Did you know that there are a few ways to help keep your trees healthy in the winter? Many human elements can damage your trees.
Heavy snow and ice storms cause damage by bending and breaking branches. Multi-stemmed evergreens, such as yews, arborvitae, and junipers, are often the most prone to damage. To protect these plants from limb breakage prior to winter, tie branches together loosely with strips of cloth or coated twine. Remove in early spring.
The branches of many hardwoods, such as Siberian elm, maples, and birch, may be seriously damaged in ice storms. Improper removal of ice or snow from the tree or shrub might increase damage. Heavy snow should be removed gently before it freezes to limbs and branches. Removing ice encased on branches can cause additional damage and should not be attempted. Instead, allow ice to melt off naturally.
Salt Damage
Salts used for deicing pavements can cause damage to trees and shrubs. Symptoms of salt damage appear in spring and early summer and include browning of evergreens, leaf scorch, branch die back, and dead areas in turf. Branches and twigs can be killed from aerial deposits, and roots can be damaged from salt remaining in the soil. Salt will leach through well-drained soils, but damage can be extensive in poorly drained soils. Choose salt-tolerant species for sites where salt stress may be a problem.
Protecting Evergreens and Young Trees
Evergreens lose moisture through their needles all winter, and frozen ground keeps the roots from replacing it. This drying, called winter burn, leaves brown or scorched foliage by spring. To reduce it, water evergreens deeply in late fall before the ground freezes, and keep a layer of mulch over the root zone to slow heat loss from the soil. For young or thin barked trees such as maples and fruit trees, a light colored trunk wrap applied in late fall helps prevent sunscald, where winter sun warms the bark by day and freezing night temperatures damage the tissue. Remove the wrap in spring so it does not trap moisture.
Smarter Snow, Ice, and Salt Management
When heavy wet snow loads a branch, brush it off gently with an upward motion using a broom, and never knock ice from frozen limbs, since brittle wood breaks easily. Where you must use a deicer near plantings, choose a product based on calcium magnesium acetate rather than rock salt, and direct snowmelt away from root zones. In spring, water salt exposed soil thoroughly to flush residue below the roots.
For winter protection of valuable trees or storm damaged limbs, Hometown Tree Experts can help. Call 301-250-1033 for a free consultation.