In the Central Valley, January is generally not a memorable month. It's a month most valley residents simply try to get through.</p><p>The glimmer of the holidays is past and the sweetness of February blossoms is still to come. On many days the drab winter fog lingers, a damp chill settles in, or a cold wind makes the bones shiver.</p><p>There is one positive thing about January in Los Banos. It's a good time of the year to prune trees. Now, in late January, Los Banos trees are in the last stages of dormancy before the first shoots of leaves emerge. Now is a good time to clip and cut and saw.</p><p>Pruning helps to strengthen and shape trees, to create strength and beauty. The challenge is to prune correctly.</p><p>There are different reasons and ways to prune. Trees near a home or apartment complex usually need minimal trimming, unless some limbs create problems for wires, windows or roofs.</p><p>Trees planted near a business, however, including those in commercial parking lots, need a different kind of pruning. Business owners need to make sure the trees don't block the view of the business, especially its signs, while still providing ample shade.</p><p>We are fortunate in Los Banos that many businesses show appreciation for their customers by planting and maintaining trees that provide shade and beauty. These same businesses also show a respect for the community. Every tree they plant improves the city's quality of life.</p><p>January is often the time these businesses will do their tree pruning, an extra expense but, as the business owners know, well worth it in return for customer appreciation and loyalty.</p><p>There are two types of Los Banos tree-friendly businesses: those that maintain trees primarily because they want to and those that maintain trees primarily because they have to.</p><p>The "have-to" businesses are those with commercial sites developed after the early-1990s. At that time the city of Los Banos passed an ordinance requiring every new and significantly renovated business to plant ample shade trees in their parking lots.</p><p>Specifically, new Los Banos businesses in the last decade or so have been required to plant enough shade trees so that within 15 years one-half of all parking spaces are shaded. These businesses have a particular responsibility to keep the trees in their parking lots well pruned and healthy</p><p>At the same time, commercial property owners don't want the mature trees to block the views of their businesses.</p><p>To make sure everyone wins, business with trees (whether in parking lots or in adjacent landscaping) need to follow a very specific but simple process in tree pruning.</p><p>When the tree is young, it needs to be pruned so that a single strong "leader" trunk is created, one that will grow tall and strong and thin. In other words, the trees shouldn't have several main trunks or large limbs low to the ground. The goal is to prevent a tree from looking like a bush, which would block buildings and signs.</p><p>A well-pruned "commercial tree" should grow tall and thin until it reaches a point -- at a height between 15 and 30 feet -- that it can provide a crown, with branches that grow up and out, providing a canopy of shade. Branches below this crown should be pruned back.</p><p>Although this sounds like a simple plan, many businesses are not aware of it. They will tell the tree trimmers they hire to do the opposite, not because the owners are against trees but because they don't understand.</p><p>Some business owners will even give tree-trimmers orders to "top" their trees, cutting the tree from the top down instead of from the bottom up. As a result, the tree's health becomes compromised, beauty is negated and shade is severely reduced. </p><p>The worst result, for businesses interested in the bottom line, is that for topped trees future pruning costs go up, while the view of the business soon becomes blocked again with bushing branches.</p><p>In the long run, all businesses will save time and money if they prune their trees correctly, while simultaneously providing shade, beauty and improved air quality for customers and the community.</p><p>Comments on the writings of John Spevak, an Enterprise columnist for 28 years, are encouraged, and can be sent via email to john.spevak@gmail.com.