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Tree Trimming in Lotus, CA

Lotus is on our map, ZIP 95651. Call us now at (530) 238-3614 and we'll send a nearby pruning pro to check your live oaks and anything else that's overgrown.

We set up the visit for you. The pro does the looking and quotes the price.

A town with three names

Lotus sits one mile west of Coloma, at about 722 feet. That's the lowest of all the towns we cover.

Founded in 1849, it first carried the name Marshall, for the man who found gold just up the road. A year later folks renamed it Uniontown, since California had just become a state. Lotus came last, in 1881, along with a post office.

Estimates for its busiest years run from 8,000 to 10,000 residents. There was a general store and a dance hall. A big Chinese community lived here too, and it had its own cemetery.

Interior live oaks down low

A UC Master Gardener talk for El Dorado County places interior live oak under 5,000 feet. It's an evergreen oak. The leaves are thick and leathery, deep green on top and yellow-green underneath. They can be smooth, toothed, or spiny.

Because it keeps its leaves, the Master Gardener rule is to prune it in summer, not winter. That's the opposite of the valley oaks over in Coloma, which drop their leaves and get pruned in winter.

Keep cuts small and clean. The talk says to prune in a way that doesn't leave wounds or pockets where water can sit.

Watch for foam on the bark

This one's worth knowing if you have live oaks. The UC talk lists a disease called foamy bark canker. Western oak bark beetles carry it, and it's a newcomer here on interior live oak.

The signs are a pink to white frothy foam oozing from the bark. There may also be reddish sap coming out of little insect holes. The talk says it's likely fatal and can spread.

So if you see foam on a live oak, don't just trim around it. Have a pro look at the tree. Some problems need more than pruning, and catching it early helps the trees nearby.

Those odd balls on the twigs

Round, bumpy or spiky balls on oak twigs are galls. The UC talk says gall wasps cause them. Their larvae are no bigger than an eighth of an inch. Each wasp picks one kind of oak, and each makes its own shape of gall.

Galls look strange, but there's no need to prune them off. They're part of how a healthy oak lives.

Lawns and water under oaks

The Master Gardener talk has a list of things that hurt oaks, and a lot of them are about water.

• Lawns around oak trees can cause disease from too much water on the trunk or the shallow roots.
• Planting in the root zone can damage roots, and watering new plants can bring disease.
• If you must plant, pick small, drought-tolerant plants and keep them far from the trunk.

Oaks here evolved with dry summers. They do best when we leave them dry.

What it costs

National guides are the best guide we have. LawnStarter lists oak trimming at $230 to $1,480. Fixr says pruning for health runs $350 to $650.

The pro sees your trees, then gives you a price before any work starts.

Nearby

One mile away: tree trimming in Coloma. Also close: tree trimming in Rescue and tree trimming in Shingle Springs. Read up on oak tree pruning, head back to Diamond Springs, or browse every town we cover.