Trees need apt preparation time to get ready for winter. With some help from certified arborists and invested landowners, trees can thrive through the winter months. Learn how to start preparing your trees in the fall for winter. Call on the professionals at Martin’s Tree Service for tree trimming in Waterloo to make sure that trees do not have any structural damage that needs to be attended to and have them evaluate the rest of your arboreal needs. In the meantime, begin checking off this list to prepare your trees for the winter months.
Tree Wrapping
All trees can benefit from tree wrapping, particularly fruit-bearing and young trees. Fruit-bearing trees can be damaged by frost and snow, making harvest time less than abundant. Young trees can be damaged by frost damage, also known as sun-scald. Sun-scald can leave lasting damage in young trees. Sun-scald can cause internal cracks that may or may not heal over time. The most devastating part of these internal cracks is that they are not always visible to the human eye until it is too late. Wrapping young trees to prevent weather damage helps mitigate this process.
Frost Cloths and Fences
Frost cloths are another way to wrap trees, but some people swear by their ability to protect smaller shrubs and bushes and ornamental trees. Frost cloths are draped over or wrapped and then secured with string or stakes. These cloths, much like wrapping, protect the foliage and bark from harsh winter elements. Wrapping in the fall time ensures that trees are protected before even the first freeze. Fences are used sometimes in conjunction with cloths and sometimes without them. Fences are constructed in areas wherein landowners are concerned about wildlife damaging trees at the ground level during the winter months. This may be to make a home in the tree’s base or remove a smaller tree and carry it off for other purposes. A fence limits ground access to the tree.
Fertilizer and Anti-Desiccant
Fall is the best time to prepare for the dormancy of winter for your trees. Even in hibernation, a bear has to have the energy to burn. It is the same for your trees. While it may appear that they are dead and naked, the opposite is very much the case. Trees are very busy being dormant and conserving energy, water, and nutrients until spring tells them it is time to shine again. Fertilizing trees will help them last through the winter months. Anti-desiccant helps evergreen trees that do not lose their leaves continue to hold in moisture and absorb water even when the ground is frozen, limiting access. Spraying evergreens with an anti-desiccant will help them flourish during the colder months with less stress.
Redo Your Watering Schedule
At the end of summer and the very start of fall, be sure to wind down your watering schedule for winter. Cutting down your watering schedule allows for trees to harden off before the winter months arrive. Be sure not to stop watering your trees as they still need water to thrive and survive. Simply reduce your watering schedule with the advice of an arborist to best benefit your trees and surrounding landscape.
Wait To Prune
Don’t prune those trees just yet! Call an arborist to make sure your trees are in good health and see if any trees need to be pruned to remove dead or damaged branches that could fall in the winter months. Other than that, wait until winter to prune any branches back and reshape trees. Waiting until winter will give your tree more time to conserve energy and not harden off cut edges with water flow. When spring begins to awaken at the end of winter, trees will already be in regenerative mode.
To prepare your trees for winter this fall, call for a consultation from Martin’s Tree Service professionals.
Steve Martin
