Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

How to Prune Texas Rangers

2 Comments / pruning, texas ranger /

  Q. Last year I read in your blog how to prune texas rangers.  Now I can’t find that article.  Can you repeat it?  Thank you. A. Maybe this is it. Q. I would like to cut back some cassia, Texas ranger and rosemary plants that has grown too large. When is the best time to do so? A. There are three cassias that are commonly planted here; feathery cassia, silverleaf cassia and desert cassia. They either bloom in the spring or spring and fall. This means the flowers have to be formed on last year’s wood if they bloom in the spring.             Basic rule of thumb is that plants that are not appreciated for their flowers then prune them back during the winter months after leaf drop. However, if it is very light pruning then you can do that any time. Texas ranger sheared so flowers are removed             On those plants which are grown for their flowers then prune them as soon as their bloom time is over regardless of the time of year. If plants bloom in the spring then prune them as soon as they are done pruning in the spring. This will give them time to initiate flower buds during the late summer for next spring’s bloom.             If they bloom in the summer months, then they put flowers on spring growth. If you prune these in the spring you run the chance of pruning off all the flowers if they are not pruned correctly. This is very often done to oleanders when they are hedge sheared during the spring or early summer months. What it will look like if it is not sheared So with this in mind…. Removing wood from Texas ranger now also removes flowers so do not prune with a hedge shears or you will remove the flowers as well. Make your cuts deep inside the canopy, removing larger stems at a crotch and remove an entire stem when you do. Do not cut it just halfway back. Leave the newest growth on the remaining stems to bloom for you. By opening the canopy for light you will see new sprouts being produced deeper inside. These newer sprouts will produce wood for flowers later in the year and over the next couple of years if you do not cut off the growing tips.  Next year, remove more older wood from deep inside the canopy and repeat this each year “renewing” older wood and reinvigorating flowering. I hope this helps. I attached two pictures of texas rangers taken in april. One was hedge pruned. The other not. One is blooming. The hedge pruned one had all the growth cut off that would have produced flowers.

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How Far to Cut Back Ash Without Killing Them?

Leave a Comment / Fraxinus, ornamental tree, pruning, shade tree /

 Example of a thinning cut made to peach. The cut is made directly above a side branch going in a preferred direction or a smaller one that will help to reduce the size of the plant. Q. We have two fantex ash trees, 15 years old. They are spreading out too far. How far can we cut them back without killing them? A. The problem with ash is that it does not have much ability to come back from cut limbs if you cut back too far. You can begin structuring the tree if you do it fairly early and stay on top of it but if you let it go too long and then cut it back you may have some problems.               You can cut it back to side branches that are growing in a desirable direction but you cannot prune it back by what we call heading cuts (stubbing it back) and hoping these dead end cuts will resprout. You can cut back into about second or maybe three year old wood (there are still side buds remaining that can grow) but if you cut into a limb with no buds present it will probably die back to a major limb.             So cut back to a branch at a crotch going in the direction you want it to grow. When limbs are growing the wrong direction, eliminate them back to a crotch or another limb. Do not leave any stubs (dead end cuts). The Modesto ash on the right was “topped” and because of the nature of ash it never came out of it but had to be removed. The one on the left was cut back early enough so that it could resprout from young wood. Consequently the one on the left developed swellings just under the cuts that are full of tissue that can generate new growth. The one on the right could not.             I hope this makes sense. I attached a picture of a thinning cut made removing a larger limb going up…to a smaller limb going out and toward the camera. The direction of growth of the limb was changed without leaving a stub.

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Prune Out All Dead Areas of a Bottlebrush?

Leave a Comment / bottle brush, pruning /

Q. I have a Bottlebrush shrub with a dead area. My question-What would be the best course of action to improve the condition of this shrub, pruning out all dead areas, then cutting it back? Bottlebrush A.  On your bottle brush I would guess this is either lemon or Scarlet bottlebrush. Depending on the bottlebrush it can get anywhere from 15 to 25 feet tall. You can train it as a large shrub if you want or small tree. This is an Australian plant that is not really considered a desert plant. However, they are typically fairly drought tolerant which just means they can survive periods of time with little water and recover when water is reapplied to them in sufficient quantities. They don’t particularly like desert soils and have a tough time in our alkaline soil environment. For this reason they tend to go yellow which is chlorosis most likely from a lack of available iron. They also would rather be growing in soils heavily amended in organic material such as compost at the time of planting. They will also grow better in a wood mulch, not rock mulch. To correct iron deficiency apply an iron chelate to the soil in early spring or late winter. You can do it now and still get some response from it. The best iron chelate for the job is iron EDDHA (check the ingredients label on the label). You can spray the foliage with an iron solution several times and get a similar result but the soil application is much more ineffective and efficient. Another bottlebrush showing extreme chlorosis in rock mulch You will have to do this every year particularly if you continue to grow it in bare soil or rock mulch. This plant should be fertilized in January with an all-purpose fertilizer for trees and shrubs as well. You should make a determination about whether you want it to be a shrub or tree. I like them better as small trees. If you decide to keep it is a tree then prune at the soil level so that you have 3 to 5 major trunks originating from the soil surface. Remove everything else and keep that area under the tree free from new suckers. Remove any broken or crossed limbs. After you have fertilized this tree with an all-purpose fertilizer and iron for the next two years, then begin to work on developing the architecture of the trees canopy.

