Winter weather can be hard on your trees, but with a bit of care, you can keep them healthy and strong all season long. Here are eight simple ways to care for your trees during the colder months.
1. Wrap Your Trees in Burlap
Frost cracking, also called southwest injury, happens when temperatures drop drastically at night and rise again in the daytime. Eventually, the stress from these changes can cause trees to crack. Though the tree may eventually heal, you can prevent this by wrapping your tree bark. Consider burlap wrapping for evergreen shrubs and trees; just pull it around to cover and secure the trunk. This can also protect your trees from pests, like rodents, that might gnaw at the bark.
2. Don’t Prune Trees Too Early
Trees that continue to grow in autumn may be stunted if they experience an early frost. Ice crystals can damage their branches’ fragile, living tips, which could cause them to die off in the spring. Pruning branches too early could promote new growth and make them vulnerable to frost damage, so you should wait to do the job until you know your trees have gone dormant.
3. Prune Away Dying and Weak Branches
When snow and ice cover and weigh down your tree branches, the extra weight can damage and break them. Deciduous trees like oaks are especially susceptible to damage because their wood can harden and become brittle, which makes it more likely to break in a strong wind. Pruning away weak and dying branches before the winter season sets in will ensure your trees stay strong during the colder months.
4. Fertilize Your Shrubs and Trees
Trees and shrubs in city gardens and suburban lawns are more likely to grow in nutrient-poor soils than trees that live in the forest. Applying a slow-release fertilizer at the base of your shrubs and trees can nourish them and help them protect themselves against diseases, insects, and bad weather.
5. Mulch Your Trees
Evergreen trees can easily dry out in the winter, especially when the ground freezes, and they lose more water than they can pull from the frozen ground. At the end of the autumn season, putting down a thick layer of mulch at the base of your tree can help to limit moisture and protect their roots when the temperature drops.
6. Keep Rock Salt Away from Trees
Rock salt can interfere with your trees’ root systems and cause long-term damage. Make every effort to keep rock salt and ice away from your trees.
7. Gently Brush Snow From Tree Limbs
If new, fluffy snow is covering your evergreen trees, you gently brush it off by using a soft broom to sweep it away. If your branches are bending under the weight of snow and ice, you might be tempted to shake them off, but doing this can potentially cause damage. It’s better to let the snow and ice melt away and let the tree repair itself.
8. Fight Insects With Dormant Oil
In winter, many insects seek out trees for food and shelter. This can cause problems in spring—insects will reproduce and eat your trees as their bodies warm. Applying dormant oils to your tree during the winter will smother these pests so they won’t cause problems when the ice melts.
Now that you know how to protect your trees, you can enjoy your lawn all winter!
Published by: Josh Tatunay