Hands-On Neighborhood Tree-Pruning & Mulching Workshop

Plus, the opportunity to get your prunings chipped into mulch for an extremely reasonable donation

Meet at the Dunbar/Spring Community Garden/Orchard space (NW corner of 11th Ave and University Blvd).

After demonstration we will then move to various parts of the neighborhood to get hands-on experience with Aleck as we help prune native and domesticated food-bearing trees in our neighborhood’s public rights-of-way.

• Instructors: local certified arborist Aleck Mackinnon, of the Pedaling Arborist, assisted by Brad Lancaster of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, and Omar Ore-Giron of Native Roots Landscaping.
  • Best pruning times, techniques, and tools
  • How best to maintain City clearance standards for trees in the public right-of-way along footpaths and streets.
  • How to reuse prunings (cut up with hand tools or chipped with chipper/shredder) as an ascetically-pleasing, water-conserving, fertility-enhancing mulch

Immediately after the pruning, we will turn the prunings into mulch with a chipper/shredder following the pruners.

This way the pruned biomass is recycled back into the root zone of the trees it came from. Nothing is thrown away or removed from the natural system.

This is how to transform wasteful Brush & Bulky into resourceful Chipped & Mulchy.

Come learn how you can replicate and evolve this practice to grow more healthy forests and citizen foresters in your neighborhood.

This workshop is open to, and can be attended by, EVERYONE, no matter what neighborhood you live in.

NOTE: All public rights-of-way in front of properties must maintain a minimum continuous clear walkway area 5 feet wide and 7 feet tall to make our neighborhood walkways and forests accessible for all.

See our Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Walkability Study here.

Sponsored by the Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Foresters, Desert Harvesters, and the LEAF Network

Chipping Service by donation: 
Turn “wastes” into resources, as you transform your prunings into mulch.

Throughout the pruning workshop day, Omar Ore-Giron will be renting and operating an industrial chipper-shredder to quickly turn prunings into mulch. To cover costs he will be asking for a donation of $30 per property for those using the chipper services. This is an amazing deal, as this would ordinarily cost well over $100 per property.

Pruning Requirements and Guidelines for Neighborhood Mulching Service

• You must contact Omar (nativeroots.az@gmail.com, 520-425-9795) to let him know you want your prunings mulched by Friday, February 10. Suggested minimum donation is $30.
• All public rights-of-way adjoining all properties must maintain/prune a continuous clear walkway a minimum 5 feet wide and 7 feet tall, so two people can comfortably walk along the path side by side without having to duck under limbs. Violations are subject to a citation from the City of Tucson.
• All piles of prunings left beside street curb (for chipping into mulch) should ONLY be of freshly pruned, green limbs 3” in diameter or less.
• No old, dry dead wood will be chipped into mulch (this dulls the chipper blades too quickly).
• Pile branches so branch butts are all facing in the same direction. This helps ensure that the pile of prunings is not tangled, but rather is orderly and therefore easy to take apart to chip into mulch.
• Wide branch “crotches” or “V’s” should be cut at their base, so the branch will fit into the chipper (no diameter can exceed 3 inches).
• All piles must be on the street curbside before chipping service arrives on site.

This is a wonderful opportunity to:

• Meet neighbors, build community, and expand your knowledge of local plants and ecology
• Prune your trees in a way that will improve their health, and reduce the future need to prune
• Make walking and bicycling in our neighborhood more convenient, enjoyable, and safe
• Keep our trees’ useful biomass and fertility in our neighborhood
• Increase our living soil’s ability to bioremediate/filter pollutants
• Enhance our soil’s ability to absorb and hold onto water — lessening flooding AND reducing water bills
• Maximize the amount of carbon we can beneficially sequester in our soils and trees.

Bring hat, work gloves, water bottle, and pruning tools if you have them (we will also have some for those without)

If you have trees in need of some pruning, prunings in need of chipping into mulch, or would like to participate please contact:

Omar Ore-Giron, Dunbar/Spring resident and owner of Native Roots Landscaping at nativeroots.az@gmail.com