Tree Trimming in El Dorado
Yep, we help folks in El Dorado, ZIP 95623. Call (530) 380-5512, and we'll get a tree pro who knows the old town and its hills on the schedule.
You'll find El Dorado 4 miles or so southwest of Placerville, at 1,608 feet. It's small, but it's got history, and one bit of that history is a good tree lesson.
It used to be called Mud Springs
Its first name was Mud Springs. Cattle and horses had churned a nearby watering hole into a bog, and the name stuck. The camp sat on the old Carson Trail, and by 1849 and 1850 it anchored a mining district where freight wagons and stagecoaches met.
It was also a Pony Express station. On April 13, 1860, rider Sam Hamilton changed horses at the Nevada House, carrying the first westbound Pony Express mail. The town is California Historical Landmark number 486.
One more bit of trivia. In 1945 an old 1850s building, once a Wells Fargo weigh station, turned into a barbecue spot called Poor Red's. Being about midway on the San Francisco to Lake Tahoe trip, it caught a steady stream of hungry drivers. Even the Rat Pack stopped in.
Why soggy ground matters for trees
That old "mud" name is a nice reminder. Wet, poorly drained ground can be hard on trees, oaks included.
Wet ground shows up twice in the UC Master Gardener oak talk, tied to two root diseases.
- Phytophthora root and crown rot. Soggy soil and poor drainage feed it. Leaves fade, wilt or fall early, and the roots go dark and rotten. Getting rid of standing water may help.
- Oak root fungus, known to scientists as Armillaria. Warm, damp soil suits it. Clues include mushrooms around the trunk base or white fungal sheets under the bark. Sadly, the talk lists no reasonable fix.
The same talk warns that lawns around oaks can cause disease, since too much water hits the trunk or the shallow roots. So if there's a sprinkler aimed at an old oak, that's worth fixing before you spend money on trimming.
Where trimming fits in
A trim can't fix a root problem. What it can do is take out dead limbs before they fall, and lighten a weak tree a little. The International Society of Arboriculture warns that heavy pruning can stress a tree a lot. So with a sick oak, a careful pro will usually go light.
Timing still counts. Per the Master Gardener rule, oaks that drop their leaves are pruned in winter and the evergreen ones in summer. In a wet winter, that also means a pro may wait for the ground to firm up before driving heavy gear across a soft yard. Ask about it.
What trimming costs in El Dorado
For a tree that needs care more than shaping, look at the pruning numbers. Homeyou puts tree pruning, the kind aimed at health and structure, at $248 to $548. Dead wood removal runs $176 to $428 in the same guide.
If a pro suggests an arborist look at the roots first, that's a good sign. Fixr lists arborist time at $87 to $116 an hour.
El Dorado questions
You come out to the old Mud Springs town?
We do. Call (530) 380-5512, tell us where the tree is and what you're seeing, and we'll find someone close by.
Mushrooms popped up by my oak's trunk. Bad news?
Maybe. They can point to oak root fungus, and the UC Master Gardener talk says nothing reasonable treats it. A pro can judge how solid the tree still is.
Should I water my old oak in summer?
Usually not. UC says native oaks should get water mostly in the rainy season. Keep sprinklers off the trunk.
Close by
Related reading: caring for oaks.