News from Hewson Landscape Inc

Protecting Plant Material from Winter Damage

Broken Branches

You should not remove broken branches right away. Winter weather often causes branches to break, thus altering the plants appearance and how it may continue to grow.

Solution:

As long as the broken foliage is not producing a hazard it is best to wait until the end of winter to prune back the damage. When doing so it is best to prune back within one quarter of an inch above the live branch. Pruning back the dead and broken branches can also stimulate new growth. 3 fall leaves

Prevention:

At the onset of winter, it is best to prune back already dead branches, or branches that appear too weak to last through the winter weather.

Dessication

This gets worse with premature pruning. This damage occurs when a plant's tissue drys out-whether it be from wind, or ice-melting chemicals, not enough moisture in the air and soil, or "wrong plant, wrong location" scenario. This is especially common in evergreens, because they never stop losing water even in the winter season. The leaves will evaporate more water than the roots can take in, causing damage to the foliage.

Solution:

Most leaves will either fall off on their own or be pushed off by new growth. Those that do not fall off on their own, can not be stripped, or pruned back. But if pruned too early this can further the damage to the plant.

Prevention:

If the fall weather is dry, plants should be watered to compensate for lack of rain. If the plant is showing signs of winter burn, pull out the hose (on the warmest day possible to prevent the hose from freezing and bursting) and water the plants. Also, it is a good idea to maintain a 2 to 3 inch thick layer of mulch to help reduce water loss.

Frost Heave

Frost heave can damage roots. It occurs when the ground freezes and thaws several times, pushing the small, and shallow plants out of the ground. This will lead to the roots being exposed to wind desiccation.

Solution:

If the plant is heaved from the ground, replant as soon as the ground thaws enough to dig in.

Prevention:

Mulch will act as a buffer to the soil and reduce the amount of freezing and thawing that will occur.

Rodent Damage

Rodents will chew pieces of bark off at the ground level or below. If they remove the bark all the way around the base of the plant the plant will die.

Solution:

Once the bark is removed there is not much that can be done. Allowing the tree to heal its self and prevent any more damage from occurring is the best way.

Prevention:

Keeping mulch away from the base of the tree and frequently inspecting it. A guard is the most effective way to prevent the rodents from getting at the plant. A strip of galvanized screen can be placed around the plant. Make sure that some of it is pushed into the ground to prevent the critters from getting to the plant below the surface.

Salt Burn

Road runoff contains dissolved salt that will injure plants and change the composition of the soil, causing it to become compacted. This will restrict the amount of nutrients, water, and air that are in the soil and available to the plant, causing stress to the plant.

Solution:

There are some places where the run off will be unavoidable. Those places should be flushed around the plants in early spring. The best way to do that is to apply water over a 2 to 3 hour time period, and then by repeating this process 3 days later.

Prevention:

Don't pile snow containing salt around plants or put it where the runoff might effect plants. You can also ask road-maintenance to direct run-off away from your property. Another tip would be if you know that there are areas that are effected by salt run-off, try to plant salt-tolerant plants there. You can also use sand or sawdust to improve traction on walkways as opposed to putting down more salt.

Some salt tolerant plants are:
Deciduous Shrubs: choke berry, witch hazel, rose of sharon, hydrangea, and winter berry.
Deciduous Trees: birch, green ash, honey locust, white oak, red oak, black locust, willow, Japanese pagoda tree.
Broad leaf Evergreens:spreading cotoneaster, adam's needle.
Ground covers: spring heath, edging candy-tuft, shrubby cinquefoil.
Conifers: white spruce, Colorado blue spruce, Japanese black pine, oriental arborvitae, bald cypress.