Your trees are exposed to various dangers in winter garden, not just severe frosts. There are other natural disasters that can cause serious damage to your garden. Gardeners are especially concerned about the accumulation of sticky snow on tree branches in winter. We cannot prevent this, but our tips will help you to reduce the effects of bad weather on the garden and to protect your garden trees from snow.
The danger of sticky snow
Snow cover can be a headache for gardeners, especially during heavy snowfalls.
Large layers of wet snow stuck to trees can cause a lot of trouble:
- under the weight of snow, the crown bends, which means the decorativeness of plants decreases,
- branches break,
- tree trunks split in half,
- with a slight increase in temperature, the snow cover becomes covered with a dense crust and turns into crust.
How to protect your garden trees in winter from snow
Starting in the fall, you need to prepare your trees for adverse weather conditions.
Tie conifers
Tie the crowns of thujas, junipers and other coniferous trees and shrubs using twine.
Start tying the plants from the bottom and gradually work your way up. There is no need to press the branches hard against the trunk, so as not to cause the needles inside the crown to damp off. As an alternative to twine, you can use burlap.
Thanks to tying, you will not only prevent damage to conifers from snow, but also protect them in early spring from the bright sun, which can burn the needles.
Put up supports for branches
Trees with thick branches that diverge from the trunk at an impressive angle are also at risk.
Therefore, they most often break when wet snow sticks to them.
To avoid this, install supports in the form of slingshots under the branches. To prevent the branch from being scratched by the support, place a piece of foam plastic, rubber, or dense material folded in several layers under it.
Build a shelter
To protect the youngest plants or bushes, you can install a shelter over them, consisting of a frame and covering material (burlap, spunbond, lutrasil, etc.).
You can build a frame from metal arches, wooden boxes or wooden blocks fastened together. The main thing is that you firmly anchor your shelter in the ground, and the material does not slide off the frame under the influence of strong winds.
Shake off the snow from trees
If for some reason you did not have time to carry out the activities described above, then after heavy snowfall, hurry to the garden to free the trees from excess snow:
armed with a long brush, carefully brush away the snow from the lower branches;
gradually work your way to the top branches until the entire tree is cleared.
Note! If the air temperature is below –10°C, this procedure should not be carried out. In cold weather, the wood becomes too brittle and you can damage the branches.
