Is your car ready for cold weather? How about your trees?

Fall is a time of serious change and reorganization within a
tree. Many trees won’t
survive to another spring.

Trees sense the changing seasons by the temperature, by a
dormancy timer in the leaves
and by the amount of light they receive.

The old leaves, buds and inner bark all have a pigment that
reads the seasons. As the
days shorten in fall, this pigment, called phytochrome, tells
the tree to close down for
winter.

Getting ready for winter is called senescence. That’s an ordered
shutting-down of
summer growth and conservation of valuable resources.

Tissues with phytochrome send a message which signals
senescence. That brings both
the fall colors and renewed spring growth.

In the fall, the tree withdraws many of the materials it
collected or manufactured during
the growing season from soon-to-be dead leaves. Tree waste
materials are left behind.

The last bit of tree food is stockpiled in the living cells of
the outer annual growth
rings. Twigs, branches and roots become the warehouses of
materials needed for next
season.

Within the tree, biological doors and windows are being closed
and locked. From the
moment last spring’s green leaves expanded and began to make
food, winter dormancy
has been designed into the tree system. The process of spring
and summer growth reset
and started a dormancy timer that now hurries preparations.

Tree-filled landscapes now are mistakenly thought to be going to
sleep. Fall and winter
trees aren’t sleeping. They’re simply still — truly counting
the days until spring.

Most of the tree’s growing points are protected inside overcoats
called buds. Each waits
for the correct message to signal a new season of growth. Only
then will it be apparent
whether the tree has put aside enough resources to respond.

Winter is tough for trees. They must stand in the face of cold,
drying winds. They must
carefully conserve food reserves for the coming needs of
spring.

Trees continue to lose water. Any creature needing a meal chews
and nibbles on the
resting buds and twigs. Trees stand alone against everything
winter can generate.

What can you do to help? Little things can make your trees more
effective and efficient
at surviving a long winter. A few small investments now can pay
off big, yielding a
healthy and structurally sound tree.

The “Critical Six” things you can do to winterize your tree
include:

(1) Remove dead and declining twigs and branches. Don’t leave
pests food and shelter
for the winter.

(2) Properly prune branches that will touch the ground when
loaded with rain and
snow. Foliage and branches in contact with soil can invite pests
and problems.

(3) Spread a thin layer of composted organic mulch over an area
at least as large as the
branch spread. Mulch is nature’s way of recycling valuable
materials. But be careful of
pests hitching a ride.

(4) Remove any new sprouts at the tree base or along stems and
branches. These
sprouts will interfere with tree changes needed for winter and
next spring.

(5) Aerate soils, without damaging tree roots, if compacted and
poorly drained.
Saturated and dense soils can suffocate roots.

(6) Fertilize with all the essential elements, if they’re in
short supply in the soil. Go
lightly, if at all, with nitrogen, especially under large trees
and around newly planted
trees.

Trees are investments that require a small amount of care. For
the sake of your trees’
quality of life and your own, take a few minutes to winterize
your trees. Wonderful
springs come from well-tended winters.