Winter Is Coming: How To Prepare Your Trees For Winter
Fall is here already, it seems like it came out of nowhere, didn’t it? Are your trees ready for the coming winter? We know that beautiful trees are such an important and desired asset so we wanted to reach out and give you some tree care tips and help you prepare your trees for the winter months to come. We also want to highlight that fall is an excellent time to plant new trees!
Fall & Winter Tree Care Tips:
1. Protect your newly planted trees (trees planted less than 1 year ago): New trees usually take anywhere from 1-3 years to establish a sufficient root system to ensure their success against inclement weather. Ensuring that new trees are properly pruned can help your tree handle wind, ice, and snow better. Additionally, younger trees with thin bark such as maple trees can be susceptible to sun scald from the winter sun, especially when there is snow on the ground as it reflects the sunlight and increases the risk of sun-scald. Installing a trunk wrap doesn’t just protect your tree from mechanical damage but also sun-scald.
2. Protect your trees from drying out over the winter: Winter is a dormant season for trees and while they drastically decrease their energy production and consumption, they still need water during this period and it receives very little once the ground freezes. Watering the base of your trees (not the trunk or the area immediately surrounding it) within the drip line of the canopy thoroughly before the ground freezes will help prevent them from drying out over the winter.
3. Install Mulch around your trees before winter: Mulching around the base of your trees in the fall can help provide an additional layer of insulation for the roots of your tree during the winter when temperatures plummet.
4. Get your trees trimmed in the fall before the winter: Because late Fall/Winter is a dormant season for trees fall is an excellent time to prune your trees to ensure the best success for the heavy growing season of Spring. It is also a great time to have an arborist assess your trees for any weak unions, mechanical damage, bark inclusions, or other potential issues that could turn into a hazardous situation with the ice storms and snow that Winter often brings.
Lastly, if you have been looking to plant a new tree Fall is an excellent time to plant new trees! Fall planting ensures that a new tree is not subjected to hot and dry weather early on which makes it more difficult for the tree to establish itself in its environment. Also, there is a reduction in transplant shock when you plant a new tree in the fall because the soil is still warm and the air is cool which equals less stress for the tree.
Provision Arbor Care wishes you and your trees a wonderful Fall and Winter and if you would like any help from us preparing your trees for winter or planting new trees in the fall, please give us a call at (636) 634-1452 or email us at office@provisionarborcare.com. Thanks!
