4 Tips to Make Sure Your Trees Stay Healthy This Winter

While winter gives your trees a bit of a ‘rest time’ from the heat and drought-like conditions that trees often have to endure in a long summer, it also can be a time of stress on trees that are now exposed to extremely cold temperatures, heavy snow coverage, and collection of ice on branches and leaves.

Facing these kinds of conditions, there are some things that homeowners can do to help protect their trees from the harsh conditions in the winter months.

Here are some things that we at Ryan Lawn & Tree recommend for your trees:

1. Eliminate overgrowth and dead foliage on your trees to prevent these areas from becoming overweighed from snow and ice. By having your trees and shrubs professional pruned by Ryan Lawn & Tree, your trees and shrubs are lean and are able to withstand the cold, harsh weather ahead far better. Late fall and winter are also the best time to prune your trees and shrubs. They are better to adapt to the stress that comes from trimming and pruning when the weather is less taxing than in the summer months. It is especially important to remove or brace branches and limbs that extend over your house, driveway or sidewalk.
2. Add an additional layer of mulch around the base of trees and shrubs before the snow flies. This will provide an extra layer of insulation while also protecting the base of the tree. It will also keep in moisture by reducing the amount of that evaporates from the root area of the trees and shrubs.
3. Hydrating your trees before winter is critically important, especially in drying regions where the last soaking rainfall may have been months earlier. Though trees are in the dormant stage of growth during winter, they still need to be well-hydrated going into the winter months.
4. Having Ryan Lawn & Tree fertilize your trees and shrubs before winter provides them with the nutrients they need to make it through the harsh winter months.

These steps should help ensure that you have the resources they need to not only survive the winter but also to thrive when spring comes.