Help Your Trees Thrive, Plant Them at the Right Time

Plant Your Trees at the Right Time

The question many people ask is, “When is the right time to plant trees?” In short, according to landscaping.com, if you live in an area with cold winters (like Nebraska), the ideal time to plant trees from a nursery is in late winter or early spring. If that doesn’t work for you, you should aim for fall. Never plant trees during the summer as the heat and lack of precipitation poses a great threat to young trees.

The weather also restricts your options in the winter. Cold temperatures cause the ground to freeze, which makes it difficult to dig the holes for your trees. There’s also the threat of heavy snow and blizzards in the winter, which has been apparent earlier this month. Heavy snow can cause damage to your trees, young and old. Unless you can water your young trees sufficiently, early-to-mid winter is not the best planting time.
Landscaping.com urges you to plant your trees during dormancy, when the tree’s growth has temporarily stopped. This is because, during dormancy, handling them is the least disruptive. Trees in the Northern Hemisphere typically fall dormant at some point in the fall and begin to “wake up” at some point in the spring.

When planting trees, you have to take into consideration if the tree is deciduous or evergreen. Deciduous trees lose their leaves every year, while their evergreen counterparts are, well, ever green. You can easily tell when deciduous trees go dormant, as they lose their leaves every fall, and when they begin to bud out as the weather gets warmer, that’s a sign they are leaving dormancy.

However, there is a little more leeway when planting evergreens. Evergreens may be planted earlier in the fall and later in the spring than deciduous trees. But, you’ll still want to avoid planting in the hot heat of the summer.

Remember the need for water

You know heat is a major enemy to your young trees, but the lack of water to their developing roots is another enemy! You may not think that winter is a “dry” season, but you should remember that the moisture from the snow isn’t able to reach the roots of the saplings until it melts and the ground thaws. This is why watering trees properly in the fall is very important, regardless of if you’ve decided to plant your young trees in the fall/late winter or early spring.

The team at Dudley’s Dew Right is here for you if you need our help! As spring begins to blossom, remember we offer a full service of landscaping needs. Contact us to get your spring landscaping plans into motion!

Winter Tree Care

Winter Tree Care

Baby it’s cold outside…but remember to care for your trees!

Snow has fallen, icy mist covers the branches of your gorgeous trees. The weight is too much for the limbs to handle. Snap! There go your branches. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you should stop caring for your trees. Here are a few tips from TreeHelp.com to assist you in cold weather tree care!

Besides snow and ice, the cold weather itself takes a toll on trees. Cold stress can take many different forms. Daytime heat and nighttime freezing can stress out mature trees. According to TreeHelp.com, temperature variations may lead to stresses between the outer and inner bark of the tree, causing cracks called frost cracking or southwest injury.

Unfortunately, not much can be done to prevent this frost cracking. In many cases, however, the tree is able to repair itself, but the cracked area remains vulnerable and repetitive cracking in the same place may cause major damage to the tree. If your young trees are at risk, TreeHelp.com recommends wrapping the bark as part of a fall maintenance procedure.

Another cold stress on trees is a sudden early frost on late growth. Tree growth late in the season is more vulnerable because it doesn’t have the same amount of time to adjust to the cold as established growth, according to TreeHealth.com. “Ice crystals can rupture the cell walls on the new tips of branches leading to die off the following season,” the site said.

In order to avoid this situation, TreeHelp.com urges you to avoid pruning until after your trees have gone into dormancy for the fall. “Pruning too soon might encourage new growth and increase the risk of frost damage,” said the site. TreeHelp.com also says to avoid using fertilizers with amounts of quick-release nitrogen. However, trees can definitely benefit from proper fall fertilization. Give Dudley Dew Right a call to help you with your winter fertilization needs!

The second cold weather tree problem is winter drought. This occurs when trees lose more water than they can absorb from frozen ground, and occurs more often in early spring when the ground is still frozen and the spring sun starts warming the rest of the tree. Windy conditions, especially present in Nebraska, may worsen the problem.

According to TreeHelp.com, there is no sure fire way to help with winter drought, but you may be able to control the problem by spreading a thick layer of mulch around the base of your trees in late fall. Again, give us at Dudley’s a call, and we’ll be glad to help you.

Branch breakage is another common winter tree health problem. Due to the cold weather, branches are more vulnerable to breakage in the winter. In deciduous trees, according to TreeHealth.com, the wood hardens and becomes a little more brittle and susceptible to wind damage. This problem, mixed with ice and snow, can affect deciduous and evergreens alike.

How do you care for this problem? Good fall tree maintainence is the solution, and Dudley’s is more than willing to be there for you when it comes time to prune your trees. Another solution for very small trees and shrubs is to cover the entire tree with a tent-like housing. For larger evergreens, consider using rope to tie and reinforce branches before the heavy snow and ice falls.

Rodents are another winter tree problem. Trees may become targets for rodents looking for food. Deer, mice and rabbits are the main culprits, according to TreeHelp.com. Mice and rabbits chew bark and girdle trees. Squirrels may also become a winter tree problem.

To guard against these rodents, TreeHelp.com states the following:

For mice, leave a space between the mulch and trunk of the tree and check frequently. If they continue to be a problem, think about setting out bait, following package directions carefully. Rabbits, on the other hand, can be deterred by wire mesh enclosures, and commercial paint-on repellents may also be available. Contact us today for options!