Winter storms often wreak havoc, bringing down heavy branches and making tree removal the only option to keep our yards safe and ridiculously good looking.

The good news is, there are a few easy ways you can prepare your trees for winter now to prevent tree removal later.

5 Simple Tasks to Prevent Tree Removal

Here are five easy, preventative tasks you can do to prepare your trees for winter and give them their best shot of staying healthy and safe into spring.

Water

Yes, you still want to water your trees, at least until the ground freezes (especially newly-planted trees). Water helps insulate, and plant cells that are swollen with water will be stronger against cold damage. Moist soil tends to stay warmer than dry soil so this helps protect roots too.

Now, it does rain a lot here so use your common sense. But keep an eye on your trees and if they look thirsty, give ‘em a drink.

Prune

If you’ve lived in the Comox Valley for a while, you know how the strong winter winds can bring down branches on power lines and cause damage. Preventative pruning can make a big difference! By clearing the deadwood and making sure your trees are well pruned for their species, you’re helping your trees stand tall and leaving less for the winds to knock down.

Don’t know what type of pruning you need? We do! Give us a call today and ask your questions or request a free site estimate. If there are dangerous dangly limbs or branches, we’ll take care of those for you.

Wrap your trunks

Have you ever heard of “sunscald”? This is a term used for injury to tree trunks due to fluctuating temperatures.

The warm winter sun can cause trunk cells to come out of dormancy and become active. But then the temperatures drop overnight to below freezing and active cells and conductive tissues are killed, causing injury that looks like scarring. How to prevent this: wrap trunks in a light-coloured crepe paper or burlap. You’ll especially want to do this with saplings when you know we’re headed into a deep freeze. Wrap the trunk to just above the bottom set of branches and remove the paper once winter has passed.

Wrap your evergreens

If you’ve planted an evergreen in the past three years, you’ll want to protect it from desiccation—a fancy word for drying up. Its roots haven’t had a chance to establish themselves in their space yet so they’ll need a bit of extra care. Make sure you water and mulch the area around your new evergreens in late autumn and wrap them in netting. This protects the trees from wind and snow, and they lose less water as a result.

Clean your pruning and trimming tools

Fall is the perfect time to disinfect your tree tools with white vinegar or a mild bleach and water solution to remove any plant disease that may have found its way onto your secateur, lopper or pruner. If your tools aren’t clean then it’s easy to spread mildew or other diseases from plant to plant as you tidy and maintain your yard.

See? That wasn’t so hard! Pick a nice day to get outside and prepare your trees for winter so they’ll stay healthy and grow strong. And if you’re unsure if you’ve got an unruly tree on your hands don’t hesitate to ask us, your local Supertreero. We’re happy to help.