Even if you aren’t ready for it, wintertime is here and for many of us, it is here with a wrath. With everyone from the Farmer’s Almanac to the regional weathermen declaring that this winter will be a rough one for our part of Pennsylvania, you might be thinking about what you can do to bolster your gardens and trees, helping them to make it through the wintry weather. If you recently planted a young tree, have fruit trees, or just adore your yard, it is most definitely something that you want to think about in the coming weeks before it gets too unpleasant and you can’t stand being outside.

Even though much of what you can do to really help your landscaping is routine upkeep and attention through the rest of the year, there are a number of last-minute matters you can do to really help your tree with the cold season.

4. Secure Potted Plants & Hedges

  • Secure the entire plant so it doesn’t tip in storms
  • Consider the pot itself as a base.
  • Look into moving plants inside if you can.

If you have some potted plants or shrubs that you like to store on your porch or even all over your backyard, you may want to think about what to do with them. For some plants, it is good enough to move them beneath shelter so that they don’t get nailed directly with ice. Others can be blanketed with specialized bags and covers. That being said, some plants will not survive so you want to take them inside your house so that they can stay warm.

Yet, you cannot just forget about your potted plants during the course of the winter season if you do leave them outdoors. Even plants that will be able to stay outdoors are at peril. According to The Spruce, “Another thing to consider is that once the ground freezes under the container, water cannot escape the bottom of the pot. The container will thaw before the ground does and if you get a few rainy days, the water will stand in the pot, either rotting the roots or turning into an ice cube when the weather chills again. Avoid this by tilting the pots slightly.”.

3. Think About Sunscalding.

  • Expert tools can help prevent it.
  • Winter sun is even worse than the summer sun.
  • Young trees are really vulnerable.

Trees, shrubs, and plants are all at risk to getting sun scalded or sunburned throughout the winter months. If you see elongated, caved-in, or cracked areas on any plants, they have been nailed with sunscalding.

If you have growing vegetation or trees, you have to shield them in the winter months – even more so if you get a lot of snow. The University of Minnesota warns that trimming, crowning, and transplanting also make a tree more vulnerable to sunscald.

To reduce the chances of sunscald, you can use industrial tree wrap to safeguard the trunk. This is exclusively accessible to tree care experts. Every single tree has a different amount of time that it can be protectively shrouded, so you do have to do some research.

If your tree does get scalded by the sun, you can do a handful of things in the early spring to help bring the tree back to health.

2. Water Trees, Plants, and Shrubs.

  • Do ahead of ground icing over.
  • Check soil frequently during winter.
  • Water every single thing in your landscaping.

Watering everything in your yard well before the soil freezes down can help to make certain that your plants, shrubs, grass, and other greenery aren’t battling over the insufficient amount of nutrients that do become available in the cold months. Don’t soak the ground too much, but you should irrigate a little bit more than you customarily would.

If practical, starting to put in a little bit of water at a time will assist your plants with storage so that they can have resources of the water into the chilliest, most ruthless months of the season.

All throughout the winter months, proceed to water your plants as often as you can. Once the earth freezes, you can add an overlay of mulch and water, as the mulch won’t freeze up quite as rapidly as dirt, suggests Better Homes and Gardens.

1. Look Into Salt Alternatives.

  • Kitty litter may be an option.
  • Guard the bottom of trees and shrubs close to roadways.
  • Take into consideration cultivating greenery that can resist salt.

Salt is a lifesaver in the winter months – it makes walking a bit easier, traveling safer, and can really eliminate ice and potentially harmful situations. Nevertheless, it is not the greatest thing for your trees, shrubbery, and other greenery. In fact, it can destroy all of the nutrients and water out of the earth, making it harder for your trees to endure, according to Alberta Agriculture & Forestry.

Before the winter weather really starts, mull over salt options for your property. There are tons of them out there, from applying essential oils to kitty litter. You may have to attempt a few different techniques to see which ones do the job the best for you. Another possibility is simply to move everything potted or protect the foundation of anything that cannot be moved. Salt will eat away at just about anything alive, and will eventually destroy the plant. Each time you use salt, it gets a little bit further into the soil and can cause that much more damage.

If you are in need of a go-to tree service in the State College area, contact Cutting Edge Tree Professionals today. We have a knowledgeable team of skilled professionals that take tree care, especially tree care around the winter months, exceedingly seriously and yearn for more people to take winter tree attention more seriously with us.

Give us a call today at (814) 240-2172, and we can come to your home to administer any upkeep called for before the weather gets too bad or, in the event of an emergency, we can help you to clear up the situation as quickly as possible.

Header photo courtesy of DRAMOS19 on Flickr.