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Learn secrets of stronger, healthier trees

SacTree, RWA offer free seminar on 'Young Tree Pruning'

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 27, 2021

Proper pruning when a tree is young can help

it grow strong and true. (Photo courtesy

Sacramento Tree Foundation)

Why do some trees survive high winds while others snap like twigs? It often comes down to pruning – not just of the mature tree, but as that tree was developing.

Train your trees to grow strong and true with the help of a new online class presented by the Sacramento Tree Foundation and the Regional Water Authority.

Set for noon Thursday, Feb. 4, “Young Tree Pruning” will present the do’s and don’ts of how to train a tree to be its best. This early pruning is especially important with shade trees, which can provide heat relief and potentially save homeowners energy and money.

Arborist Pamela Sanchez from the Sacramento Tree Association will demonstrate techniques as well as discuss tools and tree’s needs. She’ll concentrate on shade trees, particularly the fast-growing varieties common to Sacramento. (This class doesn’t include fruit tree care.)

“Quick, simple steps you can take now to help your young shade trees grow healthy and beautiful will save you time and money in the future,” according to the RWA. “We’ll teach you how and where to make good cuts and which tools to use.”

This one-hour class is free and open to customers of the local water suppliers that are part of the Regional Water Authority. Advance registration is required.

Register at: bit.ly/Tree-Pruning

This seminar is part of the RWA’s winter series of water-wise landscaping and educational seminars. Find out more and sign up at: https://bewatersmart.info/webinars/ .

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Keywords:

gardening Sacramento pruning workshop events Regional Water Authority Sacramento Tree Foundation planting trees winter

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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