Central Iowans had a brief encounter with Old Man Winter last week and in its wake were hundreds of damaged trees.
Homeowners awoke to scattered limbs, toppled trunks and cracked branches. The problem? Central was that many trees still had leaves as result of this endless autumn we've been having. The 2-4 inches of wet heavy snow put an extra load on branches, compounded by a brisk northwest wind that came up after the snow was done early Nov. 8.
While Mother Nature has her ways of cleaning out deadwood from trees in our yard, there are some points to keep in mind in choosing and maintaining trees:
- When planting a tree, talk with your local nursery professional about the longevity of the tree, its characteristics and how durable it is in storms. Choose plants that have good structure (e.g. 45 degree angle branches or wider).
- Have your shade trees maintained on a regular basis by a professional arborist who can identify disease or other potentially hazardous situations.
- If you plant trees that have shorter lifespans, start younger trees around them to take over when the larger tree fails.
Trees can be subject to all the forces of outdoors, including wind cracking, insect and disease damage and damage caused by humans including cars, tree staking that isn't removed within a year and poor planting practices.
Keep these valuable additions in good health and they'll benefit your landscape for years to come.
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