winter tree protection

[outdoor ran]

What can I do to help my trees that I planted this summer have a better chance of making it threw the winter? Trees are spruce and apple. Thanks for the tips.

[Steve Foss]

For the apples, you can wrap the trunks in corrugated plastic drain hose. Slit a length down like you're gutting a trout and slip it around the trunk. Then paint it white so it reflects the winter sun instead of absorbing it. Most apples are prone to frost cracking, which happens when the south sides of unshaded trunks heat up in the sun on winter afternoons and then contract quickly at night because of the temperature drop, producing cracks that can weaken or kill the tree. If this is too much rigamarole, you can just buy a can of white latex spray paint and paint it right on the south-facing trunk. It'll wash off with hose spray in the spring. Apples, crabapples and mountain ash, as well as some other trees, are very susceptible to this.

For the spruce, aside from watering them in very well, you have to watch for a phenomenon called transpiration. This happens to some evergreens in the extremely low humidity of winter, when they lose moisture to the the air directly from the surface of their needles. Too much moisture lost spells dead red needles and branches come spring. You see it most often in arborvitae ornamental shrubs, which are very prone to it. You can guard against it by giving those evergreens a great drink in the fall (won't produce any new growth, just allows them to soak up all that moisture) and wrapping them in burlap to keep the sun off them. If the spruce trees are too big, this is not practical, and if you water them very well the few weeks before freezeup, you should be OK. It's the arborvitae and other cedar ornamentals that get hit the worst.

[outdoor ran]

Thanks for the info Steve.

[katoguy]

Steve, my arborvitae got hit hard last winter. I planted a hedge row of small arbs about three feet tall. I also have some about 5' on the corners of my house. Are you recommending wrapping the entire tree in burlap?

Thanks for the insight.