Tree Trimming & Pruning in Bakersfield, CA

Tree trimming and pruning in Bakersfield has a goal you do not see in milder places: keeping enough leaf cover to shade the trunk, the house and the yard through months of 100-degree afternoons. Overthinning a tree here does more than make it look sparse. Bark that has been shaded for years can sunburn when it is suddenly exposed, and a stressed tree can put out a flush of weak sprouts. Good pruning takes out what needs to go, such as dead wood, crossing limbs and branches over the roof, while leaving the canopy intact enough to keep working.

The pruning standard

The tree care industry in the United States follows ANSI A300, a national standard for pruning and other tree work. It calls for cuts just outside the branch collar instead of flush with the trunk, removing branches back to a point where the tree can respond, and setting a clear objective before cutting begins, such as clearance, thinning or reducing a limb's weight. It also discourages topping. Topped trees regrow fast, but the new shoots are weakly attached, and in a few years the tree is taller, denser and more likely to drop limbs than before.

What we trim most often here

Ash and other deciduous shade trees get crown cleaning and mistletoe pruning. Pines, especially Aleppo and Canary Island pines, get dead wood removed and heavy limbs reduced so wind does not catch them. Fruitless mulberry, pistache and elm get structural work while they are young enough to shape. Eucalyptus gets thinned and shortened over roofs, since it grows fast and drops heavy litter. Fan palms are a separate job, covered on our palm page. Trees with branches over a pool, a patio cover or a neighbor's block wall usually need clearance pruning every few years.

Timing in the Kern County calendar

UC Cooperative Extension's Kern County landscape schedule lists December and January for pruning shade trees, and December for controlling mistletoe. Dormant pruning lets you see the branch structure and gives cuts the spring to start closing. Light trimming for clearance can happen at other times, but we steer away from heavy cuts just before the hottest stretch of summer. Dead or broken limbs should come out whenever you find them.

Parkway trees and lines

The owner or tenant of the adjacent lot is responsible for caring for trees in the Bakersfield parkway, but any contractor working on them needs a city permit from the Recreation and Parks director first. If branches are near PG&E lines, that part is left to the utility.