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drip distance

How Far Should a Drip Be from a Tree Trunk?

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It may not seem like a big deal, but the space between a tree’s trunk and its water source can be a lifesaver or a killer in Arizona landscaping. Our soil texture, the nature of root development, and species of tree affect where to place drip lines most optimally for your trees. This applies to bushes and flowers to a lesser extent as well, but the effects of watering too close to the main root flare of a plant are only truly life-altering to plants as they grow larger.

The first thing to know is that our SOIL in the Phoenix area is high in clay and is very alkaline, meaning it contains salts and has a pH higher than 7 – often over 8 in some areas of the Valley. This means that air and water flow is often poor, and it takes much longer for water to creep downwards below the topsoil. This is why professionals recommend infrequent but deep waterings to fully satiate plants in the desert. This also means that if you water a tree with a drip that is placed directly next to its main trunk, that water is likely to sit in the first several inches of soil directly around the base of the trunk for hours. This is bad for two reasons. First: watering only at the base of a tree tells the tree only to grow fine roots close to the base of the tree, which can cause root girdling (tangling and constriction) and makes the tree more likely to fall during strong winds due to not being firmly rooted in the ground. Second: standing water at the base of many tree species, especially desert-adapted trees, can lead to rotting and infection of the trunk or root flare. Either way, watering too close to the trunk makes a tree more likely to fall over or die (or both).

It’s also important to keep in mind the SPECIES of the tree and what its development into MATURITY looks like. Measure your tree’s canopy diameter if possible. The diameter of the canopy is a good way to estimate the diameter of the root span beneath the surface. Because of this, the general guideline is to place the drips close to the edge of the canopy in a radius around the tree. This means that as a tree grows and matures, you should change the locations of driplines. Perhaps every three years the placement of drips around a tree should be changed to match the newly expanded canopy diameter. If the tree is native to desert ecosystems, like Palo Verdes, Acacias, Eucalyptus, Mesquites, etc., then the amount of water assistance can remain consistent, if not decrease until the tree is fully self-sufficient and established. If the tree is not native to the desert, it will need more water as it grows. If you had four, 2 GPH drips circling a Ficus tree with a 10-foot diameter, but after three years its canopy is 20 feet, you should move the drips to match the edge of the canopy and increase the number of 2 GPH drips to 10. This way, the tree is well-nourished and stable without ever having its trunk swamped.

Read Water Use It Wisely’s “Landscape Watering By The Numbers” by clicking here for more specific information.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we install, maintain, and improve irrigation infrastructure to save water and promote healthy plant growth in communities and commercial properties around the Valley. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email [email protected] and we can get started!

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Why Saguaros Struggled in 2023

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January through April 2023 were some of the rainiest months in the past 30 years for the Sonoran Desert, and you could tell the plants enjoyed the extra water. Flowers bloomed massively, creosotes sprouted strongly, and cacti were engorged more than they had been in a long time. Then, we experienced the hottest, driest summer on record, and things began to die.

For cacti like saguaros, which are built to store massive amounts of rainwater specifically to survive drought periods, you would think that a dry summer would be taxing, but not fatal. But if you look around the Phoenix area lately, saguaros that are hundreds of years old are dropping like flies, usually after dripping a nasty black goop.

What’s happening, and why?

That black goop dripping from the sides of saguaros is the main symptom of a plant disease called “Bacterial Necrosis.” There’s a very brief window where it can be cured by having an arborist carefully cut out the infected section and sanitize it before it reaches the core of the saguaro’s vascular system. Once the necrosis has spread, it’s nearly always fatal. It can take months or even years to fall over, but an untreated, infected saguaro will most likely die.

Bacterial Necrosis occurs when a plant’s immune system is weakened enough that bacteria is able to enter and colonize it from within. The bacteria eats plant materials and the carbohydrates stored within and gradually degrades its stability until it falls over.

In the case of the saguaro, several factors led to the mass dying we are currently seeing.

Firstly, we experienced over a month where the nighttime temperature didn’t descend below 95 degrees in some areas. Most desert plants are attuned to the temperature and strategically close their stomata and pause cellular respiration when the temperature is above 90 degrees, to preserve water. But just like animals, plants can’t hold their breath forever. If more than a week goes by without being able to engage in cellular respiration, any plant will begin to suffer. This stress can be enough to weaken the immune system and allow bacteria to get in.

