Richmond Hill winters are known to be harsh, cold, and sometimes unpredictable. This makes a lot of people despise the winter and find it hard to get through. Let alone how hard the harsh winter is on our trees. Our team at Five Star Tree Services wants to talk about some of the hardships our trees are facing and what you can do to help prevent tree damage during the winter.
Issues Trees Face in Winter
It’s true that people don’t like the cold, however, this is not an issue common for trees, as some might think. The real problem is the constantly changing conditions that end up harming our trees. Being able to spot problems is a good first step to helping our trees get through the winter. Here are some common problems our trees face in the winter:
Heavy Snow & Ice Damaging Branches
Winter can be unpredictable. This can include a heavy dumping of snow and severe ice storms to harsh winds, and more. Sometimes it’s a wonder that trees can survive this at all. Luckily, trees are built for this kind of onslaught. Due to this, a healthy tree can withstand these conditions and will end up bending with the wind and weight of the snow and ice, without breaking. But sometimes it’s just too much and branches end up cracking or breaking off under all the extra weight.
Road Salt
Any tree too close to a road, sidewalk, or driveway is in danger of being exposed to road salt. When the salt comes too close to a tree, it can severely damage it, or even kill it. This can be especially true for evergreens and more particularly, white pines. Unfortunately, the damage can’t be seen until spring. You will see the needles turn brown and start falling off. For trees that have bad drainage, the roots will be at risk of salt exposure.
Sunscald
This happens when it warms outside and moisture is brought to the surface of a tree, when the sun hits it, it causes a large canker sore on the bark. Young trees are particularly at risk of this since their bark is not resilient yet. You can see the bark on the tree changing colour or even texture. There also can be visible cracks on the bark. It’s true that cracks can happen due to other reasons, so a good way to tell if it’s from sunscald is if they are appearing on the south facing side of the trunk.
Winterburn
You can see this ailment on evergreen foliage and conifer needles. It happens from harsh, dry winds and sun exposure that cause Winterburn. The visible signs for this include branch tips and needles turning brown. Winterburn can accelerate if there is a dramatic decrease in temperature.
Root Damage
Unlike the rest of the tree, which is dormant, the roots tend to stay active for longer periods of time. Making them more vulnerable to weather changes. This is a particular problem if the roots are shallow or if there are cracks in the soil. When this happens, damage can happen to the roots since they are exposed to the elements. You won’t notice any adverse effects until spring. This is when you will see significant dieback or no growth at all.
Trunk Cracks
When temperatures fluctuate, causing midwinter thaws, this is especially detrimental to tree trunk bark. This is because water expands when frozen. So, if there was a thaw that allowed water to get on the trunk of a tree, when it re-freezes, it causes cracks in the trunk. Each layer of wood within the trunk has a different amount of water stored within. With drastic temperature shifts causes all the water to expand and contract, which in turn, causes cracks deep in the trunk of the tree.
Animals
As you can imagine and see for yourself, winter doesn’t offer an abundance of food for animals outside. Animals like deer, mice, and other rodents turn to snacking on tree bark and tender shoots. If left unchecked, these animals can end up killing trees.
How to Take Preventative Measures
It’s better to be safe than sorry. This means taking preventative measures to safeguard your trees for the duration of the winter months. Here is how you can help your tree survive the winter.
-6 weeks before the first frost, make sure to stop fertilizing your trees. Fertilizing is meant to promote growth, so when your tree needs to be preparing to hunker down for the winter, it doesn’t need this extra boost. If there is any new growth, it needs time to harden before the temperature drops too low.
-if you have any newly planted trees, make sure to cover them with mulch. You should also fill in any missing soil around their root system. Using mulch can also prevent salt damage in the roots.
-cover tree trunks with protective barriers to stop animals from making them a snack.
-us dilute white interior latex paint to cover southern sides of trees in order to help protect them against sunscald and frost cracks. Alternatively, you can wrap the trunks in paper tree wrap.
-wrap your conifer trees in burlap or shrub wrap to protect them from road salt.
-if you see a lot of snow piling up on tree branches, carefully brush it off to help alleviate the extra weight. But never try to remove ice from a tree as this can cause more damage than if you left it.
-check all trees before winter to make sure they are structurally sound. If not, you might need cabling and bracing to support the tree, or if it’s bad enough, you might need to remove it.
How Five Star Tree Services Can Help
It’s always good to give your trees a little helping hand before winter. This will help to ensure their survival and make sure there isn’t any damage throughout the winter. This is especially important for any trees located close to your home. Even with all these preventative measures, things can still happen. If you find yourself needing emergency tree services in Richmond Hill, make sure to give our team at Fives Star Tree Services a call immediately. You can reach us at (416) 990-3355, 24/7!