalk and the curb. That strip is usually City right-of-way. Pruning there needs a City of Reno Tree Work Permit, and only a Certified Arborist can get one.

Call Reno Urban Forestry at 775-321-8373 to confirm whether your tree is public. If it is, tell us when you ask for the estimate so the permit is handled before a crew is scheduled. Trees inside your lot line need no City permit.

Why do old trees here carry so much dead wood?

Water, mostly. The Reno 2.4 SSW rain gauge, about a mile from the center of this ZIP, averages 9.6 inches of precipitation a year (NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals). A tree with a crown as wide as a house cannot live on that. It depends on lawn irrigation, and yards have been converted, sold and re-landscaped many times over the life of the tree.

Each dry spell shows up later as dead limbs. Dead wooding explained describes how they are removed, and drought stress and dieback covers the warning signs.

When is pruning not enough?

When the structure itself is failing. A crack in a main fork, a hollow at the base or mushrooms on the trunk are things pruning cannot fix. Sometimes cabling and bracing buys a valued tree more years. Sometimes the honest advice is removal, and on lots this tight that is often crane work.

The elms and cottonwoods common to old Nevada neighborhoods each have their own habits. See Siberian elms and cottonwoods: keep, prune or remove.