Secondly, bad landscaping practices can lead to extra stress on saguaros. Even though they are known for being the icon of the harsh ecosystem we live in, they are not invincible. A saguaro planted in the median of a busy street goes through much more stress than a saguaro in nature, since it’s stuck in a spot where the ground is always hot from asphalt and there is little horizontal room for roots to grow.

A saguaro moved from its original location and planted somewhere else is also more likely to experience more stress than a saguaro in nature. If the saguaro was planted multiple feet deeper in the ground than where it was born, its rootball will have little to no access to oxygen and there will be multiple feet of trunk buried under the ground experiencing constant tissue damage as it grows and shrinks with the seasons. It may take several years, even up to two decades after being planted badly, before bacterial necrosis sets in. If a saguaro’s trunk doesn’t taper in width at its bottom foot or two, it was likely planted too deep and will likely die prematurely.

Additionally, the cardinal direction of the saguaro’s planting is vital to its long-term health. Growers often keep track of which part of a cactus is facing north. If this knowledge is lost through repotting or transit, a saguaro can be planted facing the wrong direction. This will lead to sun damage and a higher likelihood of dying prematurely to necrosis or other diseases.

Other human actions can lead to a saguaro’s untimely demise as well.

Installing a saguaro in a spot with no other plant life and covered in gravel? Cutting off the saguaro’s root space permanently to install a pool? Covering an area near a saguaro with fake turf? Overwatering a saguaro or putting a plant with high water requirements too close to a saguaro?

All of these actions can build up stress for a saguaro in the long term. Then, one bad summer, and next thing you know your prized plant is falling over.

With all this in mind, it’s important to note that saguaros are very low-maintenance plants. They are icons of the Sonoran Desert, vital to the ecosystem, and can increase property value by tens of thousands of dollars. The tricky part comes in the installation. You need to make sure your saguaro is being planted in the correct spot, with the correct cardinal orientation, at the healthiest depth for the rootball, and near other low-water plants.

ELS Maintenance & Construction does installation jobs for communities across the Valley, utilizing Arizona’s best practices to keep every tree, shrub, and cactus as healthy as possible. If you’re interested in submitting a Proposal Request, email us at [email protected] or call 602-243-1106.

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Before You String Up Your Christmas Lights – Which Arizona Trees Go Dormant in the Winter?

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With the holiday season approaching, you may be looking over your yard thinking of ideas of where to hang up lights and place decorations. If you’ve just moved here, it may be difficult to tell which trees are going to lose their leaves and which ones are evergreen.

Before you put your Christmas lights up, and before you call up your community manager worried that your favorite tree is dying, let’s go over some of the basics about deciduous trees in Arizona landscaping.

First, let’s go over some trees native to the Sonoran Desert. Desert Willows are often the first to go completely bald as nighttime temperatures descend. Almost every species of Mesquite Tree goes dormant in the winter, keeping few or no leaves from December until the beginning of April.

American Native Acacia species such as the Sweet Acacia look similar to mesquites and lose most of their leaves during the winter. Many species of Palo Verdes actually lose their leaves in the summer AND the winter, regrowing their tiny leaves during the spring and fall just to shed them again.

The riparian (river) trees of the desert such as Cottonwoods, Arizona Ash, and Sycamores are the only ones that notably change colors before shedding their leaves, akin to the trees of the more temperate regions of the United States.

 

A few other Arizona trees only lose their leaves during extended periods of drought, with Ironwood trees being the commonly used example. During warmer winters, Chilean Mesquites can sometimes keep the majority of their leaves.

There are lots of non-native tree species that are commonly used in Arizona landscaping, many of which begin to shed for the winter after the first few cold nights. Red Push Pistache, Chinese Elms, and Chitalpas shed their leaves slowly and without much drama – these are the ones that most often worry newcomers when the seasons change.

Texas Ebony Trees have leaf patterns similar to mesquites and acacias, but they only partially lose their leaves in the winter. Their foliage is so dense that they will cause a mess even if they still look relatively full in the dead of the winter.

Jacarandas lose their leaves as soon as it gets cold at night, and sometimes don’t grow back until the end of April. On the other end of the spectrum, the ironically-named Evergreen Pear Tree very briefly loses its leaves in late December or January, only to come back to life covered in white flowers in February.

