How to prep your trees and shrubs for winter
Live in a cold weather state? Fall is a great time to get your yard plants put to bed for winter. You of course need to start by moving plants that can’t survive winter inside. Relocated plants make great indoor winter companions, but insects that hitchhike in on them are usually not so welcome. Before bringing plants inside, thoroughly wash them with a cold blast of water to eliminate most bugs (along with two seasons of pollen).
a beautiful autumn day is the perfect time to prepare trees and shrubs for cold weather to come. Fortunately, much of getting these plants ready for winter involves doing nothing this late in the season, avoid watering, fertilizing, or pruning, because these tasks stir up plant activity at a time when trees and shrubs should be slowing down and toughening up their wood for winter before the ground freezes.
However you can spread mulch such as straw, chopped leaves, wood chips, or some other organic material beneath your trees and shrubs. This prevents alternate freezing and thawing of the soil, which can rootup plants–especially young ones–up and out of the ground, exposing the roots to dessication in the coming months. Mulch also limits frost penetration, enabling the roots of evergreens–whose leaves transpire moisture even in winter–to take up more water. Don’t pile mulch closer than three inches against the trunks, otherwise this can cause rotting.
With the leaves gone, it is easier to identify structural problems, visualize a new growth strategy for the tree and correct poorly formed limbs and stems. In addition, when the ground is frozen, less damage is done to the lawn.
For young trees, fall is a particularly good time to shape and train them. It is much safer and more economical to initiate pruning while trees are still small. Some skill is required to make pruning cuts in the proper spot, so the plant heals correctly and to prevent injury from pruning.
Paint the trunks of young trees with a one-to-one mixture of white latex paint and water. This reflects the sun’s rays in winter, reducing sunscald, which results from the dramatic drop in bark temperature that occurs when the winter sun, after warming the bark by day, drops below the western horizon, Bark facing southwest is most susceptible.
