DEALING WITH THE WINTER OF 2012
Blog Date: 14 February 2012
Saving Arbor Vitae Damaged by Snow and Ice
The late January round of Winter Snow and Ice combined with wind damaged or took down thousands of trees in the Puget Sound area. The result was a record number of power outages, some lasting for more than a week.
In the past few weeks, home owners have begun discovering the true extent of damage to their trees and shrubs.
We have found that Arbor Vitae, especially the older variety, Occidentalis, suffered the most from storm damage.
Occidentalis has several - sometimes more - trunks which makes it very desirable in terms of providing excellent screening in a few years but unlke the more recent Emerald Green variety, it is more vulnerable to snow and ice damage
We recently surveyed a condominium property with 106 Occidentalis trees following the snow and ice storms. More than 80 percent were substantially bent down from the weight of ice and snow after melting, with the remainder showed either stress fractures at the bend point or had actually boken away from the trunk.
Here is an example of how extensive damage can be to this species:
Restoration of Damaged Arbor Vitae:
Our treatment program is simple:
1. Prune away the broken limbs, leaving the cleanse possible cut a the remainder of the limb.
2. Examine stress-cracked limbs to determine the degree of damage. Those limbs unlikely to survive are also pruned away, leaving a clean cut.
3. Remaining streess-cracked limbs are linked together with bent limbs, sometimes cross-linked or grouped to other limbs to begin restoration to their normal upright position.
We use commercial grade plastic chain lock, which can be adjusted or removed completely when the trunks/limbs are strong enough to support their own weight if needed.
it's also a good idea to reduce and control the height of Arbor Vitae. This will encourage lateral growth, strengthen the trunks and limbs and reduce the potential for further storm damage and present a more uniform appearance near buildings or fence lines.
With time, additional pruning and periodic adjusment of chain locks, these trees will, over time retain their shape
Blog Date: 20-21 January 2012
Rain. Snow. Cold. Rain Turning to Snow.
Cold. More Snow. Ice Storm.
A bit more Snow. Rain, Thaw and Wind.
If you are an avid gardener, botanist, arborist, landscape contractor, or just love trees, the litany of weather above can create a lot of anticipatory anxiety.
The combination of wet snow covered with ice is often too much for most tree limbs. In many cases the tree itself may succomb with the loss of major limbs, a third or more of the top section, or the entire tree may topple, exposing the root ball to subfreezing weather and Treatment wind chill for a total loss.
Professionals in the Landscape business receive no special treatment from Mother Nature at home, either.
Our backyard Japanese Garden was hit pretty hard but most of our specimen trees survived with the exception of a Hollywood Juniper (see Photo) and a Sweet Gum. I waited too long to knock the snow off the day before.
Hollywood Juniper Minus Three Limbs
You guessed it; the three broken limbs I cut (now on the ground) had been a perfect screen against the house on the other side of the fence. It'll take a few years to grow back - probably not as full or well formed but enough. Junipers are very hardy but some species can be brittle and don't bear much extra weight.
Worst I've Seen So Far:
Black Pine
Hollywood Juniper
Arbor Vitae (maybe the worst of all in terms of numbers damaged)
Sweet Gum
Thundercloud Plum
The best we can do is watch the weather and try to track snow accumulation, brushing off as much as possible before ice forms. If you're careful, you can hold the end of the branch in one hand and (carefully) tap the ice off sharply with a short length of broom handle or similar object Take as much ice off of the ends of branches as you can, then work as far up the branch as you can reach, shaking the limb vigorously - just don't overdo it.
It could have been worse. I have some condominium customers that had catastrophic ice damage this week. It will take days to clear and year or more to restore. Really a shame.
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