Tree trimming and pruning in South Reno (ZIP 89521)

The median home in this ZIP dates from 2007, the newest of any Reno ZIP we serve. Its trees were planted by a builder, staked, and in many cases never pruned since. They are now big enough for their faults to show.

At a glance

• About 76% of homes in ZIP 89521 built in 2000 or later
• Structural pruning for trees roughly 10 to 25 years old
• Check association landscape rules before front-yard work
• About 30 minutes from our Carson City yard without traffic

What is structural pruning?

It is pruning a young tree for the frame it will carry as an adult. The arborist is looking for a short list of faults that nursery-grown trees commonly develop, and removing or shortening the branches that cause them.

• Two leaders: twin trunks of equal size rising from one fork. One is shortened so the other becomes the main stem.
• Tight forks: branches joined in a narrow V with bark trapped in the seam. These are the unions that split under wind or snow.
• Crowded limbs: several branches leaving the trunk at the same height. They are thinned to a few with space between.
• Low permanent branches: limbs that will end up across the sidewalk or the driveway are removed before they are thick.
• Rubbing and crossing branches: taken out before they wound each other.

None of this is visible to a passer-by afterward, which is the point. The tree looks natural and is built better.

Why do it now and not in ten years?

Size of wound. A branch as thick as a thumb leaves a cut the tree seals in a season or two. The same branch left for a decade is as thick as an arm, and removing it then opens the trunk to decay. Young-tree pruning is also quick work, with little brush to chip and haul.

Wait long enough and the choice changes from pruning to cabling a weak fork, or to cleaning up after it fails.

What does the South Reno climate do to young trees?

It keeps them thirsty. A rain gauge about 5 miles from the center of the ZIP, Reno 6.8 SE, averages 9.87 inches of precipitation a year, and Reno-Tahoe International Airport, at about the same distance, averages 20.9 inches of snowfall (NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals). Trees here depend on drip lines that were sized for a sapling.

A tree short on water drops interior branches and thins at the top. When we prune, the arborist notes that kind of dieback and tells you if the pattern looks like a watering problem. Watering mature trees in the high desert explains what to change. The afternoon wind is the other test of a weak fork, covered in preparing your trees for the Washoe Zephyr.

Does my association have a say?

Often, yes. Much of South Reno is in planned communities, and many associations have landscape standards for front-yard and street-side trees. Some own the street trees outright. Read your CC&Rs first; HOA tree rules: what to check first lists the questions to ask. We can give the association's manager one estimate for a whole street.