Seven volunteers pruned trees at the Liberty High School campus where the Benicia Tree Foundation held a tree pruning clinic. Most of the trees were planted in 2014, so for some of these trees it was their third pruning. Most of the volunteers were students from Benicia High School.
Other trees were checked at the adjacent Community Center where trees were planted in 2021, and along the school’s East J Street frontage where Pistache Chinensis were planted in 2014 and 2022. Those trees were pruned and one tree planted in 2022 had its stakes removed.
One tree had recently died from gridling. This is a method of killing trees without felling them. Girdling severs the bark and cambium in a ring extending entirely around the tree trunk, thus preventing food and water from moving up and down through the tree. The girdling was done at about 4.5’ so it was not done by rodents or other wildlife.
Last year, one of the trees planted in 2022 along East J Street was lost due to girdling. But that damage occurred at the base of the tree and more likely occurred from a hungry rodent.
