If you’re searching for a way to keep your trees healthy during the winter, you’ve come to the right place! This post will guide you on adequately wrapping your trees in winter so they stay safe and healthy during the colder months.
Tree wrapping, like covering plants, is an essential step in tree care and preparing the yard for winter, and it’s something that everyone should consider to protect their trees. So without further ado, let’s get started!
Benefits of Tree Wrapping
Wrapping trees during the winter can provide many benefits. It can prevent sunscald, a condition where the bark on the south or southwest side of the tree becomes dead from too much exposure to sunlight.
Wrapping a tree can also protect against insects, deer, and rabbits and prevent frost heaving, which occurs when repeated freezing and thawing of the soil uproot plants and damage their roots.
Wrapping can also help young trees not yet fully hardy survive colder temperatures. Overall, wrapping trees during the winter can significantly improve their health and chances of survival.
How to Wrap Trees for Winter
Start by choosing your wrapping material. Options include polypropylene, handmade paper, thin, flexible boxboard, or sliced corrugated cardboard, and Burlap can also be used.
- Begin at the base of the trunk and wrap upward, overlapping layers by one-third.
- Use white tree guards to reflect sunlight and chill the trunk with Burlap. Top-stitch the material and cut any excess.
- Tree banding can also protect against pests, but make sure to perform this in the fall when the tree has stopped growing and remove the wrap in early spring to avoid trunk girdling.
- Avoid wrapping the tree too tightly, as it needs room to breathe. When wrapping around branches, allow room to wrap back toward the trunk.
- Remember to remove all wraps once winter is over to prevent girdling and promote healthy growth.
Choosing A Tree Wrapping Material
Polypropylene fabric is a good option because it allows for the tree to breathe still, but it may not be able to be reused. Homemade paper and cardboard are cheap options but may not be reusable.
Burlap fabric is a more sustainable option as it can be used again in future seasons. Overall, it is essential to consider cost and environmental impact when choosing a tree wrapping material.
Taking Care of Trees in the Winter Properly
Protecting your trees from the winter elements includes more than simply wrapping them up. To ensure that trees remain healthy and productive come spring and summer, it is essential that proper care be taken of them throughout the winter months.
• Proper watering is vital – while it may seem counterintuitive to water during the colder months, a well-hydrated tree will be more resilient against damage from freezing temperatures and dry winds.
• Mulching in late fall or early winter (taking care not to pile too high or directly against the trunk) can insulate roots and slow moisture loss.
• Wrapping thin-barked trees for several winters can also protect them from cold damage.
• Pruning young trees in winter can help them endure cooler temperatures, but be sure only to prune branches that are dead, diseased, or causing structural issues.
• Fertilizing in the later winter or early spring is another way to support tree health and encourage growth.
Winter Tree Covering is Essential.
In this video, Darren of the Thor Haven Farm channel and homestead explains why it’s essential to tend to your trees throughout the colder months.
Protecting them from the heavy snow by wrapping them up in tp may help them survive, thrive, and be robust all winter long. Wrapping your trees in the spring can protect them from strong winds and melting snow, which may be harmful.
Thor Haven Farm. (2022, April 13). Wrap Young Fruit Trees For Winter Protection [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsNT7oYLBDk
Final Thoughts
Now that you understand how important it is to wrap your trees in the winter, you’ll need to start planning and preparing for next winter. This guide should help you adequately wrap your trees for winter, care for them, and safeguard them against sunscald, insects, and frost damage.
If you have any questions or tips of your own, please leave us a comment below!