Southern Live Oaks only shed leaves during especially cold winters when temperatures go below freezing for multiple nights. Texas Mountain Laurels, Bottle Trees, Ficus Trees, Pine Trees, Olive Trees, Arborvitae, and Citrus Trees DO NOT go dormant. If you see them shedding leaves, something may actually be wrong.

This list is by no means exhaustive – these are just some of the most commonly found trees in Phoenix-area landscaped spaces.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we have an entire dedicated Arbor Division that makes sure trees are healthy and following their normal seasonal patterns at all of our communities. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, contact [email protected] and we can get started!

fungal death

Verticillium and Cinnamon Mold Detected Throughout Phoenix Area

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If you’ve noticed the sudden and rapid death of many trees across the Valley this summer, you’re not alone. We went from an extremely wet cool season to an extremely hot and dry warm season this year. Extreme weather patterns like these often cause weakened immune systems in non-native plant species, which lead to the current situation.

Recent soil tests by plant pathologist Dr. Jared Wheeler have revealed the
culprits for the most recent wave of rapid tree death: Verticillium and
Cinnamon Fungus (Phytopthora cinnamomi). Verticillium is a fungal
disease that stops vascular flow in non-native trees planted in soils with high clay content, especially on grounds that were previously farmland.
Phytophthora cinnamomi is a highly contagious “devastation mold” which
causes the rapid decay of root systems in soil with poor drainage.

Many tree and shrub species are affected, but this year, the biggest victims are Chinese Pistache, Elms, Catalpas, Olives, and Oaks. This disease is almost always fatal, and affected trees must be removed. We will soon be presenting bids for soil treatment with sulfur and/or gypsum to decrease microbial buildup in future plantings.’

While Verticilium Wilt and Phytopthora Cinnamomi are the most visible diseases affecting trees this summer, they are not the only ones found in Arizona soils.

Earlier this year, we dealt with cases of Slime Flux, especially on Elm and Ash Trees. Texas Root Rot is a common killer of trees and shrubs in soil with poor drainage. The table below, provided by Dr. Jared Wheeler, shows a list of some common microbial killers of trees in the Phoenix area.

Trees that are not native to the Sonoran Desert are generally at higher a risk of catching diseases, since they are not in their natural ecosystems and are thus are more likely to have weakened immune systems during extreme weather. We are currently removing affected trees and planning our
strategies for soil treatment and tree replacement.

For more information about Tree Diseases:
Verticillium in Pistachios (in an Agricultural Context)
https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1930-2021.pdf
Information on Cinnamon Fungus, aka. Phytopthora cinnamomi (PDF Download)
https://gd.eppo.int/download/doc/199_datasheet_PHYTCN.pdf
ALCA’s Presentation on Common Arizona Tree Diseases
https://www.azlca.com/uploads/documents/part-ii-diseases-disorders.pdf
Pinal Central Article on Verticillium Habits (written during a 2018 outbreak)
https://www.pinalcentral.com/home_and_hearth/gibson-verticillium-wilt-disease-devastating-to-many-
plants/article_d7ce35d6-7db3-519d-8f43-61b97947ad5c.html

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Leave Young Trees Staked Through Monsoon Season

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The heavy winds characteristic of summer monsoon storms in Arizona threaten to damage young trees. Young trees have often not developed trunk strength or a root system extensive enough to withstand the winds. We therefore stake them to protect them not only from wind, but also from people, traffic, equipment, animals and other hazards.

Stake Your Tree for No More Than a Year

Most any type or size of tree, however, is only going to need support stakes through the monsoon season plus one or two growing seasons (spring or autumn) before or after. After no more than a year, remove the stakes entirely and backfill their holes with soil.

Stake with the Right Materials

Commercially grown trees often come with a stake tied tightly to the trunk. Even if the tree came this way from a nursery, remove the stake. When you plant the nursery tree in the ground, change the staking method to the one we describe here, which will be loosely looped around the trunk to allow the tree to sway in any direction. A tree should never been constricted around its trunk.

In place of any nursery stake, use two wooden poles measuring 6-to 8-feet long and 2- to 3-inches in diameter. You will also need two 18- to 20-inch segments of garden hose or smooth, pliable rubber tubing that won’t damage the tree bark and 2 lengths of heavy-duty wire about 5-feet long, enough to reach from pole to pole and wrap around one another to tie off.

