Tips for caring for Trees & Shrubs through the Winter
Tree Trunk Wrap
Recommended for: Young and newly planted Deciduous Trees
Why should you wrap young tree trunks in the Winter?
Winter exposure to sun and fluctuating temperatures can cause damage to the thin bark tissue of young trees. When these trees are exposed to warm temperatures and sun reflection, especially on a south or southwest exposure, young bark tissue can rapidly thaw during the day and refreeze at night. This cycle can repeat over the season and cause winter sunscald, which causes the tree trunk to crack from freeze/thaw cycles.
The solution to frost cracking is prevention. The best way to prevent this kind of damage is with a white tree trunk wrap, which you can find at most nurseries and garden centers. What you’ll do is take the wrap and start at the base of the trunk, wrapping loosely but securely around the trunk until you reach the lowest branch, ensuring that there are no exposed parts. While trees can, and do, recover from sunscald, the damaged trunk creates significant opportunity for disease and infestation to take hold.
Video: How to use tree trunk wrap and prevent freeze/thaw damage.
Wilt Pruf
Recommended for: Evergreen Conifers, Broadleaf Evergreens, Fresh-Cut Christmas Trees
Why use Wilt Pruf?
Evergreen plants transpire (lose water) through their needles and leaves all through the Winter. If plants do not have adequate moisture through the winter, they can dehydrate and desiccate. Often when this happens, affected plants will be completely dry going into spring and die as the weather begins to warm up.
Wilt Pruf is a natural, non-toxic pine-resin derived spray that you can apply to your plants to reduce water loss in times of low moisture. Wilt-Pruf creates a protective barrier that seals in moisture on a tree’s needles and stems.
Video: How and when to use Wilt Pruf on your outdoor plants.
Burlap Wrap
Recommended for: Columnar Evergreens (Arborvitae, Junipers etc) and some columnar deciduous shrubs
Why should you wrap Upright evergreens in the Winter?
Upright evergreens are tough, but heavy snowfall can be their downfall. Their branches may bend, or worse, break under the weight of snow. Bent or broken branches create openings for infestations and diseases, as well as freezing of inner layers of cambium.
The solution is simple yet effective – wrap your evergreens with burlap in a spiral pattern. It’s like a warm winter coat for your plants, preventing snow buildup and branch breakage. We recommend a 2” or 4” wrap as it is easy to apply even on tall evergreens. Though, if they are extremely tall you will need a ladder to reach the higher sections.
Note: If you are using Wilt Pruf, you must spray the plant before wrapping in burlap.
Video: How to wrap trees in burlap to prevent snow load.
Full list of trees and shrubs to wrap:
- Upright Arborvitae – Emerald Green, DeGroot Spire, North Pole etc.
- Upright Junipers – Blue Arrow, Skyrocket, Spartan/Spearmint, Taylor etc.
- Columnar Boxwoods – Green Tower, Dee Runk, Newport Blue, Graham Blandy etc.
- Columnar Yews – Hicks, Irish
- Japanese Holly – Sky Pencil
- Tall Hedge and Fine Line Buckthorn
- Straight Talk Privet
- Any tall Ornamental Grasses that you will leave standing through Winter
Note: Burlap Wrap for Deer Protection
If you’re from the East Coast or Midwest and you hear the word burlap, you’d probably picture shrubs completely encased in it for the winter. This type of wrapping isn’t so much to protect from snow damage, rather, to protect those plants from deer browsing. While this isn’t always necessary here in most of the Salt Lake Valley, if you live in an area with a high potential for deer browsing, you may want to consider wrapping high risk plants this way.
Winter Watering
Recommended for: Newly planted trees and shrubs, especially conifers and broadleaf evergreens.
Why do you need to water in the Winter?
One of the challenges of gardening in Utah is our dry climate… We are the second driest state in the country after all. We’re all aware of how dry Utah summers can be, but did you know that our winters are considered dry as well?
Even though we have the Greatest Snow on Earth, Utah’s snow doesn’t always provide enough moisture to make up for sunny, dry spells that can occur in the wintertime. We recommend watering many plants through the winter, even when there’s snow on the ground and your outdoor irrigation system is turned off.
Here’s how to Water in the Winter:
- Plan to water on major Holidays, or about once a month
- Halloween (October)
- Thanksgiving (November)
- Christmas/New Year’s (December)
- MLK Jr. Day (January)
- Valentine’s Day (February)
- St. Patrick’s Day (March)
- Easter (April)
- Aim for about 5 gallons of water for trees/shrubs up to 1” caliper (or up to 25 gal. size container) , and 5 more gallons per additional 1” (up to 10 gallons for larger B&B trees).
- Create a berm of dirt about 2-3 feet around the trunk so that your water penetrates the roots of the tree and doesn’t just wash away
- Use a bucket or watering can from indoor water sources, or if it’s a warm day you can take out the hose and let it run on a slow trickle
- You can water even if the ground is frozen. In fact, watering helps insulate plant roots and prevents them from freezing and drying.
