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Question from Thom Dickeson, Taylorsville, UT (received 7/9/20) -

The blue spruce is about 35' tall and the arborvitae is about 17' feet tall. The HOA says they need trimming. I don't want to have to remove them. Can either be shaped and maybe shortened successfully? How long will it take to fill in areas that are down to exposed branches, especially the arborvitae?

Thanks for any help,

Thom

Blue Spruce in front of house

Arborvitae tree going over fence

Answer from Dr. Mike Kuhns, USU Extension Forester and Professor (sent 7/15/20) -

Thom,

You can keep trees shorter than they would naturally get by shearing or pruning the tips of the branches. You have to do this every year, and it will not work to do it when the tree has gotten much larger than the desired size. It looks to me, though, like there is no need to keep these trees shorter. What is needed, and is being done already, is to prune the lower canopies to make room for pedestrians and to keep branches from rubbing agaInst buildings and that sort of thing. It looks to me like you have been doIng that fairly well, but maybe telling them that you will prune more for clearance will satisfy them.