Place Your Stakes

First, figure out the direction the wind usually blows. Best practice is to position the lodge poles standing straight up and positioned in line with the wind, 180 degrees from each other on either side of the tree. That means that if wind typically blows from the south, the two lodge poles would be placed 180 degrees from each other in the south and north positions.

Position the poles 6 inches outside of the root ball and drive them into the ground to a depth of about 2 feet. More importantly, drive the stakes far enough into the ground that they do not extend up into the tree’s canopy and thereby damage swaying branches or foliage.

Support the Trunk with Loose Ties

Slide the wire through the hose pieces and position them against the tree trunk. Attach each end of both wires to both poles so that they meet on either side. Set the height of the wire just below the lowermost canopy branches. Twist the wire ends together on the outside of the stake. Cut off any excess wire ends for safety.

Inspect the Staking Every Few Months

Check your stakes every few months to be sure that only the rubber tubing is gently in contact with the tree trunk. Be sure that the staking is not constricting the tree trunk in any way. A staked tree should still be able to move somewhat within the tie.

Leave Low Branches on the Tree

Avoid pruning a young tree while it is staked, unless branches are dead or damaged to avoid pest and disease infestations. Leave lower branches on the trunk for the first year as well to help protect the trunk from sunburn.

Remove the Stakes

Again, remove the stakes entirely after 1-2 growing seasons, after the danger of monsoon has passed and after no longer than a year. Remove low branches. Learn more about how to care for your tree through the seasons as it matures.

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Proper Citrus Tree Care—Spring Pruning Basics

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Citrus trees have strong wood that requires minimal pruning. A healthy tree can bear the load of heavy fruit. A common misconception is that a heavily pruned citrus tree will result in new growth and improved fruit quality. In fact, the opposite is true; minimally pruned citrus trees can produce fruit that is of better quality than heavily pruned trees.

 

Spring is Citrus Pruning Season

If your citrus tree requires pruning, the best months in Arizona are February to April. Best is after the danger of frost has passed but before the tree flowers. Pruning between April and October can expose the tree to sunburn damage, and November to February exposes the tree to potential frost damage.

Regular Maintenance with Minimal Pruning

Citrus trees produce the least fruit in areas of the tree canopy that are most shaded. Thus, your citrus tree may only need to be pruned in the spring to thin out those deeply shaded sections inside the tree canopy, opening them up to sunlight for fruit production.

Year-round maintenance of citrus trees involves regularly snipping off suckers and removing branches that are weak, diseased or dead. As with other trees, a limb that crosses another should also be removed to prevent damage to and consequent disease in the other limbs it touches.

Citrus trees, like roses, are most often grafted varieties onto a base rootstock. Shoots growing up around the base of the trunk or in nearby soil are rootstock suckers that should be removed. They are characteristically thorny and will not produce the desired citrus variety.

Thorny, unproductive varietal branches higher up in the tree can also be removed as part of regular maintenance.

Protect Cuts with Paint

Especially for large cuts, protect the exposed citrus wood by painting it with a 50%/50% mix of latex paint and water. Never use an oil-based paint on citrus.

Want to know more about how you can maintain the investment in your landscape and improve its value? Call ELS at any time at (602)-243-1106 or fill out a request a bid form on our website at www.elslandscapeaz.com

 
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How To Improve Your Citrus Fruit Quality

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   Love your citrus trees even more by growing tastier fruits. There are steps you can take to make your citrus fruits taste better.

Fertilize for good-tasting fruit

Fertilizing your citrus tree correctly is the key to good-tasting fruit. Different citrus varieties require different amounts of fertilizer. For simplicity, use a citrus mix fertilizer to fertilize your citrus trees three times a year. Feed oranges, mandarins and grapefruit in January/February, March/April and May/June. Fertilize lemons and limes in January/February, March/April and August/September.

To calculate the right amount of fertilizer to apply to your trees, use this citrus tree fertilizer chart from University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. Always follow package instructions carefully.

Give your tree enough water

Properly watering your tree is the next most important factor for growing good fruit. Ideally, you would water your citrus tree deeply and evenly, at times when a moisture meter reads moist at 6 inches below the soil surface. This method accounts for the water-holding capacity of your specific soil and avoids detrimental salt buildup.

