Stop Winter Snow and Salt from Damaging Your Landscape!

Every year, lawns and landscape shrubs take brutal damage from de-icers, snow piles, and plows.  We want to keep the sidewalks and pavements clear of ice and snow, but we wind up costing ourselves valuable plants in the process.  What can be done?

First – Plant with Winter Thoughts
When you plant your shrubs, remember to think about your snow removal process.  Do you plow up your driveway and dump the snow at the top? If so, make sure that landscape plants will not be damaged if placed in that area.  Or, does the snow plow with rock salt come down your street and put a constant barrage of snow and salt on the front of your property? If so, it might be best not to plant right along the street.

Some suggestions: If you already have plants near the road, you might want to provide a barrier, for example, you may wrap them in burlap to try and protect them, or put up a snow fence.

Second – Shrubs Are NOT Proper Locations for Snow Piles
Shoveling is hard work and putting that snow in the closest location is very tempting – but DON’T!  Piling snow onto your shrubs will cause damage that they might not recover from. This is especially true if there are large amounts of snow that do not melt right away.  Heavy snow will bend the branches and disfigure or kill them.  Don’t put snow on the plants, instead, try to take any heavy snow off of them.

Pre-snow suggestion:  You may also prepare your trees and shrubs ahead of time with proper pruning and bracing. 

Third – Choose your De-Icer Wisely
Not all de-icers will cause damage.  The most used one is rock salt (chloride) but this is very caustic and will cause damage to pavers, concrete, cars, plants and lawns.  If you use this, use it sparingly, especially near your lawn and plants.  Remember that when the salt melts the ice, the run-off can go into your lawn areas.

Other de-icers? Calcium Chloride is less harmful to plants but it is still corrosive to concrete and metal.  Magnesium chloride can be a good option. Calcium Magnesium Acetate is the most expensive but, when used correctly, is low in toxicity and the most environmentally safe.

Using a de-icer sparingly and shoveling more often will help, as well as using a de-icer that is less caustic to your property.

After Winter Snow and Ice Melt
Wait until the snow and ice have fully melted before assessing any damage.  You will be able to see at that point any spots where salt may have affected your plants, or the weight of the snow might have bent the branches.  And, of course, call Truesdale so we can help you.  Our experts will walk the property with you and advise you of what is truly damaged and what will bounce back in spring.

Winter Pruning

Winter is the perfect time to prune your deciduous trees.  

Why Prune in Winter? 

Once the trees lose their leaves, you can view the structure of the trees more easily. This can make it easier to see what needs to be done and see any problems that should be taken care of.  

Winter is also the dormant time for these trees.  This means that the fresh wounds will only be exposed for a short time and that the insects/diseases that are more prevalent in Spring, are not attacking your wounded tree in Winter. 

Pruning in winter also promotes faster regrowth in Spring.

What are the Benefits of Pruning?

First, it is about safety.  You should cut back branches that have overgrown in areas that could be annoying or dangerous – for example, over walkways and driveways. Also, branches that have overlapped and can cause damage to each other can be pruned so that the healthier branch will remain.  And, lastly, removing dead or dying branches now is better than a storm breaking them and causing damage to other plants, property or yourself.

Pruning allows sunlight and air into the center of the tree – just enough to promote healthy growth. 

Beauty is the last, yet still important, reason to prune. To cut back the branches and foresee what the tree will look like in spring as it gives out its new growth. 

Pruning is something you can do yourself, or you can call an expert to do it.  If are unable to safely prune, please call someone who can.  And, remember, Truesdale can always help.

Winter Damage to Your Landscape Plants and Trees

Long winters with snow, ice and extreme cold can create a lot of damage to landscape plants.  There are both natural and man made problems that can occur.  How can you tell which are major problems and which will work itself out? How can you prevent some of these issues from occurring year after year?  Let us help.

Branches which are splayed open – not damaged but severely bent – can be caused by snow and ice weight during winter.  Some of these branches will bounce back on their own but some will need to be tied up or trimmed.  This can mostly be prevented by proper pruning techniques done at the appropriate time of year.

Defoliation or brown leaves of evergreens in winter (winter burn or scorch) is usually seen with broadleaf evergreen more than needle evergreens and it is caused by desiccation.  Desiccation is when moisture that the plant needs during the harsh winter months is lost due to the sunny/windy weather.  Unfortunately, the plant cannot derive the needed moisture from the frozen soil.  This is another problem that can be prevented with an anti-desiccant which would be applied in late fall/early winter.  An anti-desiccant treatment forms a protective wax-like layer which seals in moisture and helps retard winter dehydration.

De-icing may also cause leaf scorch.  De-icing damage can be caused by casual salting of the area near your landscape plants or from runoff from the roads that contain dissolved salts. This can be prevented by making sure the soil in these areas are heavy in nutrients to help the plants during the winter, planting more hardy plants that can handle the salt better, or being extra careful on salt distribution around your landscaped areas.

With some of these problems, the plant in spring will grow out these areas and new growth will come in.  In other cases, you might need some fertilization to strengthen the plant and give it the nutrients it needs to heal.  If the area is damaged and there is no new growth potential, the area will need to be trimmed.

Not sure what to do?  Not a problem – just call us and we will help.