What to do with Breaking Pali Verde trees? (landscaping, new construction)

[ps2cho]

The tree had grown from 6ft to 20-25ft in past three years...constantly breaks large branches when the wind kicks up.

Now I’m left with awkward shapes that look even more likely to break as the weight is not even.

What do you long-term AZ’ers do? Cut it down and remove stump and find new tree? Cut it significantly down? What’s the choices here?

[hikernut]

If it were me, I'd put in a different tree. Alternatively, you could have it trimmed frequently but that will be expensive over the long run.

Ash trees are kind of a happy medium, IMO. The grow relatively fast, are fairly strong, and give some nice shade when they are big.

[exit2lef]

Keep it pruned. I learned the hard way how a palo verde can become top heavy. We had one in the front yard that I let grow and grow. During one summer storm when there was a big gust, it came crashing down, causing some roof damage in the process. As I looked at the uprooted tree in yard, it became apparent that as big as a palo verde may grow on top, its root structure stays small.

[Ponderosa]

You got to thin them - a lot. Look at them in the natural desert. They are scrawny trees more like bushes. With water they grow way too big and have weak limbs. Thinning them means less wind pressure on them. You can cut them down to nothing and they will grow back, so don't worry about overdoing it reshaping them. The same thing goes for mesquites. Another thing is to water them deep and for a long time each time (hours). Otherwise they end up with a small root ball and fall over in storms.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

You got to thin them - a lot. Look at them in the natural desert. They are scrawny trees more like bushes. With water they grow way too big and have weak limbs. Thinning them means less wind pressure on them. You can cut them down to nothing and they will grow back, so don't worry about overdoing it reshaping them. The same thing goes for mesquites. Another thing is to water them deep and for a long time each time (hours). Otherwise they end up with a small root ball and fall over in storms.

This. Some of the mesquites I've seen that have access to way more water than they would have in nature have to be thinned regularly, as they get much larger than they would in the desert. Palo Verdes are the same.

[AZ Manager]

Originally Posted by exit2lef

Keep it pruned. I learned the hard way how a palo verde can become top heavy. We had one in the front yard that I let grow and grow. During one summer storm when there was a big gust, it came crashing down, causing some roof damage in the process. As I looked at the uprooted tree in yard, it became apparent that as big as a palo verde may grow on top, its root structure stays small.

That is mostly because of where people leave their drip lines. Most landscapers place the lines within a foot of the trunk and they never get moved after that. The lines need to be kept at the edge of the canopy and moved out every year so the root structure expans outward chasing the water.

Really on Palo Verde and Mesquite trees there shouldn't be a drip line. They are native trees that don't need the extra water so providing it will cause problems on its own. I've got a Palo Verde in my back yard that I cut water off of the day I moved in, new construction the builder did the landscaping. It has had no problems even with as dry as last year was.

Another problem I see a lot of is people don't take the stakes off of trees soon enough. Trees need to move with the wind to strengthen up and stakes prohibit that movement. Timing is different for all trees but most Palo Verde and Mesquite trees planted in a 24" box you should remove the stakes 6-12 months after planting preferably in the winter/spring, don't want their first experience without support during monsoon season.

[ps2cho]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

You got to thin them - a lot. Look at them in the natural desert. They are scrawny trees more like bushes. With water they grow way too big and have weak limbs. Thinning them means less wind pressure on them. You can cut them down to nothing and they will grow back, so don't worry about overdoing it reshaping them. The same thing goes for mesquites. Another thing is to water them deep and for a long time each time (hours). Otherwise they end up with a small root ball and fall over in storms.

Maybe I should just cut them down low and let it regrow then? Would it look drastically out of proportion as it regrows?

Also any “ballpark” cost estimates I should expect to have a crew come and cut down significantly? Never paid for yard work, but this one may not be worth the time and hauling away...what should I expect to pay?

[KurtAZ]

$400-$500 to have it properly trimmed. Ours is huge and we are considering removing it completely.

[hikernut]

Trimming large trees is certainly not cheap. We had 9 mature pecans trimmed last year. Ouch! It was impressive to watch them work. One fellow climbed the trees and did the pruning, while the second guy cut up limbs, stacked the wood that we kept, and loaded the rest onto a trailer. They definitely earned their money, and there's no way I could have done that job myself.

[DougStark]

I had the same problem in back yard. Palo verde got huge, being near my lawn. Monsoon storm blew it over. Cut it back to the ground. It re-grew fine, but I decided I've had enough with this type tree. Thorny--too common--grows too fast and big because of my nearby lawn. So it's gone.