Professional Winter Tree Care: Three Services from ArborTrue

Professional Winter Tree Care: Three Services from ArborTrue

Winter is a great time of year for a number of different tree care activities.  While trees are inactive, and before spring growth starts, a number of  things can be done to improve your trees and get a head start on spring.  These include spraying dormant oil, tree planting, and heavy pruning.  Read below to learn more about them and give us a call at 832-980-8733 to see if they might be right for you.

Dormant Oil

Dormant oil is an insecticide that can be used to prevent mites, scale, and other pests on certain trees.  It’s better to use dormant oil when trees are dormant towards the end of winter or the start of spring.  Getting the timing right can help make sure it has the most effect and that buds and tree flowers have less potential damage from it.  Timing also matters in terms of temperature and in terms of wind and rain.  By having your trees sprayed in winter, you can get a head start on spring.

Dormant oil works by suffocating insect and other pest eggs and the pests themselves that could be dormant during the winter and can help reduce pest problems in spring.  Dormant oil can have less of an effect on some beneficial types of insects than some other insecticides might.  As with any insecticide, spraying dormant oil safely and properly is crucial.  It is best left to professionals like those at ArborTrue.

Tree planting

A main part of having a tree do well is proper planting.  Planting the right tree, in the right place, at the right time of year, and in the right way can all be crucial to how well it does.  Trees can actually die if they aren’t planted properly.  Additionally, care after planting, including proper watering and mulching can impact how a tree performs.  This is why it’s better to have a professional plant trees in your landscape.

Winter, specifically late in the fall, late in the winter, or early in the spring, can be a great time to plant certain trees as long as soil temperatures will be above 50 F consistently for at least six or so weeks and your soil isn’t wet.  There are a number of benefits to having trees planted in winter.  These include:

• Giving trees time to establish their roots.
• Allowing trees to focus on roots instead of other growth.
• Lessing transplant shock.
• Reducing the impact from pests that might be dormant during the winter.
• Having reduced competition from grasses and weeds.
• Having reduced water needs versus a tree planted in warmer months.

Heavy pruning

Winter can be a great time of year to have your trees pruned.  Pruning can benefit trees in a number of ways and pruning during the winter can have even more benefits.  Although pruning can be done anytime of year as long as conditions are right, heavy pruning is best left for winter, while trees are in dormancy or less active.  Also, keep in mind that pruning should be done properly and safely.  If you are considering pruning for your trees, contact ArborTrue at 832-980-8733 to see how we can help and to schedule an appointment.

There can be a number of benefits to pruning, and these benefits can apply to any time of year.  Pruning can help:

• A tree to stay healthy by removing branches that are injured, diseased, or dead.
• A tree to look its best.
• Control the growth of a tree.
• Produce more flowers and fruit in the spring and summer on certain types of trees.
• Remove branches that might come off during high winds.
• Remove branches that might pose a threat to property or people.

In addition to these general benefits, there can be a number of benefits from pruning a tree in the winter.  These include:

• Reducing the potential impact from snow and ice on tree limbs.
• Helping pruned trees to recover more quickly from pruning.
• Helping pruned trees to conserve their resources.
• Making pruning easier by pruning when deciduous trees have no leaves.
• Reducing the impact of pests that can impact a tree when it is pruned.
• Helping trees look nicer in the spring.

Because many types of trees can be dormant or less active during the winter, heavy pruning is best left to that time of year when the benefits mentioned can have more of an effect and any potential issues that might come from pruning can be reduced.

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Applying dormant oil, planting trees, and heavy pruning are three tasks a professional can do to help your trees this winter and to help them get a head start on spring.  If you are considering these or other tree services, give ArborTrue a call at 832-980-8733 to schedule your appointment.