STORM DAMAGED TREES
Minimize the impact of storms on your trees and property
The key to a tree's survival is the care you give before the storm, keeping it healthy with proper space to grow. Here are some tips designed to help minimize the impact of storms on trees and property in your yard.
Tip 1- Think about young trees growing up when planting. Trees will mature and grow tall so avoid planting near wires, too close to a building, in shallow soils, or on steep banks.
Tip 2- Brittle species should not be planted on sites where breakage is a problem. Brittle species include: elm, willow, box elder, poplar and silver maple.
Tip 3- Where early ice storms are common, avoid planting species that hold their leaves late into fall.
Tip 4- During excavation around trees, avoid damaging or cutting roots.
Tip 5- Begin an annual pruning program when trees are young. Prune dead or weakened limbs and excessive branches from crowns.
Tip 6- For particularly valuable trees, hire a professional arborist to strengthen a tree by installing cabling or bracing on weak limbs and split crotches.
Tip 7- Keep the tree healthy by watering, fertilizing, and protecting the soil from compaction.
When your tree is damaged
Homeowners assessing tree damage caused by storms face important decisions. Small trees with minor damage can probably be taken care of by the homeowner. Large, mature trees likely will need the help of a professional tree service.
It can be hard to decide whether trees with severe damage should be completely removed. Homeowners often are reluctant to cut down a tree, either because of sentimental attachment or because the tree provides shade or screening that won't quickly be replaced.
The first priority should be safety. Assess whether the tree itself or some of its branches are in danger of falling now or in the near future. If the tree is not an immediate danger, you may be able to plant a new tree nearby and wait for it to grow a bit before removing the old tree.
Just because a trunk is split does not necessarily mean the tree will die soon. Large, split branches or trunks that have not broken off the tree can be braced and possibly saved by an arborist. If limbs have fallen completely off the tree, there is nothing that can be done to save the branch. In either case, the wounded area in the tree will always be a weak spot that is susceptible to disease, rotting and insects.
For trees that just have a few damaged limbs, it is relatively easy to remove small, lower branches with loppers or a pruning saw. Use sharp pruning tools appropriate to the size of the job to ensure a clean, smooth cut. Use hand shears on branches up to one-quarter inch in diameter, loppers on branches up to 1.5 inches in diameter and a pruning saw on branches more than 1-inch thick. While you're at it, look for branches that already have broken free and may have left a jagged stump on the trunk. Make a cleaner cut on those branches to help the tree wound seal more easily.
For larger limbs, or those too far up to reach, hire an arborist or other professional service. They'll have the appropriate tools and equipment to safely bring down large or high limbs so that the tree, house or other nearby objects will not be damaged.