Generally, citrus trees consume more water in spring than in fall. Different varieties of citrus trees have different needs. To give you an idea, grapefruit and lemon trees require 20% more water than orange trees, while mandarins require 10% less, according to University of Arizona research. Also noteworthy is that citrus trees planted in grass or with ground cover need 20% more water than trees in bare soil. This is because the grass limits the amount of water that reaches the tree’s roots. Use the number of drip emitters with a flow rate that best matches your desired total water application rate (via frequency and duration) for your tree’s needs.

Both underwatering and overwatering can negatively affect citrus quality. Good practice is to learn from this irrigating citrus trees guide how much water your citrus tree variety needs, and then watch your tree for signs of water stress in dry periods and limit overwatering during wet weather.

Other issues that can affect your fruit quality

If you are applying the right amount of fertilizer and water and your fruit still tastes bad, you may have other issues with your tree. Since most commercially available citrus trees are grafted onto rootstock, it’s possible that the part of your tree producing bad-tasting fruit could be a growing from the rootstock instead of from above the graft, which is a thicker, scarred section of trunk near the base of the tree.

Another good clue is that sucker branches growing from the rootstock usually have more spines than the branches growing from above the graft (also called the bud union). Suckers should always be pruned off. If a sucker grew into a mature leader on your citrus tree, that part of the tree will never produce good fruit, and you probably need a new tree.

Soil and water salinity can also affect the quality of your citrus fruit. Refer to our blog on soil testing for more information on laboratories that can measure salts in your soil or water.

It’s also possible your citrus tree has a disease. You can consult with a nursery professional or local cooperative extension office about the various symptoms your tree is showing.

For more expert insights on growing and caring for thriving trees, invite ELS to care for your commercial landscape by sending email to  [email protected].
CAR AND TREE

What Is A Tree Worth?

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Most of us grow up hearing our parents yell at us that money doesn’t grow on trees. The sassiest of us called them liars because money is paper, and paper comes from trees. What is indisputable, however, is that trees are tangible assets in the urban landscape that increase in value over time. Generally, the bigger and older the tree, the more valuable it is.

Economic and Ecological Worth

To assess the value of a tree, let’s first ask whether we are after its economic or ecologic worth. Economically speaking, one measure is a tree’s perceived contribution to the value of the property on which it is located. Other economic benefits of well-placed trees include providing protection from the weather. Tree canopies provide shade from the sun, and evapotranspiration cools the surrounding air. Tree canopies can slow down winds and reduce the amount of heat a building loses, particularly through its windows. For a homeowner, that sun and wind protection can add up to real savings from lower cooling and heating costs.

A tree’s worth in ecologic terms is even more interesting. Arborists and other scientists geek out on measures that include stormwater runoff interception, energy savings, air quality improvement and CO2 reductions. Trees serve to control urban pollution by reducing stormwater runoff and are considered a rainwater harvesting technique. They intercept and hold rain on their leaves, branches and bark, increasing soil infiltration and storage of rainwater through their roots. They also reduce soil erosion under their canopies by diverting and slowing rainfall before it strikes the soil.

How Trees Work For You

Trees phytoremediate water, taking in trace amounts of otherwise harmful chemicals from the soil and transforming them into less harmful substances that they use as nutrients or store in their tissues. Trees can reduce the level of air particulates and ozone because their leaves absorb ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide and generate oxygen during photosynthesis. They can also reduce atmospheric carbon by sequestering CO2 in their roots, trunks, stems and leaves while they grow, and in wood products after they are harvested.

i-Tree Design

To quantify and predict the economic and ecological value of one or more trees, use the clever modeling tool from i-Tree Design. This tool uses the tree’s location, species, diameter and condition to let you model your built structures and predict the value of specific tree species over a 1 to 99-year period.

Still, we humans usually plant trees for far simpler reasons—reasons that are rooted in neither economic nor ecologic value. We simply like how they look. They add curb appeal, design interest and sometimes privacy to our yards. We like them for bearing fruit, seeds or nuts. We like how they flower or change color with the seasons. We enjoy them as a source of recreation, like for a tree house, a rope swing or a hammock. And we admire how they are the simplest of homes, supporting local ecosystems of bees, birds and squirrels.

Whatever the value you desire or derive, invest in your landscape and property through proper tree selection, placement, pruning and nourishment.

Reach us at [email protected] to request a custom bid for your commercial landscape.

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Fall Colors from Arizona Trees

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By Northeastern U.S. standards, fall tree color comes to Arizona late in the season. Here in the Sonoran Desert, we might see our deciduous trees change to the iconic reds, oranges and yellows of autumn between October and sometimes January. Think of it this way—Arizonans get to enjoy an even longer leaf peeping season.

