It seems a never ending chore in your Tucson and Green Valley landscaping; pruning is like housework. While in many cases pruning trees has a purpose, before you get out your pruning saw or lopers, consider this.
Trees don’t care if you prune them or not. If you think about trees in the desert, they are perfectly content to not be pruned. Native trees grow downward in an effort to shade their bark from the summer sun. When we prune trees in our yard, usually it is because we want to walk or sit under them, or keep them from growing into our roof eves.
The important thing to remember about pruning trees, especially natives like mesquite, acacia and palo verde, is to keep pruning cuts as small as possible, and never remove more than 25% of the canopy in one year. Prune small branches so you can have the clearance you need. You can always prune more if needed, but you can’t glue them back on if you prune too much! Topping trees to reduce height should never, ever, be a practice as this severely impedes the ability of the tree to close the wound. Without proper wound closure, you risk disease introduction. Additionally, tree topping creates sprouts that grow twice as fast as normal, increasing the amount of pruning. Even more important: it is UGLY! The tree will never recover.
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