So I was in Hutto a few weeks back, walking along Live Oak Street. I was there to “Tag” some trees in need of pruning and as I stopped there under a pecan tree, a few feet away a medium-sized branch just fell out of the tree.

Well, what I witnessed was that pecan tree in the act of self-pruning (thankfully Mr. Pecan (or Mrs) decided to prune a few feet away from me instead of on me)!

Mr. and Mrs. Pecan are of a shade intolerant species. If leaves do not receive enough sunlight to remain photosynthetically active, the tree will shed them. Usually limbs that self-prune are the inner limbs that are not receiving enough sunlight.

As many of us know, yards throughout our neighborhoods are home to all shapes and sizes of our native friends and judging from the amount of limbs & twigs we find scattered throughout our yards, roofs and even in the back of our pick-up trucks (on occasion) it’s safe to say we need to beat those pecan trees to the punch.

So consider pruning out those limbs over your home and yard in a safe, efficient manner instead of leaving it up to Mr. and Mrs. Pecan and their self-pruning ways.

Here we are in the finishing process of staying a step ahead of some large pecans, that “had” lots of waiting dead wood to shed.