Top 3 Tips To Keep Your Trees Healthy This Winter

Use TreePlotter™ to get it done quickly and easily.

November 12, 2019 | Nathan Schuettpelz from Wachtel Tree Science

Trees can do amazing things, like produce their own antifreeze, just like the stuff in your car…SERIOUSLY. But there are a lot of vulnerabilities that come with heavy snow and bitter cold.

To help you stay on top of it, we spoke with Nathan Schuettpelz from Wachtel Tree Science in Milwaukee for some advice on preparing for Jack Frost. Nathan is an ISA Certified Arborist/Municipal Specialist and is ISA TRAQ Qualified. He has been with Wachtel Tree Science for the past 10 years and currently manages the Consulting Department.

1. Perform a Risk Assessment

The last thing you want to deal with is property damage and legal liability. Heavy snow and frost heaving can weaken roots considerably, so now is the time to get ahead of mother nature.

An assessment performed by an ISA Qualified Tree Risk Assessor will provide you with the necessary information about your trees, and help plan the next steps in your winter management.

Here’s how you can perform a risk assessment in TreePlotter™

Most SaaS applications are designed to be modular, meaning you only pay for software to match the scale and complexity of your business and not a one-size-fits-all option.

2. Watch Out for Winter Drought

It can get really dry during the winter, and when the ground is frozen, it adds a lot of stress to your trees. Evergreen trees are especially vulnerable to drying up and dying.

Prepare your trees for the winter by maintaining adequate soil moisture until the ground freezes. Newly planted evergreen trees will benefit from additional protections such as burlap wraps and anti-desiccant sprays.

In TreePlotter, you can build and save advanced map views to quickly identify priority trees for immediate action.

3. Prune and Mulch

You want to mulch your trees before winter to insulate moisture in the soil during the colder months. Mulch is particularly important for young trees and other young plants.

Winter pruning has additional benefits over-pruning in other seasons. Many pests and diseases are dormant, reducing the risk of spreading. Also, after the leaves have fallen, the total tree canopy is easily visible, making selecting structural pruning cuts easier. Finally, the frozen ground provides additional access for equipment to work on hazardous trees.

Prune and mulch trees to keep them safe in winter

Protect Your Trees with TreePlotter INVENTORY

When you’re at the job site, TreePlotter™ has you covered with our mass updater. This will dramatically speed things up and avoid all the arduous labor of manual data updates.

These are just some ideas out of many possibilities. We want to make sure you can take actions that work for you and your urban forest. Our dedicated staff would love to discuss a strategy that works best for you.

Book a consultation now

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