Prepare Your Trees for Winter

Wondering how to care for your trees once the cold weather sets in? Get started this weekend with a few tips from Tree Trust's Community Forestry Manager, Karen Zumach.  

Water, water, water! We’re in a drought and large trees need our assistance. Don’t forget your boulevard trees, they need water too! Over the next few weeks, placing your hose on a slow trickle around the dripline of your tree for 30-60 minutes will go a long way to helping your tree survive the drought. Increasing the soil moisture is the name of the game, keep your hose on a low flow to decrease the possibility of run off.

Rake. If you have spots on your leaves from fungus or other nefarious leaf issues, it’s important to rake them up and get them out. Fungus and bacteria can survive in the soil through the winter and reinfect your tree/shrub in the spring. 

Protect. Most ornamentals are quite delicious to our furry friends, so be sure to create some sort of exclusion area, either with chicken wire or plastic tubing around the trunk (be careful if you’re using chicken wire, you don’t want to knick the bark!). If you have thin-skinned, young trees like maple or basswood, wrap them before the snow flies to protect the tree from sun scald.

Plant. Fall is a great time to plant for two reasons: the weather is perfect and you can’t beat the sales at the garden centers. Stay local if you can. You don’t want to buy a tree from a big box store because chances are good that it’s spent a large portion of its life living somewhere much warmer than here meaning it won’t be acclimated to our chilly winters. Make sure you plant your tree the right way!

The cool autumn weather is a great time to do yard work. Take advantage of the great weather and care for your trees before the snow flies!

 

Green New Year's Resolutions

Be green in the new year! Here are some ideas to add to your New Year's resolutions:

Plant a tree (or two, or three...). Join Tree Trust at one of our community forestry events in the spring! Or plant a tree in your own yard. Just be sure you know how to plant a tree the right way.

Shop locally at co-op groceries and farmers markets. Locally produced food requires much less time and energy to transport, so your food is fresher and your money isn't buying fuel for transcontinental shipping. Plus, your local choice supports growers in your own community. Find a farmers market near you.

Grow your own food. Even better than buying locally is connecting with your own food in your own backyard. Don't have a yard? Tomatoes, peppers, and herbs do well in pots on your patio. Don't have a patio? Seek out a community garden to connect with and learn from your green-thumbed neighbors.

Contribute to our Green Futures fund. Your donation will be doubled by a dollar-for-dollar match from a local foundation, and every $150 reached in the fund plants a six- to ten-foot tall tree in a Twin Cities park or recreation area. You can even help plant your tree! Learn more about Green Futures.

We wish you a very happy new year, and we hope you'll make 2010 great and green.

Winterizing our community trees

We encourage you to invest in the health of your own trees by following a few simple winterizing tips and to invest in the health of our community forest by donating to Tree Trust.

Our community forestry manager, Karen Zumach, prescribes this treatment for the trees we plant and maintain along the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority trail system (the Midtown Greenway and beyond) and suggests that you follow the same regimen in your own yard: