Put some thought into pruning trees

It's time to prune your trees. Pruning can be a tedious job, especially with large trees.

Tony Valenti, president of First Choice Trees, covers some of the mistakes homeowners make when pruning large trees.

Valenti has been in landscape maintenance since he was 15 years old. He wanted a well-rounded knowledge in all aspects of horticulture so he took classes from Cooperative Extension and the College of Southern Nevada. He is still updating himself and his employees on new findings. In 1989, he started First Choice Trees and now has more than 80 trained employees.

His company has earned the Tree Care Industry Association Accreditation, which is hard to acquire. This fall, the Southern Nevada Arboriculture Group honored him with its Tree Care Trail Blazer Award.

Valenti has done some amazing tree moving projects. His company moved a gigantic 40-year-old olive from Las Vegas to the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

Valenti has concerns when homeowners tackle their own pruning without much experience. Safety is his first concern. Here are some of his cautions:

■ Never stand on a tall ladder to prune unless someone supports it.

■ Don't reach out too far or above your head to prune, because it can cause a fall.

■ When removing large limbs, make sure the ground is clear below. One homeowner cut off a limb only to watch it damage his car.

■ Don't use chain saws without proper instruction. "I witnessed a homeowner unfamiliar with a chain saw working directly over his head and it seriously injured him," Valenti says.

■ Don't stand on limbs not mature enough to carry your weight, because they can break.

■ Wear the proper equipment. Valenti's employees wear safety glasses and gloves, earplugs and hard hats.

Here are his tips for pruning:

Valenti advocates the ABC method to prevent tearing the bark off trees or making the wrong cuts. Valenti makes cut "A" 6 inches out from the trunk halfway into the bottom side of the limb. He makes cut "B" farther out but on the topside of the limb until the limb drops. Cut "A" prevents the bark from tearing farther down the trunk. He makes cut "C" next to the trunk, as it's now easier to handle the stub.

But note where Valenti makes the "C" cut. A collar wraps around the branch where it attaches to the tree. Within this collar are auxins necessary to heal the wound. Removing this collar slows the healing, leaving an entrance for pests.

Leaving stubs on limbs becomes an eyesore and a site for potential infection. Removing them helps begin the healing process.

Lion tailing is removing all growth from the trunk to a cluster of branches at the end of the limb, making it look like a lion's tail. Within that tail, lots of growth takes place and a severe windstorm can break the unprotected limb off. If someone is under the limb at the time, you may be sued.

Topping trees also causes tree decline. Valenti knows of a family that topped their trees severely, but he was able to rescue these trees. "The homeowner later sold his home, and the new owner, wanting to copy his neighbors, reverted to topping them and lost many of the trees."

Because of lion tailing and tree topping, a tree must work harder to produce more food. This allows diseases to enter.

To bring these blights under control, Valenti selectively removes some suckers and leaves some to produce food. The next year he removes more suckers until he has the tree back to normal.

Valenti also says consumers should avoid "fly-by-nighters" who offer pruning services at a low price. "We all want the best deal when pruning trees but is that a good idea?" he says, noting that if one of these pruners is injured on your property you could end up with the medical bills.

This is not a problem with certified arborists. They also carry the required licenses of various government entities. "At least talk to a certified arborist to get some advice no matter whom you decide to use," Valenti says.

Finally, homeowners may not realize they can be spreading diseases if they don't clean their tools. Valenti recommends making a 50/50 solution of water and bleach to treat the tools when moving from one tree to the next.

"It takes 30 years to grow a beautiful tree and only 10 minutes to destroy it," he says. "Trust your trees to the experts."

Linn Mills' garden column appears on Sundays. You can reached him at linnmillslv@gmail.com or call him at 526-1495.