Farewell to the Mesquite Tree

As you may remember from previous tree posts, we had been trying to save our huge mesquite in the front yard. But after a year and a half in Tucson, we are more aware of the risks.

Although Tucson doesn’t often get the frequent, sustained high winds that we’ve always disliked in Albuquerque, it does still get occasional wind storms. Tucson also gets surprisingly powerful brief dust devils. I’m not sure if “dust devil” is the right term. I always thought of dust devils as being harmless. But these brief whirlwinds can blow off chunks of roofing and take down unstable trees and branches.

The key being the word “unstable.” The previous owners had cabled together a split in the tree. We’ve been told the cable brace is just a temporary measure. Sometimes trees can be bolted together as a more permanent solution, but we’ve since been told that mesquite are brittle and not good candidates for bolting.

For me the moment of insight came when I looked up one morning and it seemed like the split was visibly larger than it had been. It felt inevitable. John wrapped a chain around it for additional luck and we started getting quotes to take the tree out.

In addition to the split, one section of the multi-trunked tree leans far over the house. I wondered how they were going to remove it. The previous company, which we had hired to trim the tree last year, dropped a limb on the roof and broke a skylight. We didn’t hire them this time.

The morning of the removal, the crew and several pieces of large equipment showed up bright and early.

The tree was in bloom and looked particularly beautiful in the early morning light. It was very sad.

This big crane with the hook holds onto the sections of tree that are being cut so they don’t fall, and moves them safely into the street.

At first a guy in a bucket removed some lower branches. An operator in the cab of that crane moved the arm that held the bucket. The guy in the bucket could also do some fine tuned adjustments using controls on the bucket.

They got the big crane in position and strapped to a large limb.

When they put tension on those cables, the whole tree shook. Once they were sure the limb was being held by the crane, they sawed off the limb. https://youtu.be/RSBPTXtGXdE

Here they are taking out the middle third of the tree. https://youtu.be/9VeDFnx5JOA

After the midsection was removed, it was very obvious how much the remaining trunk leaned over the house.

If you don’t have the fortitude to watch an entire four and a half minute boring video, start about a minute in. https://youtu.be/dRLUO53Qhko

It was so weird to watch the tree float through the air.

I felt sad to have it gone. Our front yard looked empty and our house looked naked!

John went out right away and bought some pots and bougainvillea bushes.

And the next week he planted a desert willow where the mesquite was.

The desert willow is currently struggling (two weeks later), so we hope it pulls through. They generally do well here, it’s just shocked from the transplant. The bougainvillea are doing great.

While the crew was out removing the huge mesquite, we also had them take out a much smaller trash tree in the backyard. It was brittle and a large section of it had already fallen on our fence during the July storms last year.

The guy brought the tree down right on top of the wires, which alarmed me, but after flashing me a sheepish look, he nonchalantly pulled the tree off the wires and continued working. https://youtu.be/_rWLaVheTe8

Now that the mesquite is gone, our back patio is so much cleaner! We used to have little mesquite needles everywhere – in the yard, in the house, in the pool – pervasively everywhere, like dog fur but worse. John filled two huge leaf bags with mesquite litter just from the roof. Now we are making steady progress clearing out the needles from every crook and cranny on the property.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com