Caring for Your Storm Damaged Trees
Snowfall Is Weighing Down My Trees
What do you do when your trees have been weighed down by recent snowfall? How are you going to properly take care of your storm damaged trees while minimizing any chance for further damage to the tree or yourself? Articles can be found all over the web about the appropriate methods.
Cartwright Tree Care is going to narrow this information down into a simple strategy for you. Hint: many of the tips will seem fairly obvious, and they are. At the same time, you would be surprised by how many people inadvertently bring further damage to their trees, good intentions and all. Thus, the awaited strategy:
Bringing Your Trees Back to Normal
First things first, friends. Make entirely sure that you're maintaining your safety in the process of repairing your storm damaged trees. Because of the hazardous weather, there's a significant possibility for some danger. While tree branches are reasonably flexible, the freeze can give them a tendency to break. So, wearing a hard hat is a good bet, whether or not it seems over-the-top. After all, would you rather be injured or safe? Yeah. . . that's what we thought.
Once you've insured your personal safety, take a look at the first of the storm damaged trees that you're repairing. Are there places where a build-up of snow needs to be removed? If so, don't follow your first instinct to shake the tree. Instead, take a long stick or pole and *gently* bump the branch. Make sure that you're not directly under the branch and that you're ready to move out of the way, too! This is recommended on the off chance that a whole branch would fall. While it's less likely, we find it essential to go the cautious route.
After you've shaken away the excess snow, you'll need to prune the tree's branches. Where will you start? Make sure to remove any small portions of branches that are left. If you fail to do this, your tree may become infected, and that's the last thing that any of us want. Also, prune away any dead portions back to the space where the tree is healthy. Finally, as it goes for pruning, make sure that you leave some structural branches on the tree. A lot of people make the error of over-pruning the tree by cutting away all of the structural limbs. This can cause the whole tree to weaken. Finally, repeat this process with each of your storm damaged trees.
How Can I Be Positive My Tree Will Make It?
The good news to all of us tree-huggers is that many trees are surprisingly able to bounce back. This being said, make sure that you leave any larger jobs to a trained professional. This person will have the experience needed to safely and adequately help your tree.
Cartwright Tree Care is always happy to help with your tree care needs, too.
What Did We Learn?
Trees can become burdened with dense layers of moisture. This can cause issues with the health of the tree. Serious care should be taken to ensure that you're safely and properly repairing your trees. By following this guide, you're in a very likely place to do so.
