- Botanical name
- Ulmus pumila
- Type
- Introduced deciduous shade tree, fast growing
- Size when old
- A broad, spreading crown that can overtop a one-story house
- Hardiness zones here
- 6b to 7b by ZIP code (USDA 2023 map)
- Where it is found
- Planted lots on the valley floors, roughly 4,100 to 5,100 feet in this service area
- Related page
- Elm leaf beetle and Dutch elm disease have their own pages
Many Northern Nevada lots built before the 1980s still have one or two of these in the front or back yard. They went in as quick shade and windbreaks, and they have had decades to get big.
How do you identify a Siberian elm?
Look at the leaf first. It is small, oval, with an uneven base and a single-toothed edge, much smaller than an American elm leaf. In spring the tree is covered in papery, round seeds before the leaves open, and they pile up along curbs and in gutters.
On older trees the bark is gray and deeply furrowed, and the crown spreads wide with long, arching limbs. Young trees put out thin, whippy shoots, and a stump or a cut root often sends up a thicket of sprouts.
- Small, narrow-oval leaves with a lopsided base
- Round papery seeds in early spring, before the leaves
- Deeply furrowed gray bark on mature trees
- Wide crown with long, drooping side limbs
Where does it grow in Reno, Carson City and the Carson Valley?
Siberian elm is a valley-floor tree here. The USDA hardiness map puts ZIP 89501 in Reno at zone 7b, ZIP 89701 in Carson City at 7a and ZIP 89423 in Minden at 6b, and the elm handles all three. Reno sits near 4,500 feet and Carson City near 4,700 feet, and the nearest NOAA stations record about 7 inches (Reno-Tahoe International Airport) to about 9 inches (Carson City) of precipitation a year, which is why so many of these trees live on lawn and drip water.
It is rarely a Tahoe basin tree. Incline Village and Zephyr Cove are above 6,200 feet, in zone 6b, and the lot trees there are mostly conifers.
What goes wrong with it here?
The wood is the weak point. Long, heavy side limbs are carried on narrow unions, and a wet spring snow or a Washoe Zephyr gust can strip one in a single storm. Co-dominant trunks with bark squeezed in between them are the classic split. See storm and snow-load breakage.
Elm leaf beetle and drought scorch are the usual causes of brown leaves. Leaves skeletonised by the elm leaf beetle turn brown by midsummer; the Dutch elm disease page explains how that disease differs. Either problem is identified by an arborist before anyone decides what to do about the tree; we do not spray or treat.
Roots run wide and shallow near the surface. Where one tree sits close to a driveway, sidewalk or sewer line, the roots lift paving and can enter cracked pipes. The roots guide covers what we check.
Pruning, cabling or removal: which is the right call?
Dead wood and hanging limbs can come off at any time of year. Other pruning is usually done while the tree is dormant, which means late winter for most deciduous trees. Good pruning on an elm reduces the weight of the longest limbs and takes out deadwood and crossing branches. Topping is not pruning; it leaves weak regrowth, so see why topping is not pruning.
A sound tree with one weak union can often be kept with cabling and bracing after an arborist has checked the trunk. Removal is the usual answer when there is decay in the trunk or base, a large dead section of the crown, a lean that has changed, or a crack at a union over a house. Large elms in tight yards are often a crane-assisted removal job, and stump grinding keeps sprouts from taking over the spot.
What does Battle Born Tree Service do about a Siberian elm?
Start with a free estimate. A certified arborist assesses the tree before any work begins, and the estimate says whether the answer is pruning, cabling or removal. Two of our crew are ISA Certified Arborists, and credential WE-11728A belongs to one of them.
For firewood, call the office to ask what is available. We do not publish wood types or terms on this site. Our Siberian elm guide goes deeper on older lots.
Sources
- USDA Agricultural Research Service: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (PRISM, Oregon State University) (read October 17, 2026)
- NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (read October 17, 2026)
- University of Nevada Cooperative Extension: Gardening Guide for High-Desert Urban Landscapes of Great Basin Regions in Nevada and Utah (SP-13-09) (read October 17, 2026)