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Snow & Trees
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Posted by hoseman 7a (My Page) on Sun, Feb 7, 10 at 8:10
| We just had a blizzard here and my first since I have taken growing trees as a passion and hobby. All of my evergreens' branches have bent to the ground. On the magnolias, hollies, pines, cryptomerias, cedars, and shrubs like rhododendrons and camelias; all the branches are weighted down in a position that should snap them off. Some of the evergreen trees look like a stick with the branches bent to the ground and covered with snow.
I have had occasional limbs broken in ice storms in years passt, but only minor damage which I considered nature's way of pruning weak branches (and perhaps if I had done a better job of pruning I would have been spared this damage then).
How about you folks that live in areas that get heavy snow all the time, what can I expect?
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Snow & Trees
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| get out there today.. and knock off as much as you can.. VERY GENTLY ... no beating on them.. no beating them with sticks... just a gently brush ... then wait.... 90 to 99 % return to normal is my prediction.. especially anything that has genes from northern tier plants ... now that southern warm zone stuff... lol.. no clue ... whether or not you appreciate the divergence of weather.. the trees should be able to deal with it... it might just be a matter of the aesthetic in the future ... we will worry about 'fixing' them in a month or two ...IF they need it ken |
RE: Snow & Trees
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- Posted by whaas 5a Milwaukee (My Page) on
Sun, Feb 7, 10 at 9:12
| Yes, the critical thing is that you get out there quickly and gently get the snow off. They typically won't break right away...its the fact that the heavy wet snow accumulates and then when the temperature drop the limbs snap. We just had the perfect conditions in early December. Heavy wet snow...temp about 32-33. I quickly shook my trees of the snow early in the morning since the temps where going to suddenly drop to the upper teens. Sure enough everyone that left the snow had snapped branches...I never seen 40' evergreens get toppled in our area from snow. It was almost like a tornado went through based on the sheer number of broken limbs throughout the area. |
RE: Snow & Trees
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| Guys, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, mother nature did not allow me an opportunity to get the snow off in time. Well, that is the first thought. But, actually as I cleaned the snow off this afternoon I found that after removing several inches of snow off the bottom branches that were pinned to the ground, I had to lift a hugh frozen 3" thick frozen snow/ice block off the branches. The same type of thing had already happen to the higher branches, what looked like snow were chunks of frozen snow/ice. This storm started with snow, then frozen rain/sleet and then all snow. Just a few miles North of here (D.C.) area, they got anywhere from 17 inches to 30 inches, but not the frozen rain/sleet. If we had not gotten the frozen stuff, our amount would have been more than the 14" I got here. This was on top of several left over inches from the previous weekend snow. Here is the order of damage with the most severe to the least: Magnolias, badly broken and one Little Gem completely topped, it was a 12 foot tree and is now a 5 footer??? The Braken Brown Beauty fared the best, but I believe that is rated for northern areas (cold rated anyway) Foster Holly, broken limbs and leaning
(the Nellie Stevens and Dragon Ladies had less broken limbs) The true cedars did ok, leaning some. Very few broken limbs. Cryptomerias do not look too good, but sometimes in winter they don't. One was bent over, but no breakage of the central leader. Black Pine-almost completely flat on the ground from the weight, but not a lot of broken limbs. Rhododendrons, I left alone, they seem to be ok, don't know about the covered lower branches. Camelias were a surprise, they sprung right back up after getting the weight off. No broken branches and as a side note, pink could be seen in the swollen buds. I have so many pines and crape myrtles that I did not bother with them. Pruning time will be here before too long and I deal with them then. My wife is away and I expect when she gets home she will tell me that I should have taken here advice and got the boat and moved to the water. Oh, Well! |
RE: Snow & Trees
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And here I thought you were the lucky ones with all that snow.
Sorry to hear about your broken trees.
About the only thing I can think of to say that hasn't already been said is if you end up losing a stem on your japanese cedars or they get topped, you should know that it will regrow a new leader. The only conifer to do so I believe. |
RE: Snow & Trees
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| Thanks for that bit of information. I did not know that Japanese Cedars would grow a new leader. So far, no topped cedars. If only the same thing would happen to my magnolias. But, I guess now I can tell people that not only do I have magnolia trees, but also, magnolia shrubs. I am lucky in one respect. Only one of the magnolias is a center piece of my yard. That one looks better since I received the helpful information and got the snow and ice off, esp, in light of another storm forcased for tomorrow and Wednesday.The others ones are in a grove of assorted trees. Looking back on the situation, I remember hearing branches and perhaps even trees snapping and falling as I walked out to my street the morning after the storm. I drove out into the community today for the first time, saw many trees in people's yards in as bad or worst shape than mine. I don't believe I saw one Magnolia that was not damaged in some way. |
RE: Snow & Trees
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| Well that sounds quite sucky then. The magnolia should grow a new leader, most likley a handful of new leaders. You can try to make use of one of them and shape it back into a tree. Conifers are different though. |
RE: Snow & Trees
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| The magnolias really took a beating from the storms in D.C. The beautiful big old magnolia outside my office building was cut down yesterday--very sad--and most of the others I've seen around lost many limbs and look terrible. On the up side, many of the deciduous trees here and in MD look fine! My personal trees (crape myrtle, serviceberry, dwarf river birch, even the awful Clevland Pear) all survived unscathed. And the native shrubs--viburnum, hydrangea q., ninebark, mountain laurel, and the like--look just fine, and I never dug them out from under the 3-4 feet of snow. The garden shrubs, like the azaleas, pieris, euonymous, and ilex, didn't fare as well. I think they're mostly gone. Lesson: plant natives! |
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