Our HOA recently sent us a landscaping violation for having mistletoe in our front tree. Mistletoe?! What are they talking about?!
I had to do some research, I thought mistletoe was the stuff you stood under at Christmas. Boy did I get an eyeopener. One website says There are 1,300 mistletoe species worldwide. The continental United States and Canada are home to more than 30 species, and Hawaii harbors another six.
Once I knew what I was looking for I found it in a number of places in my front tree.
So I called AZ Desert Tree Care.
Edward came out and gave it a look over and said it would not be a problem to remove and trim up the tree. We had a good discussion and he asked if there was anything else, I said ya, and I took him in the back yard to show him my 2 fruit trees. One orange and one lemon.
My wife has been nervous about the orange tree because the trunk leans away from our brick fence. And it has been very heavy with fruit so I got her point. So in talking to Andrew about them he explained that they only need to be trimmed once every year or 2. Not every month like my landscaper has been doing for years. He explained about how the lemon tree needed to be thinned out in the middle to get sunshine through the center to get more fruit, which we have had very little on that tree.
The quote was reasonable so I scheduled it. When the day came the guys that came out were very polite and they got right to work. WOW! What a difference in the trees. For one, the wife was really happy with the fruit trees. (when mama is happy...) The mistletoe was gone as well as a lot of weight on the front tree. That was one of the first things the lead guy told me when he arrived, how heavy the front tree looked.
They also put the good ol' fishy fertilizer on all of the trees. I was told that it will also help keep mistletoe from attaching and growing on the tree.
Oh, one last thing. Andrew pointed out the drips on the fruit trees. They have always been at the base of the trunk. And I always wondered about that. He mentioned that it will create a root ball at the base of the tree. The drips should be located at the dripline of the tree, which makes perfect sense. He recommended splitting the line and have one drip at opposite locations at the tree's dripline. Done!
So I will have them back out next year to see if things need trimmed up again.
Highly recommended!