Protecting evergreens against winter injury... Again!

Once again, we've had extreme weather that has had adverse effects on the landscape. Last winter was way above average temperature-wise, and we had a couple seriously hard frosts in February and again in April. Warm winter temperatures allow evergreen trees to continue to transpire, using up all of the available moisture in the soil and root system. Then when the temperature drops, the plants don't have enough moisture in their foliage to withstand the hard frost. They will also sometimes just automatically shed some of their foliage as a reaction to inadequate soil moisture.

Compound that with the intense heat and prolonged drought conditions that we had this summer, and the results are stressful and damaging. The added stress of these conditions can also make plants more susceptible to other insect and disease problems. We received dozens if not scores of calls about browning foliage and interior shedding of leaves or needles this year, and most of the time, this was the issue.

In addition to watering your trees and shrubs well in the fall, one step that can be taken is spray treatment with anti-transpirant, also called anti-desiccant. The products we use (Nu-Arbor, Vapor Guard and others) create a waxy coating that effectively prevent loss of moisture from leaves and needles.

Contact us today for an assessment or to schedule your application. We apply anti-transpirant right through December, or as long as temps are above 40F.  Treatment will provide protection all winter long!