Tree trimming and pruning in Southeast Reno and Hidden Valley, NV

Pruning here is partly about age and partly about water. The tree you look at from the window is most likely forty or fifty years old and has lived its whole life on an irrigation line.

At a glance

• 9.87 inches of precipitation a year at the nearest gauge, 1.5 miles away
• About 12% of ZIP 89502 homes built since 2000
• Hardiness zone 7b on the 2023 USDA map
• About 39 minutes from our yard without traffic

What does a 10-inch rain year do to a mature tree?

The Reno 6.8 SE gauge averages 9.87 inches of precipitation a year (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). That is desert, and a shade tree here lives on whatever its irrigation delivers. When water runs short, thin crowns, dead twigs and dying limbs show first.

Dead wood can come out at any time of year; see dead wooding and watering mature trees in the high desert. Pruning is not a substitute for water, and the arborist will tell you which problem is which.

Which pruning jobs fit older trees?

Crown thinning and raising lift weight off long limbs and clear roofs, sidewalks and wires. Reduction shortens a limb back to a side branch. Cabling or bracing can support a valued tree with a weak union. Topping is not one of them; read why tree topping is not pruning.

The airport station 1.5 miles away records 20.9 inches of snow a year, so long horizontal limbs over cars are worth checking before winter.

When should I schedule pruning?

Hazards and dead wood any time. Otherwise most deciduous trees are best pruned in late winter while dormant, and most conifers in early spring and summer. The Northern Nevada pruning calendar has the detail.

Do the younger trees in the ZIP need anything different?

About 12% of ZIP 89502 housing is from 2000 or later. Those yards hold younger trees where early structural pruning matters more than thinning; see young tree care. The arborist sorts the two cohorts out when walking the lot, and a manager with several properties can ask for one written plan.