Sidebar by Gary Ludwig
Foliage – June 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine
What to do about those damaged trees
This is an excerpt from Mountain Gardener — a program featuring Gary Ludwig of Pleasant Avenue Nursery that’s on KVRH on Friday and Saturday mornings at 8:50. This particular show was aired after the big snowstorm.
Last week we had a severe weather event and hopefully you weathered the storm with nothing more than broken branches. This morning I’d like to address the damage to your plants caused by last week’s heavy snows. I have not yet been to Salida, but have been told horror stories about the extent of the tree and shrub damage down there.
The trees and shrubs in Salida were further along in leaf growth than those in Buena Vista because it is lower in elevation and the growing season starts a couple of weeks earlier. Consequently the damage to trees and shrubs was much more severe than in Buena Vista. We had very little damage at the nursery, but my crew knocked the snow off our most heavily laden plants three different times during the storm.
So the question is, “What should I do about the damage to my trees and is there anything I can do to prevent this type of damage in the future?
First of all, about all you can do with the broken branches on large trees, is remove them by cutting them free from the live tree. When making this cut, do not leave a stub or any portion of the broken branch attached to the tree. A clean cut to remove the broken branch will create a wound that will heal as quickly as possible.
Secondly, do not treat the wound with tar or paint, this outdated practice does nothing to help the wound to heal and may even prevent the healthy growth of healing tissue which will eventually cover the wound.
Third, look at the broken tree and try to see why the branch was weak, this will help you understand what must be done in the future to help prevent this type of damage. Much of this damage probably occurred where the tree had developed a narrow crotch. This is where the angle of lateral branch of the tree in relation to the main trunk is much less than 90 degrees, or “V” shaped. If you look closely many branches that are attached to the main trunk at 90 degrees (this is an “L” shape) did not break. These are the strongest branches, and this should be a clue to you for pruning your new young plants in the future to make them as structurally strong as possible.
Forth and last, try to find out what kind of tree you have, and then look around town at the plants that took little damage. These are the varieties that were not in full leaf. These are the plants that naturally leaf out later and did not have the large open surfaces that would catch the snow. Like I said I have not yet been to Salida and do not have first hand experience identifying these late leafing plants, but that can be done. I would suppose that Locust trees and green ash trees may be varieties that took little damage — although maybe nothing escaped damage since the snow was so late and so heavy. Here in Buena Vista, we had some damage on Siberian Elm because it always leafs out early, and I suppose the elms in Salida were also heavily damaged.
When it comes to damaged shade trees here is a review of my advice. Remove broken branches with a clean cut and never leave a stub. Do not treat the wound with paint or tar. Learn something about tree branch strength by comparing the broken branches with the ones that did not break. And try to figure out what kind of tree you have, and plant trees in the future that leaf out later to avoid snow damage.