Detail of Yellow Fremont Cottonwood Leaves in Autumn Stream

The Science Behind the Colors

Getting a little scientific for a moment, leaves change color on deciduous trees, trees that shed their leaves in the winter, as opposed to evergreen trees, which tend to keep their leaves on their branches throughout the year. In the warm months, trees are busy producing food to grow. That process is called photosynthesis and produces chlorophyll, which creates the green color in leaves. When seasonal temperatures cool and the amount of daylight shortens, most trees slow down their growth and photosynthesize less. As chlorophyll production declines, other pigments that are always present in leaves gradually dominate over the green. In trees where the leaves turn yellow and orange in the fall, carotenoids are the pigments you see showing through in the leaves. In leaves that turn red to purple in the fall, you see the anthocyanin pigments come through.

Leaf Peeping in Arizona

To leaf peep in Arizona, look along our many waterways and riparian areas. You’ll spot fall color dotting our lower elevation cities, but the most showy fall tree varieties tend to be very large and generally aren’t suitable for urban landscapes. So head for the hills, where you are likely to see a preponderance of native trees that change color in autumn.

Easy to spot where there’s flowing water, Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii) trees turn a gorgeous yellow in fall. Deep red leaves characterize tall Texas red oak (Quercus texana or Quercus buckleyi), the oak variety that is more common in urban landscapes and at lower elevations, while the shorter Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) grows at higher elevations and shows in bright yellow and orange. At higher elevations, look along streams for the orange fall leaves of Arizona sycamore (Plantanus racemosa var. wrightii), for gold on quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and for light yellow on the Arizona walnut (Juglans rupestris var. major).

Add Showy Trees at Home

Want to add some fall color to your home landscape? This author is partial to the shape and color of the non-native Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis) tree, whose red and orange anthocyanins and carotenoids burst through in fall. Another tree for urban landscapes is the Arizona ash (Fraxinus velutina), and cultivar ‘Modesto’ is known for particularly splendid yellows. The boxelder (Acer negundo) ‘Sensation’ cultivar turns light pink in fall. In smaller spaces like patios, Pomegranates (Punica granatum) are excellent choices, with stunning reds and oranges, plus edible fruit in autumn. (Note, however, that dwarf varieties of pomegranate will give you a colorful autumn show but produce inedible fruits.)

This is by no means a comprehensive list of native or desert-adapted plants that change colors in autumn in Arizona, but now you have a little bit of the science behind the transformation in leaf color and a lot of pointers on what to look for on your leaf peeping escapades between now and January.

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Proper Citrus Care: Pruning Basics

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Citrus trees have strong wood that requires minimal pruning. A healthy tree can bear the load of heavy fruit. A common misperception is that a heavily pruned citrus tree will result in new growth and improved fruit quality. In fact, the opposite is true; minimally pruned citrus trees can produce fruit that is of better quality than heavily pruned trees.

Spring is Citrus Pruning Season

If your citrus tree requires pruning, the best months in Arizona are February to April. Best is after the danger of frost has passed but before the tree flowers. Pruning between April and October can expose the tree to sunburn damage, and November to February exposes the tree to potential frost damage.

Regular Maintenance with Minimal Pruning

Citrus trees produce the least fruit in areas of the tree canopy that are most shaded. Thus, your citrus tree may only need to be pruned in the spring to thin out those deeply shaded sections inside the tree canopy, opening them up to sunlight for fruit production.

Year-round maintenance of citrus trees involves regularly snipping off suckers and removing branches that are weak, diseased or dead. As with other trees, a limb that crosses another should also be removed to prevent damage to and consequent disease in the other limbs it touches.

Citrus trees, like roses, are most often grafted varieties onto a base rootstock. Shoots growing up around the base of the trunk or in nearby soil are rootstock suckers that should be removed. They are characteristically thorny and will not produce the desired citrus variety.

Thorny, unproductive varietal branches higher up in the tree can also be removed as part of regular maintenance.

Protect Cuts with Paint

Especially for large cuts, protect the exposed citrus wood by painting it with a 50%/50% mix of latex paint and water. Never use an oil-based paint on citrus.

Want to know more about how you can maintain the investment in your landscape and improve its value? Call us at (602)-243-1106 or fill out a request a bid form by clicking here.

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