This is a good question and it is a question I get asked a lot. Here are some great tips that you or your landscaper can do to protect your trees and shrubs during the winter months.
- Apply mulch. It is important to mulch around your trees, plants, and shrubs to add extra protection for winter and to prevent the soil from heaving. Mulching is also an important control for erosion and loss of water. People think you don’t need to water your trees, plants and shrubs during the winter because they are dormant. This is not true, they still require some water. So, the rule of thumb is to lay 2-inches of mulch to reduce water loss and help maintain uniform soil temperature around the roots.
- Prune most plants in winter. People are surprised when I tell them that the best time to prune is during the late dormant season. Pruning in late winter, before spring growth begins, leaves fresh wounds exposed for only a short amount of time before new growth begins.
- Protect against water loss. Apply anti-transpirants to plants and trees, especially evergreens, to help reduce water loss from plant leaves. Burlap wrapping also may be used to shield valuable evergreens from salt spray and winter winds. This is important for people living on Great Neck, Little Neck, Argilla Road area, and Green’s Point area where you frequently get the high winds and salt water spray from the ocean.
- Take precautions against snow and ice. Tie branches together that may be susceptible to snow loads and to remove snow from low branches, gently brush it from the trees instead of shaking limbs which may cause them to break. It is a good idea to remove limbs that may break from snow or ice as damaged trees are more prone to disease.
- Apply wire mesh to the base of young trees. This will protect against the gnawing teeth of some of our popular wildlife in Ipswich like mice, rabbits, squirrels, vole, etc..