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The Problem With Pruning Pine Trees So They Don’t Blow Over

5 Comments / blowover, limbs breaking, pine trees, pruning, wind /

A fairly recent trend in pruning in Las Vegas has been pruning pine trees so they don’t blow over. We have some wind gusts that periodically get pretty nasty when they reach speeds of up around 70 mph (112 kph) or more. The trend was to remove some of the canopy so that there is not so much leverage on the root systems. This leverage, or sail effect, by the wind can pop the trees over when gusts come up quickly and our trees can be pretty shallow rooted which does not help to anchor them. This Mondale pine was pruned probably  in an attempt o reduce with wind load (sail effect)  on its canopyand help reduce the potential for blowing over You can see that removing the inner small branches concentrates the weight of the new growth all on the ends of the branches causing  them to bend and in some cases to break   I have some concerns about thinning pine trees to allow more wind to blow through their canopies. Not that it is done but really more about HOW it is done. Take a look at this picture of a pruned pine tree just for that purpose. Most pine trees will not regenerate new growth on older branches once this growth is removed. Once the wood is older than about three years old most pines will not cause new growth to come from this older wood. Once this young wood is totally removed, it is gone for good. By removing these small limbs in the interior it prevents pines like Mondale from renewing the removed growth. The juvenile part of the limb is now concentrated only in the growing tips which are all at the ends of the branches. This might be good in theory (the tree trimmers don’t have to come back as often). But this can create a problem.Think of a fishing pole. Why is the pole diameter tapered and not all the same diameter along its length? Poles or branches which are tapered help spread the stresses of bending along its length. If a pole or branch has no taper, then the stress of bending is concentrated in a very small area of the pole or branch which will increase its chances of snapping or breaking. By removing this small wood deep on the inside it also causes these “thinned” older limbs to no longer increase in girth (caliper or diameter).They bend more and more as the weight of the new growth is added to the ends of the branches. Pine tree with a canopy thinned a bit better so that limbs are less likely to bend and split A better approach would be to selectively leave some juvenile wood on the interior of these larger diameter branches so that these branches will increase in caliper and taper. So instead of removing ALL the small juvenile from branches deep in the inside, remove some but leave some as well. This still results in thinning and allows for wind to move throught the canopy easier and also results in distributing this increased load along the branches rather than concentrating the load in a small area of the branch which increases its likelihood of failure (snapping or bending). Just a thought.

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Palo Verde Dont Like Butch Hair Cuts

Leave a Comment / pruning, sunscald /

Q. Attached are pics of a Palo Verde which has some unusual black growths on the upper sides of the limbs. I’m wondering if it has something to do with pruning, since it appears to be only in areas that have been pruned, although other pruned areas are unaffected. Damage to upper surface of palo verde limbs from reader Palo verde pruned too high, in my opinio, allowing for potential sunburn on upper surface of limbs Palo verde with sunburn damage, borer damage and limb and trunk damage A. My first reaction to the pictures was sunburn damage. But I would have to see if this damage was sunken like a canker. Next I would take a sterilized knife and cut around the edge of the damage and through the damage to see if the wood below the damage was dead or not. If it was dead below the damage and the damage was sunken then it is most likely sunburn damage to the limbs. The pics you sent had damage all on the upper side of the limbs which is consistent with sunburn damage. You wondered if it might be associated with pruning which it is. The big mistake people make on Palo Verde with the photosynthetic green bark like is pruning so much that too much light gets inside the canopy and burns these photosynthetic limbs. Even though the are designed to absorb light there is such a thing as too much light. These trees don’t make a lot of shade and when we remove too much canopy we will get sunburn on the limbs. Once we get these limbs sunburned then we have to look for possible borer damage. They go hand in hand and several borers are general feeders and are not really particular what they lay their eggs on. The adults focus on damaged trees for egg laying. So cut into the damage and look for football shaped exit holes about 3/8 to ½ inch long and ¼ inch wide under the damaged, sunburned bark. If this is the case, don’t prune so heavily next time and leave enough cover to prevent sunburn.

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