Green Thumb: Expert to speak on correct methods of pruning

It is our good fortune that at our last seminar of the season we will hear from Jack Kelly, who is the Commercial Horticulture Agent for the U of A and Pima County Cooperative Extension.

He is also the coordinator of the Arizona Certified Landscape Professional program, as well as coordinator of the Certified Nursery Professional Program.

But, best of all he directs the Arborist Training program in Southern Arizona. (Don’t we all wish that our local tree trimmers had to attend Jack’s classes and that gas-powered shears had never been invented.)

As I have written before, pruning trees, shrubs and vines seems to be a regional passion ...or not.

Master Gardeners are consistently asked by newcomers how to prune their citrus, Texas rangers and mesquites.

Folks from the mid-west and east are surprised when we tell them that we don’t advocate pruning unless a branch is sticking them in the eye as they exit the patio.

Citrus are regarded as shrubs with a rounded form.

Obviously if they deviate from the desired shape, you will have to cut back a branch or two but wait until all chances of frost have passed.

You should prune the dead branches off the mesquite following an attack by the girdler beetle and burn or get rid of them.

And, when purchasing a Texas ranger, be aware of its eventual size and you won’t have to touch it.

Certainly we don’t advocate cutting them to resemble chairs, cubes or cats.

Enter Jack Kelly!

There are pruning opportunities: Dead or diseased branches should be removed along with suckers, and water sprouts.

Also some trees become too dense and should be thinned to allow air and sunlight to reach their inner leaves and stems.

Kelly will demonstrate with a power point presentation how to do this.

He will also touch on methods of staking which is sometimes essential with our local winds.

An excellent book about pruning is Eric Johnson’s “Pruning, Planting, & Care” available at most book stores in a paper-back edition by Ironwood Press (a Tucson publisher).

So, join us Thursday, Nov. 20 at the East Center. Coffee is ready at 9 a.m., Master Gardeners are on hand, and the program will begin at 9:30.

Green Thumb articles are written by members of Green Valley Gardeners with assistance from seminar speakers.