Although there might be snow on the ground, the good news is that winter will soon be over. Before you know it, the temperature will rise and your lawn will once again turn green. Are your trees ready for spring? There are a number of important steps you need to take before the end of winter to ensure your trees will flourish, grow and remain healthy during the spring.
Inspect
Make sure you are taking the time to thoroughly inspect the condition of your trees before winter ends. If you're anything like most homeowners, you probably pay little attention to your trees, but an inspection can help you catch a problem early on and stop is quickly. During the winter, some insects, such as the winter moth can fester along the tree and cause significant damage.
It's important to have the tree treated before spring, as the damage will only spread and become an even greater problem. In addition to insects, mice and rabbits can also take habitat inside a tree during the winter. The faster you can get them out of the tree, the less the amount of damage you face. A sign of an infestation includes dead twigs and decay. An arborist can perform this inspection for you.
Prune
Some homeowners don't like to cut off dead branches or limbs for fear that it will make the tree look bare or unattractive, or they even think that since the tree is in a dormant state, it's a waste of time. This type of practice isn't just detrimental to the health of a tree, but the period when a tree is dead is actually the best time for pruning. Limbs and branches that have been unresponsive to treatments like fertilization pose a risk to the good health of other areas of the tree.
This is especially the case if these dead areas suffered from disease, as the problem can become more widespread. Pruning during the winter gives them time to heal before the tree goes back into an active state. Once spring rolls around, instead of growing, disease will spread, stunting growth and potentially leading to more dead limbs and branches.
Having a healthy and flourishing tree is a process that begins well before spring. How you care for your trees in the winter will have a significant impact on how they appear in the spring. Before winter ends, make sure you are taking the time to improve the condition of your trees. To learn more, contact a tree service company like Carlos Tree Service Inc.
Share17 February 2016
After we moved into our house, we knew that something had to be done about our trees. The branches looked off-kilter, and we could tell that someone had pruned them incorrectly at one time or another. Unfortunately, we weren't really sure how to repair the damage. A family friend talked with us about hiring a professional tree trimmer, and so we called them the next day. The difference that they made was astounding. They removed dead branches, trimmed up the shape, and let more sunlight through. My blog is all about improving the look of your trees by hiring a professional.