Q.
Is it a good or a bad thing to trim the “suckers” off a Desert
Willow? We have a number around here
that came up on their own. We rather
like them. Have been of the theory that cutting off the “suckers”
will allow the trees to grow taller and be healthy.
I will have to work a little bit from memory but I believe there was a breeding program in Texas regarding flower color. And there was a big push to use this plant for erosion and streambank control because the branches would be buried after a heavy rain, root and create new plants. There is a very large range in flower color and it is a shame we don’t have more colors to pick from in the trade. It is messy.
Is it a good or a bad thing to trim the “suckers” off a Desert
Willow? We have a number around here
that came up on their own. We rather
like them. Have been of the theory that cutting off the “suckers”
will allow the trees to grow taller and be healthy.
A.
It is not good or bad. How you manage them, cutting off suckers or not, will
determine what they look like and how they perform.
It is not good or bad. How you manage them, cutting off suckers or not, will
determine what they look like and how they perform.
 |
| Common desert willow flowers |
 |
| Desert willow pruned to a single trunk |
 |
| Desert willow winter form and left pretty much unpruned |
If these suckers are coming
from one tree then removing them allows the remaining tree to grow in height
faster and become larger. Leaving them on will cause the tree to grow more
slowly in height and stay smaller. It is a management decision and what you
want them to do and look like.
from one tree then removing them allows the remaining tree to grow in height
faster and become larger. Leaving them on will cause the tree to grow more
slowly in height and stay smaller. It is a management decision and what you
want them to do and look like.
Desert Willow is a small tree native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and North and Central Mexico. Flowers are quite showy and can vary in color from white to purples and blues to deep reds. It can be found growing along perennial waterways in the desert which means it probably is classified as a phreatophyte.
I will have to work a little bit from memory but I believe there was a breeding program in Texas regarding flower color. And there was a big push to use this plant for erosion and streambank control because the branches would be buried after a heavy rain, root and create new plants. There is a very large range in flower color and it is a shame we don’t have more colors to pick from in the trade. It is messy.
Somewhat closely related to desert willow is Catalpa since it is in the same family and of course the over planted Catalpa/Desert Willow cross, Chitalpa..
As Dr. Morris said it is your tree and your decision. The latest being pushed in southwest horticulture is NOT to single trunk desert adapted trees since that is not natural and is the most labor free decision. But as you can see single trunk works. Just be careful to not damage the most upright stem when you remove the others, and keep the "suckers" that will try to keep growing back up removed.
If you want a more upright and taller multi-trunk the recommendation of Desert Harvesters now is to not prune any of the native trees the first three years in the ground and then remove the outer lower hanging of the multi-trunk stems to allow for more upright growth and eventual room to walk under (or plant under) and walk around later.
http://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1048.pdf
http://www.desertharvesters.org/native-tree-information/a-guide-to-pruning-native-sonoran-desert-multi-trunk-trees/ [be sure to watch the video]
How do u keep or get rid of all the brown from the desert willow so it doesn’t look so messy?
You are probably referring to the seed pods which can hang in the tree all through the winter and is a goodly supply of bird seed for various desert bird. Unfortunately, the only method of getting rid of the pods is to cut them off by hand every year. This is not a tree for "tidy" landscapes but more for those that are "wild and woolly".